Hello peps!
If you are here for a blog about some trip, I am sorry to disappoint you. This is not a blog about any place. You have been warned and if you still choose to continue to read, it's a choice and it's on you!😅
It's a Thursday night, a long weekend is upon us. I don't have any plans for this weekend so I am sitting comfortably in my bed with a book, some chocolates and a glass of wine. In the last few days, Weather Gods have been kind to Delhi and it has been oddly pleasant.
I am reading a book by shivya nath- the shooting star. It's a book of a solo lady traveller. She started her journey in 2011, she is also the founder of 'India Untravelled'. This book is about her experiences as a solo traveller, the drive that made her walk those odd paths, share life with different cultures even if it was just for a month or two. She travelled miles on foot and reached places by hitch hiking. She travelled to Amazon to experience a life that truly belonged to amazonians. She is a nomad, a true spirit of nomad.
Reading her book made me think of the travelling fad in our generation where everyone has a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter bio which reads- #traveller and that includes me as well.
All this while, I kept thinking I love to travel. I travel because I want to be at new places. But after reading her book, I realized my reasons of travelling are so different from her. I travel to spend more time with my partner. It's not places that I seek, for me it's conversation and not just random how_was_your_day conversation but what_is_it_like_to_a_women or what_do_you_think_about_the_cropcircles kind of conversation. For me travel is an escape from my 9to5 job, from my everyday routine. For me travel is a glimpse into the life for which I work. I love my job and I want to work all my life. And it's okay.
It was good to see that some people do end up finding that crazy drive towards something bigger. It was good to see that some people do find that passion that helps them live multiple lives in one lifetime. She seemed like a spirit travelling through multiple dimensions being one person at one place and completely different at other.
It made me realize that I was never the traveller, I have never been and I will never be. And it's okay.
It was a nice change to know that some people do stuff just for the sake of doing it, just because they really want to and not because they have to or because everyone else is doing it. It was refreshing to see the photographs in her book, they were not there because they were pretty pictures or because they had nice filters on them, in fact most of the pictures didn't even have her in them. Most of the pictures were just a random click of some cliff, a random sunset or tea plantation but what was different about them was that each one of them had a story behind it. When you finish the book and then look at the pictures, you'll feel the things she felt at those places and you'll know exactly why those pictures exist and it's a beautiful feeling.
Most of us are tourists, we travel for our own separate reasons and it's ok. We don't want to live the lives of Mayan people or Ethiopian people because truly, not everybody can. Most of us travel for change and not for finding the true meaning of life and it's okay. Heck! Most of us don't even know why we are doing it but we are doing it and that's okay too.
It doesn't matter if we are travelling alone, with a partner or in a group, it doesn't matter if we are travelling in luxury or on a shoe string budget, it doesn't matter what mode we are travelling by..what truly matter is that we do it.
Being to new places is like an ongoing journey, you might not know where you are going but you might just end up exactly where you need to be.
Travelling as a tourist teaches you too. You might not meet random strangers and share their life stories, you might not walk outside your comfort zone everyday or walk on the unbeaten path but atleast you'll see something new, atleast you'll realize how small your life is.. in the big jigsaw puzzle of this planet. If nothing else, it'll put things into perspective. If nothing else, it'll make you realize that the meeting you messed up was just a small blunder. If nothing else, it'll give you a chance to miss your 9to5 regularity, the comfort of schedule and plans.
I think travellers like her are important because they stretch the horizon for tourists like us. Travellers like her are paving new paths for tourists like us, for people who do not always want to take a path untravelled but would probably take a path less travelled and guess what... It's okay!
People like her are rare and people like her are true free spirited travellers and it's beautiful.
This book is a lovely read!
