The Financial Express MARCH 18 l 2012 l 5

l F l O l O l T l L l O l O l S l E l

Eric Weiner

TRAVEL,LIKElife,isbestunderstood backwardbutmustbeexperiencedforward, to paraphraseKierkegaard. After

decades of wandering, only nowdoes a pattern emerge. I’m drawn toplaces that beguile and inspire, se-date and stir, places where, for a fewblissful moments I loosen my deathgriponlife,andcanbreatheagain.Itturns out these destinations have aname: thin places.

It is, admittedly, an odd term. Onecould be forgiven for thinking thatthin places describe skinny nationsor perhaps cities populated by thinpeople.No,thinplacesaremuchdeep-er than that. They are locales wherethe distance between heaven andearth collapses and we’re able tocatch glimpses of the divine, or thetranscendentor,asIliketothinkof it,theInfiniteWhatever.

Travel to thin places does not nec-essarilyleadtoanythingasgrandioseas a “spiritual breakthrough,” what-everthatmeans,butitdoesdisorient.Itconfuses.Weloseourbearings,andfind new ones. Or not. Either way, wearejoltedoutof oldwaysof seeingtheworld, and therein lies the transfor-mativemagicof travel.

It’s not clear who first uttered theterm “thin places,” but they almostcertainlyspokewithanIrishbrogue.The ancient pagan Celts, and later,Christians,usedthetermtodescribemesmerising places like the wind-swept isle of Iona or the rocky peaksof CroaghPatrick.Heavenandearth,the Celtic saying goes, are only threefeet apart, but in thin places that dis-tanceisevenshorter.

So what exactly makes a placethin? It’s easier to say what a thinplace is not. A thin place is not neces-sarilyatranquilplace,orafunone,orevenabeautifulone,thoughitmaybeallof thosethingstoo.DisneyWorldisnot a thin place. Nor is Cancún. Thinplaces relax us, yes, but they alsotransform us—or, more accurately,unmaskus.Inthinplaces,webecomeourmoreessentialselves.

Thin places are often sacredones—St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican

City, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul—but they need not be, at least not con-ventionally so. A park or even a citysquare can be a thin place. So can anairport. I love airports. I love theirself-contained, hermetic quality, andthe way they make me feel that I amfloating, suspended between comingandgoing.

The question, of course, is whichplaces?Andhowdowegetthere?Youdon’t plan a trip to a thin place; youstumbleuponone.Buttherearestepsyoucantaketoincreasetheoddsof anencounter with thinness. Forstarters, have no expectations. Noth-inggetsinthewayof agenuineexpe-rience more than expectations,which explains why so many “spiri-tual journeys” disappoint. And don’tcount on guidebooks—or evenfriends—topinpointyourthinplaces.

Tosomeextent,thinness,likebeauty,isintheeyeof thebeholder.Or,toputit another way: One person’s thinplaceisanother’sthickone.

Getting to a thin place usually re-quiresabitof sweat.Onedoesnottyp-ically hop a taxi to a thin place, butsometimesyoucan.That’showmy7-year-old daughter and I got to StPatrick’s Cathedral in New York.Video camera in hand, she paused ateach statue of the various saints,marveling,inahushedvoice,attheirposesandheadgear.

Shewaswithme,tooattheBanglaSahib gurdwara, a Sikh temple inNew Delhi. The temple owes its thin-ness,inpart,tothecontrastingthick-ness amassed outside its gates: thepress of humanity, the freestyle traf-fic, theunrelentingnoiseand,ingen-

eral,thecontrolledanarchythatisur-banIndia.Westeppedinsidethegatesof the gurdwara and into anotherworld. The mesmerising sound of aharmonium wafted across a reflect-ingpool.Thewhitemarblefeltcoolonmy bare feet. The temple compoundwasnotdevoidof people,butthiswasa different sort of crowd. Everyonewalkedtotheedgeof thewater,drawnby something unspoken, lost in theirsolitaryworlds,together.

