Saturday 10 February 2018

Book Review #92 : Transit Lounge

Book Review : Transit Lounge 

Title: Transit Lounge 

Author: Sunil Mishra 

Publisher: Leadstart Publishers 

ISBN-13: 9789352017157 

Number of Pages: 212 




BLURB: “Transit Lounge” is a contemporary book consisting of short incidents, observations and reflections while travelling to 30 countries across six different continents during the last 15 years. 

The book is a personal account of travels to places in Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Mauritius), South America (Venezuela and Argentina), Asia (China, Iran, Kuwait, UAE, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka,Malaysia and Thailand), Europe (UK, France, Italy,Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Georgia,Turkey, Croatia and Romania), USA, Australia and New Zealand. 

It was interesting to observe all these different cultures and people from an Indian perspective. The book is a compilation of small incidents and events during such travels; it includes losing an air ticket, dealing with difficult custom officials or getting mugged in a prime location in a foreign country.” 

Book Cover: The book has a minimalistic yet attractive cover. It has a world map in a very sober color and that gives the reader a nice feeling. 

REVIEW: Transit Lounge is a travel memoir by Sunil Mishra that describes his visit to thirty countries across six continents. 

Transit lounge by Sunil Mishra is a book of candid experiences worth the read, based on the early times when the author had started travelling for work, the book takes us on a tour that any other modern day book probably won’t. 

You can make a mental comparison of the current amenities and of the times that were. The book is written in a good spirit, making the pleasant feeling of the journeys contagious for the reader. 

The book comprises of 8 chapters and each chapter is divided to a set of countries that the author has traveled. The book is also a perfect travelogue of the author and this can be used as a reference to know about the various places, customs followed in each country, the habitat, the weather conditions, the travel process with a live demonstration feeling. 

Have you ever traveled to different countries by just reading a book? I am lucky enough that I got the opportunity to read a book that gave me an overview/ world tour of different continents and countries. It takes each and every reader "literally to a world tour through its words". The author has impeccably narrated every minute detail of a journey to a new place right from choosing the place of travel till a person reaches his destination. 

The author raises some very relevant points when it comes to social, economic and political conditions of the countries he focuses on. Most of the countries have been analysed from the perspective of how it maybe like to travel through the country or live there as an expat. I liked how description to every country was short, crisp and to-the-point. All the points mentioned were much relevant, sometimes funny, and answered a lot of queries regarding various countries in my mind. The comparative analysis of every country to India is what I felt was the USP of this travelogue. 

If you're an Indian and you're wondering what other countries are like, you'll definitely love the answers you find in this one. Go ahead and pick it up if you're interested in a travel memoir. But do keep in mind that even there are some pictures in the book, they're black and white. So, they may not be as fun to look at as the reading the book actually was. 

NEGATIVES: The book is written in a very simple and illustrative way. The writing is a little led down for me. The sentence formation could have been a tad little better, the editors should have given this piece a little more time and care. The book though very well written is ridden with mistakes. These typographical errors play a spoil sport. So incident becomes inddent, civic becomes dvic, class becomes dass and the crest jewel – click becomes dick. I wish the book was well edited and these mistakes were avoided. 

VERDICT: They say that travel broadens the mind and this book is a perfect example of how travel can influence a person, can make him realize how similar human beings are across the world in spite of each country and people having their own special characteristics. I am very impressed by Mishra’s detailing skill and his way of observation, whether it's food, clothes, music, source of entertainment or travelling. 

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY: If you are a travel enthusiast or someone with wanderlust buried under the dust of daily chores, this is the book for you. Pick it up! 

RATING: 4.5/5 (-0.5 for typographical errors)

3 comments:

  1. Oh, should've chosen a better editor or publisher. That 0.5 point could bother some readers. But sounds like a good read and a must check out. Thanks for sharing a detailed review.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True that, mistakes like these put you off at some points. Otherwise it is a gem for travel lovers <3

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  2. Thank you so much for the post. Looking forward to more of such useful and informative posts.online book Ticket through Redbus

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