Author Note
Thank you for making it this far! I really hope that you enjoyed the story.
May 07, 2020•1 min•Ep. 31
There Are Other Rivers
Alastair Humphreys walked across India, from the Coromandel Coast to the Malabar Coast, following the course of a holy river. Walking alone and spending the nights sleeping under the stars, in the homes of welcoming strangers or in small towns and villages, he experienced the dusty enchantment of ordinary, real India on the smallest of budgets.
There Are Other Rivers tells the story of the walk through an account of a single day as well as reflecting on the allure of difficult journeys and the eternal appeal of the open road.
Last refreshed: ⓘ
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Episodes
The Last Day: to the Sea
The Last Day: to the Sea “Each day looks as beautiful as the roads that lead to the sea.” “Beep... beepbeepbeepbeep... BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP.” I know instantly where I am. It is a new day. India. I feel fired with purpose. It is the last day. Though, of course, there is no such thing as a last day. To make an end is to make a beginning. The end – the source of the river – is where I start from. So, while the light fails on a winter’s afternoon in England, I have crossed the watershed in India and am ...
May 07, 2020•5 min•Ep. 30
The Last Day: to the Source
The Last Day: to the Source “I know that it might be better for you to come out from under your might-have-beens, into the winds of the world.” “Beep... beepbeepbeepbeep... BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP.” I know instantly where I am. It is a new day. India. I feel fired with purpose. It is the last day. I step over the sleeping night watchman and out of the dingy lodge. I start to walk. Really walk. I walk through the hilltop town past all the sweepers. I return the cheery greeting from the chai stall, its l...
May 06, 2020•7 min•Ep. 29
Nightfall
Nightfall “When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch... I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable.” This single day on the road is just an ordinary day from any journey like this. Today struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. Tomorrow and tomorrow I will do it all again. Except that I will not do it again. I will do it for the ve...
May 05, 2020•7 min•Ep. 28
Freedom
Freedom “But the word timshel – “thou mayest” – that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open... Why, that makes a man great... He can choose his course and fight it through and win.” How often do you wake in the morning with no idea where you will sleep that night? It is a hard way to live but sooner or later I miss it when I am not doing it. It is a declaration of independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident... If you travel on foot t...
May 04, 2020•4 min•Ep. 27
Sunset
Sunset “Better a thousand times that he should be a tramp, and mend pots and pans by the wayside, and sleep under trees, and see the dawn and the sunset every day above a new horizon.” Today may finish in so many different ways. This is wearing and stressful over long periods but also enlivening. Today may end in the home of kind strangers, motivated by sympathy and curiosity to pluck me from the road saying, “come stay with us tonight. Rest. Eat. And tell us your tale.” Day’s end may be far fro...
May 03, 2020•3 min•Ep. 26
Struggle
Struggle “You can boast about anything if it’s all you have. Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast.” It’s hard to get my head round the idea of a “struggle” whilst sitting in a comfy chair drinking tea and eating biscuits (and typing with o n e f i n g e r). But out there it makes sense. I hate the gag reflex stench of road kill, the stickiness of sweat. I hate being stared at. I hate being asked the same questions a hundred times a day. But brutal days will end, as they al...
May 02, 2020•8 min•Ep. 26
Challenge
Challenge “You’re too young a man to be panning memories, Adam. You should be getting yourself some new ones, so that the mining will be richer when you come to age.” Doing something fun is fun. There is plenty of space in life for it. But fun is not going to shape me. It won’t forge my direction in life or remain seared in my memory down all the years to come. The momentous moments in life are not merely fun. This is where the appeal of challenging myself comes in. It is what gives me my sense ...
May 01, 2020•7 min•Ep. 25
Afternoon
Afternoon “I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I’ve lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.” Brown grass and scrubby bush have replaced the lush fields and palm trees. It reminds me of central Mozambique. I’m annoyed at myself for thinking that. Why ...
Apr 30, 2020•9 min•Ep. 24
Quest
Quest “If one were properly to perform a difficult and subtle act, he should first inspect the end to be achieved and then, once he had accepted the end as desirable, he should forget it completely and concentrate solely on the means.” When I am on a journey, I know exactly where I am and where I am going. It is a lucid break from the muddy waters of day- to-day life. I miss some parts of my normal life violently when I am away; my wife, comfortable familiarity, warm beds and cold beers. I often...
