A few days ago, I read an article that scientifically tries to answer this question - Why humans love to travel? The writer explains the phenomena famously known as wanderlust, with the help of science. Sounds interesting? Education Ministry...are you listening? Put this one in the science textbook right away!
The writer talks about various factors and his observations about humans and their love for travelling. Supported by hard-hitting facts, he brings us closer to finding a concrete answer to this question - Why do you like to travel?
The human brain is programmed to seek novelty. The constant urge to learn something new is in the human DNA, and we have practised this art for years. This was one of the many examples that the writer has given in the article, and interestingly I could very much relate to it.
When I started travelling back in 2015, my idea was to spend "me time", and to find purpose in this life. But trust me it got boring after a while! And that’s when I changed my way of travelling and most certainly it was an enriching experience.
So now when I think about it, my mind has subconsciously changed a lot of things about it, and I say it with full guarantee that it is only because of travelling, that I have been able to develop my personality.
A year ago I met a girl from London, in Delhi. She travelled alone in India for 3 months and had seen more places in than me. It actually was an awkward and shameful situation. Clearly, it was because of my excuses that I was listening to the stories of my country from a foreigner's mouth. Even I could have saved money by teaching a bunch of children, or even better I could have tagged along with my roommates when they planned a last-minute trip to Tosh. But guess what...my excuses got the better of me.
Thanks to that person, I left my excuses back there in Delhi and decided to venture out with a bunch of strangers in Udaipur, just a year after. I don’t know whether if it was the universe who was testing me, I met one more person from London with whom I spoke about cricket, Brexit, travelling, and football over a cup of chai, at Badi Lake.
Talking about Britishers, blimey! They travel a lot! I met three blokes in Udaipur and all of them pictured India very differently. But one thing they had in common was the need to travel and experience a new culture. And probably this is the reason we are so envious about foreigners and their personality.
Travelling makes you a lot more confident. As a kid, I used to over think before approaching someone, but when you travel you have no option but to communicate with strangers so that you find your way back to the room, or maybe even to kill boredom.
Nobody expects you to give a speech or keep talking for hours. Something as simple as, “how’s your day going?”, is a conversation starter and it will further build on to some memorable conversations with strangers.
Secondly, travelling helps you tackle the fear of being alone. If you are a solo traveler, most of the time you will be on your own on the roads waiting by some bus shelter, or spending long lonely nights in your tent. Last December I went to Kolkata and stayed with a friend and his family. My friend took me around the city, but on most occasions I had to cover Kolkata and the places around the main city on my own.
I had fun sitting alone in the Indian Coffee House sipping the hot coffee while making observations of students and locals who were chatting probably about politics, food, and movies. Exploring Kumartuli and clicking pictures of idol makers was certainly a great experience but sometimes I felt extremely lonely especially when I had to do long bus journeys.
It’s a make or break situation when you have such a feeling. But the trick is to ignore the thoughts and recollect all the good memories during your solo trips.
Travelling taught me a lot about patience. While the roads in Spiti Valley are undoubtedly scenic, they are far worse when it comes to long bus journeys. You can’t keep stopping at every turn to stretch your limbs since you need to be at a certain place before dark. Thus keeping your mind calm and occupied is extremely important.
Also, to experience all of this you have to learn to plan things earlier. Be it your finances or insurance, you should be ready for the worse. Because when you are out there, you are literally out there on your own, except for when you are travelling with your folks.
For me, travelling is like an art that you need to master by practising it all the time. The more you travel, the better you get with understanding the world. And eventually, you may just find your purpose somewhere in the middle of the ocean, under the Milky Way.
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