Points
(1) Introduction
(2) Value as an interest
(3) Its educative value
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(4) Cultural value
(5) Those who stay at home are frogs in the well
(6) It makes one a minute observer of things
(7) It teaches patience and provides better source of information
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(8), It satisfies love of adventure and thrill
(9) Conclusion
Essay
Traveling in the past was difficult and dangerous. There were no railway trains, motor cars, aeroplanes etc. People traveled wither on foot or on horse back. They were often attacked and killed by dacoits on the way. But, it is no longer so in modern time. Today, traveling has become a pleasure.
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Traveling is a very interesting thing. Rich people travel from country to country seeing all that is worth in them. We have so many such visitors coming to India every year. Their main aim in traveling is recreation.
But traveling is not only recreative, it is also educative. Education snatched from books is not complete education, it is only theoretical. In Europe, a Youngman is not considered fully educated unless he has traveled over the continent of Europe after leaving the college. A student of Economics sees tra4e, commerce, and banking in other countries when he visits them. He picks up all this. When he returns he may help improve the trade and commerce of his own country. Similarly, an educationist visiting foreign countries will learn many new methods of teaching. He may study their good and bad points. He may introduce them in his own country on his return.
Traveling has an immense cultural value also. During traveling we come across all sorts of people. People in various countries have various appearance, manners and beliefs. When we go and see them, we compare them with our own. This will enable us to assess our own manners and beliefs more correctly. Again this will teach us that ours are not the only manners, beliefs and morality. This will broaden our outlook and sympathies. If sympathy develops between the peoples of two countries, there will be no war between them. In this way traveling can reduce the fear of war too.
If a person does not travel to another country he remains a mere frog in the well. He gets no chance to come into contact with the people of that country and understand them properly. Those people are let mere abstraction for him. • He remains prejudiced against all their beliefs. Besides he can be easily led into war with the people of that country, by anybody.
A traveler stands to gain in another way also. When he visits other country, everything appears strange to him. He wants to understand these things. Thus be moves about with open eyes and open mind. He learns to be a minute observer of things. This finds him in good stead in life.
Another value of traveling to a person is that he learns patience. We have home and go out We are bound to meet some inconveniences. Unless we have patience in matter of little inconveniences, we cannot undertake a travel. Patience is a great quality for success in life.
Again, traveling leaves us better informed. We learn more by traveling than from books. If we have seen a thing actually with our own eyes, it becomes easier to understand and remember. We forget those things very soon about which we are only being told. Is it possible for a man to forget the Taj at Agra if he has seen it once?
Another advantage of traveling is that it satisfies our love for adventure. Man is by nature adventure-loving. Adventure gives him excitement and thrill. It breaks the boredom or dullness of life. Some people undertake long tours on cycles, motor cycles and cars. Thus they not only see things more intimately but also satisfy their craving for thrill and adventure more minutely.
Unfortunately, India is poor country. It is not possible for an average Indian to undertake a travel to foreign countries merely for the sake of traveling. But he can do at least one thing; he can visit different places in India itself. India is a vast land. There are so many and different kinds of manners, social customs, languages, political and religious beliefs among Indians. An Indian can therefore learn a lot by traveling in his own country. A person belonging to Punjab should tour distant state like Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala. People from these states should come to Punjab.
The Government of India is also fully aware of the importance of traveling. A Tourist Department has been set up with a view to encouraging tourism in India. Tourist guides are provided at all places of tourist importance. Rest houses for tourist are also being built at many places. Let us hope that our countrymen will also become travel-minded in future.