BITS ‘N’ PIECES
Narrated Anas bin Malik (R.A)
Allah ‘s Apostle (S.A.W) said, “Whoever loves that he be granted more wealth and that his lease of life be prolonged then he should keep good relations with his kith and kin.”
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 73, Number 15
American journalist Nellie Bly beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional record by travelling around the world and completing the journey in 72 days.
In the late nineteenth century, the world was fascinated by speed, travel and new ideas. In this scenario, Nellie Bly, a young American journalist, decided to turn a famous story into reality. After reading Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, she wondered if a real person could actually beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional record. Years earlier, the American adventurer George Francis Train had attempted similar journeys and even claimed to have completed one in eighty days. But none of these attempts had captured the public imagination in the way Bly was about to.
That question soon became a challenge, and on 14 November 1889 she set sail from New York to try it herself. Nellie Bly, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochran, was already well known for her bold kind of investigative reporting. She had sneaked into a women’s asylum to expose the mistreatment of patients, and she had written sharply about the struggles of working women. Even so, the idea of a woman travelling alone around the world was considered far too risky. Many people, including her own editors, doubted she could pull it off. Bly insisted she would go with or without their support, and eventually won the chance.
She travelled with almost nothing, just a small bag and the clothes she had on her back. Her journey took her through Europe, across the Suez to Egypt and then to Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. There were delays, long waits for ships and occasionally tense moments when it seemed the schedule was slipping away. Still, she kept moving. At every stop she sent back colourful descriptions of the people she met, the foods she tried and the constant race against the clock. Newspapers printed her updates eagerly, and readers across America followed her progress as if it were a sporting event.
While she rushed eastward, another journalist, Elizabeth Bisland, set off in the opposite direction hoping to beat Bly’s time. Their simultaneous voyages created a real-life race that captivated the public in a way no earlier attempts had. Along the way, Bly visited Jules Verne himself. He wished her luck and expressed his hope that she would beat his fictional hero. It was a brief meeting, but it became one of the most memorable moments of her trip.
Bly finally returned to New York after seventy two days, six hours and eleven minutes, and was greeted at the station by a huge crowd delighted that she had succeeded.