Shahnaz Habib’s ‘Airplane Mode’ is an inquisitive account of travel and its attendant histories

“Travel has been sold to us,” Shahnaz Habib says, “as the ultimate horizon-expanding, mind-broadening, self-improvement experience.” Over the course of her first book, Airplane Mode: A Passive-Aggressive History of Travel, she attempts to unpack this particular sentiment, examining the socio-cultural, economic and historical factors that affect the numerous aspects of travel. Although each chapter focuses on any one aspect, Habib has a penchant for going on fascinating tangents that ultimately, and unexpectedly, cohere into the central theme. Whether in the bylanes of Konya or the jungles of Wayanad, she dwells on topics ranging from the spread of bougainvillaea around the globe to the dominant ideas behind wanderlust, making for a captivating read.

The shadow of Enlightenment

In the Enlightenment view of the world, man was the interpreter of nature so science and travel were deeply bound together. This man, obviously a white European, cast his eye and announced his dominion, claiming objectivity by default. In colonial times and before, it was a careful strategy to generate distinctions between the Orient and the Occident to benefit the project of empire. Habib coins the term “pseudo discovery” to refer to all the things and places that Europeans assert to have “discovered” that already existed before their boastful arrival....

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