Savyasaachi

“Little by little, one travels far.” -J.R.R. Tolkien

Whenever this subject comes up people often ask, “Why travel?”

Why can’t you sit back and enjoy a few days at home? Why would you want to run away to some place each holiday?

These questions and raised eyebrows are more common when you are a girl going to “not-so-touristy” places. It is hard to point at one reason why you want to travel; it is not just about sightseeing, but the feeling of travelling itself. The new places as well as new faces you meet are a totally different experience.

It need not be going to another country, it can be going away for a weekend to Coorg, Hampi, or Kerala or even just exploring the nooks and corners of your city.

While trying to figure out what makes my feet itch to go for another journey these are some things that lights up on top of my head.

1. It is for the people you meet.

I found the most interesting, weird, funny, happy, crazy, generous, kind, love-struck and heartbroken people on the road. You may meet them sitting across you on a train, trying to bargain the price with the street vendor or walking through the street having the exact “I-am-lost” expression as you have on your face.

Because of these people I found that there is still hope and kindness in this world.

On a return journey back from Delhi to Bangalore, my two friends and I were broke to the last rupee except money for the exact train fare to Mysore. We were sitting on a smelly train from Delhi, exhausted from two days’ travel, craving for a roof over our heads other than the dusty train compartment and worst of all miseries - hunger. An old gentleman and his wife whom we met the day before, seeing that we didn’t buy lunch with other passengers, bought us idlis with their money and to this date I am thankful to them for feeding three unknown college kids as their own.

Those small incidents made me believe that people are basically good; of course some have quite a few bad characters overpowering the good traits. But still there is reason to trust in humanity, there are still some good people around.

Last July, I went trekking with three guys I met the prior evening at an NGO; trekking 6 hours continuously with people you just met can be fun and awkward. But I got to observe more and speak less on that journey and surprisingly we became quick friends within two days.

The 6-foot-tall Portuguese traveler gave me free Spanish lessons while we were searching to pick up plastic and trash from the mountain trail. The funny runaway aspiring photographer-cum-engineering student told me about his travels across India, mainly volunteering at different places and about travelling cheaper. The yoga enthusiast friend from Pathankot told us stories of sages and of spirits up in the mountains. Another backpacking solo woman traveler kept talking about the exotic places and people around the world till I felt like I too was travelling with her halfway round the globe.

Travelling, for me, is more about the people than the places to see. Each one is different, having a different story. If you are ready to learn and teach, they will be more than ready to help.

2. It is for the places you see.

Climbing Chembra peak, I felt like I was using up the last bit of air in my lungs, but the view from top was other-worldly. Green was the only color we could see looking around from there.

After a long half day trek in the Himalayas. I felt like crying out of happiness. Every time I looked around I thought, “Oh my God, this may be the most beautiful place I have ever been to.” After some time I gave up trying to capture that beauty around in photos since it was overwhelmingly stunning. The next day, we stayed up in the mountain with no electricity or telephone signal, it was just serene. Unknown flowers and dew drops-covered grass, with the snow-laden Himalayas for a background view. It was magic, nothing less. At night, a million stars lighted up the sky as we tried so hard to keep the fire going so that we wouldn’t freeze. It was a fairytale scene when finally the moon rose in the night sky, showing the vague outline of mountains far away. During the day, it would often drizzle and block the view of mountains; dense fog would blanket the area so that I couldn’t see anyone even a meter away. But everything there was mind-numbingly beautiful, except for the garbage fellow trekkers threw around.

3. It is for the life lessons you pick up.

Once we stayed in a village at a beautiful two-storey house overlooking the mountains. It took a lot of turns for the taxi to reach there, a village with little or zero people speaking English, other than our host and family.

That man had everything I wish to have someday yet he wasn’t happy. A beautiful family, a house overlooking distant Himalayas, the forest beginning some two hundred meters from his doorstep... the nights were even more surreal. Literally a thousand fireflies playing hide and seek among trees. The mountains that I couldn’t see at daytime due to clouds were visible, like another firefly-covered tree far away, with yellow lights from Bhagsu.

In my view, that man had every reason to be happy but he wasn’t. That made me think about my life and about the numerous people I know. Who are happy and why? Answers may not be there for every question that arises in your mind when you travel. But I guess slowly, those questions will be answered.