At the gurdwara, time burst itsbanks. I was awash in time. That’s acommon reaction to a thin place. It’snot that we lose all sense of time but,rather, that our relationship withtime is altered, softened. In thinplaces, time is not something we feelcompelled to parse or hoard. There’splentyof ittogoaround.

Not all sacred places, though, arethin. Freighted with history, and ouroutsized expectations, they collapseundertheweightof theirownsacred-ness, and possess all the divinity of aGreyhound bus station. For me,Jerusalem is one of these places. Ifindtheairsothickwithanimosity,soheavy with the weight of historicalgrievances,thatanythinnesslurkingbeneath the surface doesn’t stand achance. Walking through the walledOld City, with its four segregatedquarters,Ifeelmymusclestense.

Thankfully, Rumi’s tomb, inTurkey, has not met such a fate. It isverymuchalive.Peoplefromaroundthe Muslim (and non-Muslim) worldvisit the tomb, in the central Turkishcity of Konya, to pay homage to Is-lam’s poet laureate. Rumi’s coffin is

drapedinagreencarpet,withacylin-drical black hat, the kind worn bydervishes, sitting atop. His 13th-cen-turypoemsbrimwithanecstaticloveof Allah,andhisrestingplacereflectsthat.Peopleareencouragedtolinger.Some curl up in a corner, reading Ru-mi. Others lose themselves in silentprayer. I noticed one woman, handoverheart,walkingslowlyonthecar-peted floor, tears of joy streamingdownhercheeks.

Perhaps the thinnest of places isBoudhanath, in Nepal. Despite thefact that it has been swallowed up byKathmandu,Boudha,asmanycallit,retains the self-contained coziness ofthe village that it is. Life there re-volves, literally, around a giant whitestupa, or Buddhist shrine. At anytime of the day, hundreds of peoplecircumambulate the stupa, chantingmantras, kneading their mala beadsandtwirlingprayerwheels. IwokeinBoudha each morning at dawn andmarvelledatthelight,milkyandsoft,as well as the sounds: the clickety-clack of prayer wheels, the murmurof mantras, the clanking of storeshutters yanked open, the chortle ofspoken Tibetan. There are restau-rantswhereyoucansipadecentpinotnoir while gazing into the All-SeeingEyes of Buddha. It is a rare and won-derful confluence of the sacred andtheprofane.

Many thin places are wild, un-tamed, but cities can also be surpris-

ingly thin. The world’s first urbancentres, in Mesopotamia, were erect-ed not as places of commerce or em-pire but, rather, so inhabitants couldconsort with the gods. What betterplace to marvel at the glory of Godand his handiwork (via his subcon-tractors: us) than on the Bund inShanghai, with the Jetsons-like sky-scrapers towering above, or at Mont-martre in Paris, with the city’s Goth-icgloryrevealedbelow.

Bookstores are thin places, too,and,forme,noneisthinnerthanPow-ell’s in Portland, Ore. Sure, there aregrander bookstores, and older ones,butnonequitepossessesPowell’smixof orderandserendipity,especiallyinits used-book collection—Chekhovhappily cohabitating with PersonalFinance for Dummies, Balzac snug-glingwithGrisham.

Yet,ultimately,aninherentcontra-diction trips up any spiritual walka-bout: The divine supposedly tran-scends time and space, yet we seek itinveryspecificplacesandatveryspe-cific times. If God (however defined)is everywhere and “everywhen,” asthe Australian aboriginals put it sowonderfully, then why are someplaces thin and others not? Why isn’tthe whole world thin? Maybe it is butwe’retoothicktorecogniseit.Maybethinplacesofferglimpsesnotof heav-en but of earth as it really is, unen-cumbered.Unmasked.