Apr 29, 2020•4 min•Ep. 23
Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage “We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go Always a little further: it may be Beyond the last blue mountain barred with snow, Across that angry or that glimmering sea.” Pilgrimage makes prayers come true. Or, to an unbeliever like me, a pilgrimage is about commitment and hard work, about the time invested and the time to think. These are the steps necessary to make most prayers and wishes come true. Walking is both slow and difficult so it makes for powerful thinking time. Slow is good...
Apr 28, 2020•2 min•Ep. 22
Religion
Religion “I have no bent towards gods. But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul.” Religion is an integral part of India. Even my river is a goddess, revered at shrines along her course. Pilgrims come from all over to bathe in her sacred waters. Every day I walk past temples, churches and mosques. I share the road with sadhus , wandering holy men. We walk side by side in amiable silence. I pass men dressed as gods (perhaps gods dressed as men too). Buses and cars are d...
Apr 27, 2020•7 min•Ep. 21
Noon
Noon “And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.” The sun is at its highest point. I am at my lowest. I walked and walked until now I just have to stop. My clothes are soaked with sweat. A prickly heat rash rages round my waist, across my shoulders, through my armpits and round my heels. It stings and it itches, but only when I think about it. The difficult task is t...
Apr 26, 2020•5 min•Ep. 20
People
People “I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.” The people I meet are a highlight of the journey. I meet good people, kind people, funny people, mad and sad and one or two bad people. But mostly it is a random selection of good people. Many invite me to their homes for chai , for food or to spend the night. One day a stylish man stops his motorbike to chat for a few minutes. His hair is swept back, he has a big bushy beard and a smear of red paste on his forehead. He...
Apr 25, 2020•3 min•Ep. 19
Joy
Joy “Every man has a retirement picture in which he does those things he never had time to do – makes the journeys, reads the neglected books he always pretended to have read.” I like doing exciting, unusual things, particularly if they are thousands of miles from home and laced with an element of risk. The call to adventure is hard to ignore. And life is not all work. It’s not all Nietzsche and granola, penance and planning for retirement. “I won’t have it,” declared Annie Dillard. “The world i...
Apr 24, 2020•2 min•Ep. 18
Landscape
Landscape “And then – the glory – so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man’s importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of his glories.” Most adventures revolve around beautiful landscapes and impressive wildness. But not this trip. This project was about normal-ness. I was not seek...
Apr 23, 2020•4 min•Ep. 17
Learning
Learning “And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” My life really got going the day I finished formal education. I began enjoying learning at about the same time, when I began wandering the world. Knowledge became gold dust. No longer was I learning stuff merely to regurgitate it in hot exam halls. I do appreciate the benefits of the little bits of paper I earned, but school on the road is different. Geography, culture, h...
Apr 22, 2020•2 min•Ep. 16
Food
Food “What does a man need, really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.” A boy asks me about English food. I find it hard to describe, particularly without mentioning the delicate subject of roast beef. “Is it burger? Pizza?” And because it is hot I just agree with him. Indian food is even harder to summarise. It is certainly very different to the Great British Indian Takeaway. ...
Apr 21, 2020•3 min•Ep. 15
Curiosity
Curiosity “I’ve never been content to pass a stone without looking under it. And it is a black disappointment to me that I can never see the far side of the moon.” Go somewhere new, try something different and life fizzes with questions. What will happen? How will my life change? How will I change my life? No imagination has ever conjured up anything so unique, vivid and complex as any view on this planet. I am fascinated by what lies around the next corner. Like the lucky dip at a fairground, I...
Apr 20, 2020•3 min•Ep. 14
Morning
Morning “And again there are mornings when ecstasy bubbles in the blood, and the stomach and chest are tight and electric with joy.” The water in the emerald paddy fields glints as I walk. A confetti of butterflies flutters in the air. The roadside palms are painted in black and white checks. I enter a village with music blaring from speakers rigged on bamboo poles. I always like places that play music out loud (it’s quite common in parts of Eastern Europe, China and Latin America), even in the ...
