‘The Wandering’ by Intan Paramaditha
I haven’t travelled solo in a long, looooong time. I terribly, terribly miss it, because for me, travelling solo translates to listening to that impulse in my head to set off with no plans in hand except for some bookmarked pages, meeting people who share local myths, stories, and secrets, stumbling on co-wanderers who share an ‘identical longing for escape’, to forget the past and future, to be truly present, and empower the tiny voice that says, “I’ll figure it out when I get there”.
While there is no true substitute for travel, I have been finding comfort in my two other loves — books and movies.
I spent the last two days reading the Indonesian novel ‘The Wandering’, written by Intan Paramaditha and translated by Stephen J Epstein.
“You’ve grown roots, you’ve gathered moss”.
BURN! You read Page 1 and you know Intan isn’t going to make this easy for you.
You, an English teacher in Indonesia, are the protagonist. You are offered a one-way ticket and a pair of magical, red shoes. Where will you go? What will you do? Oh, and remember, the shoes are cursed too.
“If you want to go home, you’ll lose everything. Your home will not be what it was. There will no longer be a place for you here. Regrettably, there will be no place for you there either.”
When you travel solo, especially as a woman, there are these decisions you’re forced to make constantly — should I go back to the hotel or stay back in the cafe and continue chatting with this harmless-looking stranger? Should I engage or not engage with this travel companion? Can I accept a drink from this stranger with interesting stories? Each person you meet, each decision you make, has the power to change the course of your journey.
What I love about the book is the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure format and how much it mimics travel IRL. My first read was the most exciting because I was curious to know where the protagonist would end up if she made decisions that I would make. Later, I went back and followed each storyline. I discovered 19 scenarios that I could arrive at. Each storyline offered you something or nothing, but never everything. Trade-offs are real. There is truly no way to know where you’d end up. There will always be could-haves and should-haves. All you can do is trust yourself and your journey.
There are generous portions of magical realism and humour added in with multiple scenes where I straight up lol’d. My favourite journey was the one with Yvette — real, honest, and wild.
Few of my favourite quotes:
“Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go wandering.”
On what long-term travel can do:
“But what’s the harm in trying? You’d lived through ambiguity, between a longing for home and an addiction to travel. You were neither here nor there, always in a waiting room, in the borderlands.
What, we’re not allowed to experiment in the borderlands?
..
Where are you now?
I’m not afraid any more.”
Through The Wandering, I think Intan Paramaditha has really redefined what a book can do for the reader. I am going to go on an Intan binge soon.
Also, if it weren’t for Champaca, I wouldn’t have discovered this book. Thank you for including this book as part of the Book Subscription-themed Travel.
