Daak Weekly: The call to adventure
The phrase, "call to adventure," popularized by American writer Joseph Campbell, is a common narrative arc found in most myths and legends. It refers to a moment when the protagonist is prompted to leave their ordinary world and embark on a grand adventure, triggering a journey into the unknown that will transform them. We’ve all felt this pull in some momentous or fleeting moments.
But it takes enormous courage to transcend our real and imagined fears and answer this call. So, we often settle for the next best thing: travel. And why does travel feel exciting? Perhaps because it allows us to answer this call in our own small way, and hope that amidst distant horizons, we will find ourselves anew.
At a time when travel was neither easy nor cheap, Goan cartoonist Mario Miranda managed to travel to more than twenty countries. He preferred to sit in small cafes and restaurants, capturing the nuances of mundane life. From New York to Singapore and Macau to London, he memorialised the unique character of each city in his paintings. His sketches, which are equal to any travel journal, radiate both the energy and silence of cityscapes, giving us a glimpse of his grand adventure.
A journey, however, need not be real or physical. In his deeply moving play Dak Ghar (The Post Office), Tagore shows us that our imaginary landscapes have equal power to fortify and transform. Its comfort and influence was such that at the peak of the Nazi Holocaust in 1942, children in an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto performed this play. In the story, a young boy, Amal, is confined to his adoptive uncle’s home due to an incurable and seemingly fatal disease. Yet, his heart is that of a curious wanderer and his words tell us of his yearning to travel and experience life in its entirety.
We hope that these stories give you the strength to take on your next journey — whether literal or metaphorical — when you are invited to answer the call to adventure.
Love,
Team Daak
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