NYT

WARM WEATHER is ap-proaching and it is time toponder upon what you’ll

wear during the balmy days ofspring and summer. As nice as theymay be, this is the time to cast offyourfinesuitsanddonamorecheer-ful wardrobe. However, a challengeaccompanies this change as youseek to either discretely cover up orboldly show off your body.

Let’s discuss where to find theclothes that have the style, fit andquality to help you strike the rightbalance, no matter what your goals.Thisspringisallaboutbold,colour-ful fabrics so do not be afraid tobuild a wardrobe that contrastswith your more conservative work-week wear. These designers willkeep you in fashion:

SHIRTS:BottegaVenetaisknown

bestforitsleathergoods,butthissea-sontheywillbeasleeperhitforshirts.Theirpin-stripedfabricsareparticu-larly appealing. You’ll also do wellwith Zegna Sport’s spring collection,which has improved dramatically inrecent years. Finally, seek out ColorPlus, an Indian brand whose linenqualitymeetsorexceeds Zegna.

TROUSERS: This is perhaps themost overlooked spring and sum-meriteminagentleman’swardrobe.Don’t just wear a pair of winterslacks with your great new warmweather shirts you’ve purchased.Seek out trousers by PaulSmith, whose British take oncasual style is inimitable, de-spite many attempts. ZegnaSport and Loro Piana also do wellwith trousers that are more classicand, well, Italian. For something

special, seek out Etro for theirstraight leg cotton twills.

TIES AND ACCESSORIES:Etro should also be your choice forcolourful ties that show you are asbright as a summer day. Youmight also compli-ment your

wardrobewithaclassiccheckedsilktie or a lightweight striped cottonscarf—eitherof thesewillmakeyoutruly stand out.

SHOES: Your wife probably has(or covets) a pair of shoes by Christ-

ian Louboutin. Why? Theheels, of course, but also thebold colours. Follow her lead(on the colours, that is) and em-phasise shoes featuringwhites, blues, and colouredchecks. Avoid the grey, blackand bland. For sneakers, apairof whiteConverserepre-sent the best classic sneakers

that fit a variety of outfits andare great value. Stepping up in

formality,youshouldhave,atleast,one pair of loafers. Try somethingfrom Tod’s or Gucci that have asplash of colour. Finally, every man

should have a pair of suede Derbyshoes for more casual wear.

T-SHIRTS: Here is where mostsummer fashion faux pas occur.Evenif it isforcasualfamilytimeoran outing with friends, there is noreason to wear a t-shirt advertisingyourlastvisittoDisneyWorld.GetaproperonefromLouisVuitton,LoroPiana or Polo by Ralph Lauren.

Spring is the season of rebirth.I’velostsomeweightandthathasgiv-enmeboththenecessityandmotiva-tiontoreinventmywardrobe.Butthereal reason is to make sure I have thebold colours that are appropriate forajoyousandboldseasonof workandtravel. Those colours are also appro-priate for next week’s discussion ofone of the world’s most exciting des-tinations: Cuba. That is a country,many of us feel, ready to burst ontothe world travel stage with the inten-sityof anewsummerday.

Deepak Ohri is CEO of lebuaHotels & Resorts. He can be reached

at deepak@lebua.com

DEEPAK OHRI

This spring/summer,do not be afraid to

build a wardrobethat contrasts with

your more conservativework week wear

This spring is all about bold colours

(Clockwise from top) Boudhanath, Nepal; Bund, Shanghai; Bangla Sahibgurdwara, New Delhi and Montmarte, Paris

Thin places, where the distance betweenheaven and earth collapses, can relax us andtransform us—or, more accurately,unmask us

TRAVEL TO THIN PLACESDOES NOT NECESSARILYLEAD TO ANYTHING ASGRANDIOSE AS A‘SPIRITUALBREAKTHROUGH,’WHATEVER THAT MEANS,BUT IT DOES DISORIENT. ITCONFUSES. WE LOSE OURBEARINGS, AND FIND NEWONES. OR NOT

Where heaven and earthCOME CLOSER

DELUXE