GROUP - 4

SILK ROAD
The accounts of exotic places in
legends and the reality
Exotic places are those which are seemingly exciting and
unusual. At times, they are connected to foreign countries.
We have read about numerous exciting places in the
legends i.e. in the ancient stories which take us into the
ancient times. Often the accounts and descriptions of such
places may be exaggerated or heightened not due to a
desire to deceive, but due to the writer’s own heightened
emotional response. If we visit these places, the reality may
be quite different. We should not forget that while writing,
the writer often dives into a deep world of fantasy and
imagination. So, at times, the writer might accentuate a
place. He never does this to mislead his readers, it is done
out of writer’s feelings and emotions.
All the exotic places on earth have been much written and talked about
already either in legends or articles. There are several ancient myths
attached to such places. It has been seen in many cases, especially the
river sources and mountain caves are associated with religion and
declared holy. However, in reality these places are very different. For
example , Hor according to the earlier accounts, was a place abound in
natural beauty. A Japanese monk who had arrived there in 1900 was so
moved by the sanctity of the lake that he burst into tears. A couple of
years later, the hallowed waters had a similar effect on another traveller.
However, now it is a grim miserable place. There was no vegetation
whatsoever, just dust and rocks, liberally scattered with years of
accumulated refuse. The author was disappointed with Darchen. The high
altitude was giving him health problems. He had a bad cold and was not
able to sleep at night. Since he was one of the early arrivals there weren’t
any pilgrims coming to the place.
The accounts of exotic place in legends and books and the reality are
often very different. It is so for more than one reason. First, we differ in
our sensibilities. In other words, everyone does not have the same
capacity for intellectual and aesthetic discrimination. As a result of this,
a scene of Manasarovar may create different responses in different
minds. For the devout Hindus and Buddhists, the beauty of the place is
beyond description. The second point is equally important. When a
writer writes about a place, he tries to paint a word picture. The pictures
are always more interesting than the reality. Most of the people who
have visited America are, no doubt, impressed by it. However, they are
often found saying that they did not see as wonderful a country as the
stories had described to them. Legends always exaggerate. Very often
they add magical quality to a place of religious importance. Naturally,
these things are far from reality. So, the accounts of exotic places in
legends and books are not the same as reality.
 GROUP MEMBERS
LEADER : ANASWARA T K
MEMBERS : NISMA SHARAF P
ANUSREE RAJ
ADITHYA SHANOJ
APARNA MANOHAR
SABARI SANTHOSH
BHAVAL PRIYA
DEVU
THANK YOU