Travelling often makes you feel lost and often you discover yourself. I realized the respect and value our society gives for a Doctor when interacting in broken Hindi to a Rajasthani woman I met on the train. It is amazing how thankful people are even if all you did was to clean up a wound and put a simple bandage around.

Travelling teaches you not to sweat over little things. Things fall in place often on its own without worrying too much. When you think you don’t have a place to stay or know no one you may find a ‘not-so-close friend’ ready to offer you a couch or connect you to someone who can host you.

Before I started travelling like 99% of fellow humans I thought I had bigger problems and my life was screwed up, but oh boy! I was wrong. After few journeys and watching other people from different places I realized my problems aren’t as big as I think they are. It is a great ability to see what you have in life and not to whine about not having certain things others have. Well, guess what! Almost all of us are this way. Always wishing for something you don’t have yet.

It is great to dream; to work for achieving more. But most of us are blessed with many things we should be grateful each day. Travelling taught me to appreciate what I have right in front of me. Even small things in daily life like getting a coffee in the evening can be very difficult when you are away from your normal life. But that makes you find alternate options, or to adjust with what is available.

4. You will find a way if you keep trying.

When it comes to travelling, money is not a big issue when you are willing to adjust, sleep a night in a railway station or cook and clean or volunteer at an NGO in exchange for a place to sleep. I didn’t have any savings when my friend called up one night to say that she wanted to go to the Himalayas. I wanted to go but there was no way my family would let me go to Himachal Pradesh on my own just to see places, especially when all that’s there in my itinerary was to see the Himalayas. There wasn’t enough money or any holiday coming up soon. But over the next three months of cutting back on expenses and saving up, I had enough money to buy a train ticket and time to go during my term holidays. So if you have a little patience and a willingness to keep trying, sooner or later you will strike upon something to take you to places you want to go.

My friends and I couldn’t afford to stay in a good hotel and cheaper options available didn’t match up with safety concerns. After a month or so of intense searches on Google and couchsurfing, we came across few people and an NGO willing to let us stay in exchange for pay and volunteering. That turned out to be the most interesting place I ever stayed, with the coolest people.

Other trips were with friends who offered a place to stay with their family or other free spirits who were generous enough to let me tag along on their trips. Somehow if you keep looking and communicate with other like-minded people around, it is surprising to see how things work out.

5. Learning to look after yourself.

When you are stepping into the unknown, you will learn to trust your instincts and be careful at the same time. When there is nobody to wake you up early morning to get on some train to your next destination, you will learn to wake up on time. When there is no friend or family to borrow money from, you will learn to manage your finances.

Being in an unknown place with people you don’t know will make you vigilant and careful. Travelling helps you to connect with people faster as well as teaches you the bitter lesson to keep away from those not so pleasant characters we unfortunately come across sometimes.

6. Be the traveler not the tourist.

There are differences between the two. The experiences for a traveler and a tourist aren’t the same. Staying with local friends and roaming through dark alleyways past midnight in search of a café to watch the World Cup Finals with friends isn’t something that usually comes up in a tourist’s to do list. Of course you may miss the warm hotel bed and hot showers or sometimes you have to put up with a stubborn kid in the family or not-so-friendly dog but they will be balanced by the often amazing home food, offbeat journeys to places where tourism hasn’t reached yet and maybe in one of those random walks through places you don’t know, you will be surprised by the weirdest or most striking things you never expect to see, like a rare orchid in full bloom or a mini forest where weed grows like weed (if you know what I mean).

In short, travelling gives wings to your imaginations. It made me realize that there are people like you and me living across this world with similar dreams and fears about future. It taught me to be careful and not to take things for granted. It showed me, family doesn’t mean only the people you are related to by blood. Each journey adds something to your soul, making you see things a little differently.

P.S: One good fact that I observed is more and more young people in their 20s like us are travelling. Numerous websites like www.couchsurfing.org, WWOOF and other internet communities makes travelling in low budget extremely easy if you are a low maintenance person willing to learn and help. Disclaimer: Author is a travel enthusiast who hasn’t gone to any of those exotic tourist destinations you have heard of (yet).