The Allure of Beautiful Places

I still remember the first time I saw the Grand Canyon - in 1987. After leaving Las Vegas, my wife and I had been driving north for several hours through the high desert in Colorado. The scenery was monotonous – sparse trees, rocks and red soil – and our expectations ran low. Entering through the National Park entrance, we stopped at the first viewing stop and got out of the car. That's when we saw it – the massive, colourful canyon spread out beneath us – and it took our breath away. I will never forget that first view.

While perhaps not on the same scale, there are quite a few memorably beautiful places in Bangladesh that I have had the good fortune to visit: Ratargul swamp forest and Lalakhal in Sylhet, the waterways of Sundarban, the Shomeshwari and Jadukata rivers in Netrakona and Sunamganj, and Moulvi Bazar's Baikka Beel and Lawacherra park. My first encounters with these places are etched in memory for their beauty.

Beautiful places attract all of us, so much so that we are often willing to surmount much difficulty to reach them. In fact, it seems like a rule of thumb – the more beautiful a place is, the harder it is to reach. The tourism industry employing millions worldwide is based largely on the universal allure of beautiful places.

Why do we go through the trouble – not to mention the expense and the hardship – of seeking out beautiful places?

Part of the reason seems to be an innate desire for beauty. Often, these places touch us in a way nothing else can. They remind us of the grandeur of creation, while placing us solidly in its middle. Thus we feel uplifted from our banal day-to-day existence, even if for a short time.

This last element, together with our desire for escaping the mundane, is probably the strongest attraction for beautiful places. I have often wondered whether such a place would seem as beautiful if I lived there year round. For me the answer is "no" – the magic is strongest the first time I set my eyes on a beautiful place, but in most cases it wears off. Perhaps that is why most people do not return to the same place year after year, but search out places they have not seen. The desire to see something new often overcomes the longing to return to the same place, no matter how beautiful.

Other factors contribute to the beauty of a place: the weather, of course, but also the company we are in. And for me there has to be an element of surprise: no matter how much we have seen the place in photographs, the real thing has to carry an extra punch. Perhaps that is why I never felt the fierce attraction for California's Yosemite Valley that many others feel. I had seen one too many picture, and when I saw the real thing it was just not as impressive.

In the coming Eid vacation I hope you will get a chance to visit a beautiful place. May I suggest somewhere inside Bangladesh? This will support and encourage the brave entrepreneurs who are building our tourism infrastructure.

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