Winds in my sails... My travel stories(Part-1)

Traveling is something that really enthralls, entices me; imparts a new vigor to my mind. I become a child again during my trips to new places. I get a new high to life when I visit new places and experience them. The world is full of surprises and you need to explore it to absorb those surprises. Journeys are not just changes in the scenes you see, but also the changes you experience in your life due to those differences. These new places make you experience a new feeling which leaves a trail in the journey of your life.

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” - Samuel Johnson.

I have had my share of traveling stories to share. I can’t say that I am a frequent traveler or that I have been to the lengths and the breadths of India, but I have had my own share of travel experiences. I have visited many parts of Western, Northern and Central India. South and Eastern parts of India are still not discovered by me. I feel as if I have just covered a page of a book. There is so much to explore and to absorb.

Traveling is not an easy task. Lucky are the people who can travel often. My trips for example are restricted due to my job, my responsibilities towards my family, money and above all the inhibitions in the mind of people that it’s not safe for a girl to travel alone. I envy people who work half of the year and travel the other half across the world.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you din’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain.

When you travel, you meet new people; eat different kinds of food, see the customs, the religion and way of living of other people. I believe that I have learnt and grown with each of the new places I visited.

Journeys will not always turn-up as you imagine them to be. During travel you put your trust on strangers, go to unfamiliar places, far off from the comfort zones of your everyday life, things are bound to go wrong at some or the other level. True travel is launching oneself into the unknown. There is no excuse for the unknown risks, except that one offers oneself in a spirit of experimentation. But still, I consider the rewards of the journey far outweigh the risk of leaving the harbor.

It’s very well said: "A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it." –- John Steinbeck.

In my forthcoming travel posts, I will share my travel experiences in my blog….

Life in a Metro....

People honking on roads is nothing new.... But when you see an accident on the road, people bruised, hurt, in pain, lying on the road and people honking at them to move away and clear the road, you feel shocked and surprised.

The other day I was on my way home from work, when I witnessed an accident on the road. A family on a motorcycle and a car got bumped. The family consisted of a young man in his early twenties riding without a helmet, his wife and between them squeezed a small child, barely some months old.

As I was a witness to the accident, I know that it was the fault of the motorcycle rider who at the end moment decided to take a left turn without even bothering to look who was coming from behind. It did not help that his bike did not have any rear view mirrors.

After the accident, I along with some other people got to the accident site and tried to help the couple. The baby along with them, by God's grace did not suffer from any major injuries. Just a few bruises. So people stopped and got out of their cars to help, but there were others, who were busy honking from their cars, looking from the tinted windows having no feeling for the people lying on the road ,hurt.

Have people lost their conscience, humanity or any feeling which a human being should possess?

Don't we figure ourselves in the position of others, who are hurt or suffering? Accidents can happen to anyone. How would you have felt when you lie hurt on the road and no one stopping for you to help? It can happen to anyone... Life is full of uncertainties.

I am from a place where such incidents result in people running for help, people who are considerate.

Coming home, I could not get that incident out of my mind. It might be something we encounter everyday of our lives, but its only a matter of chance that we are the spectator and not on the other side... So lets try to be some more humane and considerate...

Strangers to Best Friends (Part -2)

Continued from the blog Strangers to Best Friends (Part -1)

The voice on the other side seemed a lil quirky. He wanted to make sure that the no he called was mine and not of some police station. Thanks to my phone no which is so simple and has a similarity to the emergency nos. When it was confirmed that he was speaking to me and not to some police officer, we started to talk. And talk like there is not going to be any other day coming…. We talked for a long time or shall I say hours…

Earlier I used to feel weird when some of my friend used to talk for hours on the phone. I used to wonder what is it that keeps u babble for hours without getting tired or short or words or topics to converse. Now it was my turn to come in the same league and behave in the same whimsical manner.

Our talks that night just let me believe that the person on the other side was not a stranger anymore. I liked the ease with which talked to me, it was as if we’ve been friends for ages. The funny one-liners and uncanny talks made me enjoy the conversation.

After that night we kept in touch online and kept calling each other once in a while. I would not say that it was love at the first sight (In our case the first chat or the first talk on the phone) but it took countless chats, talks and meetings to eventually fall in love.

Now even after so many years, I still remember what he had said to me in his first chat:

“Even your best friend was a stranger initially!”

Strangers to best friends...(Part-1)

Late 2001...

This was the time when I had come home from college during vacations...

I was getting bored at home and wanted to check my mails wanted to go out to meet friends.... I went to a friend's place and together we went to a cyber cafe to check my mails (I dint have an Internet connection at home at that time). I logged in to my yahoo account and was checking my mails and looking for any online friends on the messenger...

Suddenly, I saw a friend request pop up. I was surprised as I was in invisible mode. The person on the other side wrote a simple "Hi!” I asked him who he was. He told me his name. A name that was not familiar to me. I enquired him how he knew me. He said that he does not remember how my id was added in his messenger (This later got cleared)....

He then asked me my name and my location. I was not in a mood to talk to an unknown person. Therefore, I told him "I don't talk to strangers"! After a few seconds, his reply flashed on my messenger screen: "Even your best friend was a stranger initially". The reply left me amazed. I don’t know why, but I started chatting with him. We chatted for about an hour about everything and anything under the roof. We shared the same likes and dislikes (Eating Parle-G biscuits dipped in milk was one of them). As I was about to leave he asked me my phone number. I was apprehensive (cyber security and all) but nevertheless typed my landline no. (I dint have a mobile at that time). I don’t know what in my head made me do that.

I went home and got busy with my parents. After dinner, I went back to my room to retire for the night. As I was about to lie down, I heard my landline ringing. I picked up the phone before anyone could. ( Hey, I totally forgot that I had given this time for him to call).