Apr 19, 2020•6 min•Ep. 13
Snapshot
Snapshot “The Earth teaches us more about ourselves than all the books in the world.” All the clichés about India are true. Clichés always are. But there is so much more. There always is. India: so vivid and loud. Energetic and mad. Charming, ingenious, squalid and callous. In my head I see all this. I suspect that anyone who has been to India and not just stayed in an International hotel will do too. But I fear that if you haven’t been to India then I am going to fail you. I don’t have the ca...
Apr 18, 2020•5 min•Ep. 12
Alone
Alone “All great and precious things are lonely.” Odd choice, India, if I wanted to be alone. But being alone is an important part of my journeys. Alone time. A lonely time. Alone with all of India. I feel more alone when I’m jostled by a billion strangers than somewhere wild and empty. But what is alone? Alone might be out in the hot scrub, watched by nervous deer. The only sound inside my head is my heart thumping. Everything is motionless except for the crunch of a family of wild elephants wa...
Apr 17, 2020•3 min•Ep. 11
Simplicity
Simplicity “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.” A couple of years ago I was out on the crumpled ice of the frozen Arctic Ocean. It was bitterly cold. And I was deliriously happy. It was the stark simplicity of life out on the ice that I enjoyed so much. I had very few things to focus on each day, but I had to do each one to the best of my ability. If I did not then the consequences in those conditions could be severe. I decided, as my ...
Apr 16, 2020•4 min•Ep. 10
Escape
Escape “For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that makes it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.” Head thumping heat shimmering sun beating. Loneliness in crowds of foreign tongues staring at one foreign face. Bruised feet dragging spirit bruised shoulders slumped. Can’t think. Can’t speak. Just walk. The ...
Apr 15, 2020•4 min•Ep. 10
Sunrise
Sunrise “And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid anymore.” It is the chai stall’s busiest hour of the day. The chai man is bustling slickly through his well-practiced movements. The cup of tea is a small part of his customers’ day, but to him it is the most important. The care he devotes to his task reflects that. It seems a good strategy for a successful business. St...
Apr 14, 2020•8 min•Ep. 9
Routine
Routine “It’s a hard thing to leave any deeply routine life, even if you hate it.” People looking at me walking through India might envisage my daily routine to be something like: Get up, walk. Lunch, walk. Eat, sleep. There is more to it than that. Every day on the road includes many more tiny routines: Pack away everything I own each morning. There is a place for everything and everything goes in its place (unlike the messy chaos I live in at home). Find someone who seems intelligent to ask fo...
Apr 13, 2020•5 min•Ep. 8
River
River “Don’t you dare take the lazy way... Whatever you do, it will be you who do.” I push through a bamboo grove to the river and sit beneath a teak tree. I write my diary and study my map, a computer print out of a survey from 1912. It’s the best map I managed to find for this area. Having a river to follow provides a tangible, constant thread to the route. It automatically gives purpose and direction to the walk. My river is small and boisterous now. The contours are tight and curling. Earlie...
Apr 12, 2020•3 min•Ep. 7
Go
Go “The virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from here seems broad and straight and sweet.” An urge builds in me, a voice in one everlasting whisper, day and night repeated until I just have to go. It doesn’t really matter where I go. All that matters is that I go. Somewhere different. Somewhere new. Maybe I get bored with where I am. Maybe the restless dissatisfaction rises from everything being too familiar, too easy. Whatever the cause, being in ...
Apr 11, 2020•3 min•Ep. 6
Flabbiness
Flabbiness “You know how advice is: you only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyways.” There are three stages of flabbiness in life. Each is more restricting and stifling than the one before. They creep insidiously over me like vines until it takes one hell of a struggle to escape their clutches. If ever I feel the saggy symptoms snuffling up on my life then I know it is time to hit the road. The first stage of flabbiness, and the easiest to fix, is physical flabbiness. It begins...
Apr 10, 2020•5 min•Ep. 5
Dawn
Dawn “It was a morning like other mornings and yet perfect among mornings.” I walk quietly past the night watchman, bundled in blankets and snoring on the floor. I step out of the lodge. I’m out into the world. I have begun. Dawn will come quickly. But not yet. My pack feels comfortable. It’s as small as I could manage, but we can’t travel without baggage. We carry it wherever we go, even when we’re trying to leave it all behind. I glance up at the dark sky. I find Venus and use the bright star ...
Apr 09, 2020•6 min•Ep. 4
Hosted on Transistor
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android