“I realized that Justin Alexander was the latest person to disappear in a long history of travelers disappearing in India’s Parvati Valley. It’s a dark aspect of this really beautiful place.” – Harley Rustad
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Harley discuss how Harley learned of Justin Alexander’s story, why he chose to report it, and what makes travel to India unique (2:30); who Justin Alexander was, and what life events and desires led to him being a world traveler and social-media persona (8:00); what makes India’s Parvati Valley unique as a mountainous place where backpackers sometimes disappear, and how “India Syndrome” affects travelers (30:00); Justin’s decision to live in a cave in the Parvati Valley under the influence of a local sadhu (40:00); Justin’s August 2016 Facebook message to Rolf, the timeline of his life before his disappearance (47:30); speculations on what became of Justin after he was seen for the last time, and what his legacy is (57:00).
Harley Rustad (@hmrustad) is the author of Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas, and Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees.
Notable Links:
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.
How Rolf Ruined the 1990s: A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band
Walk and Talk: Notes from a peripatetic salon across northern Thailand
Essential tips and strategies for telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy
What it’s like to spend a full year traveling within a day’s radius of your home
Sports, superstitions, and sacraments: A Deviate Super Bowl Special (2024 remix)
Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth, and “success management”
The best journeys explore mindscapes as well as landscapes (book club remix)
Going abroad for love, and travel writing that says something new about a place
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club redo)
Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club remix)
Vagabonding audio companion: A life in (and philosophy of) long-term travel
A train isn’t just a vehicle; it’s a place (a remix encore, with Monisha Rajesh)
Travelers experience more when they slow down and ask lots of questions
“Dare to do Dirt”: Seeking rural places (and how to best experience them)
Vagabonding audio companion: Why (and how) travel souvenirs matter
Travel can return you to a kind of childhood (online book club remix)
What museums reveal about places (and what they have to offer travelers)
Vagabonding audio companion: How to study abroad (even if you aren’t a student)
Fear, family, and walking the Camino de Santiago (live with Andrew McCarthy)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Concrete Pastures Podcast
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad
Travel with Rick Steves
Frequent Miler on the Air