Being a Traveler and not a tourist…

Since my childhood days, dad would always say, “look around you, as much as you can. There is no better pleasure than traveling….” And we would go on out station trips on our summer holidays, which is the longest holiday in most of the Delhi schools.
As I grew up, I got so much infected by this travel bug, that I chose to study Geography for my graduation just because it was the only Arts subject which had out-station trips as excursions! It involved surveys, which again meant travel!! Little did I know, that I would end up being a Cartographer, which practically meant roaming all around the globe, every street, every village and every little nook…but just through maps! Right at my desk, on my Mac!

Somehow, things kept taking turns. Working in this organization provided me with two very important ingredients to nurture and flourish my travel bug all the more- money and leaves (as in, holidays!). And above all, I got married to a person who eventually to my very pleasant surprise, turned out to be another Travel Freak!
Now I had money, leaves and company, which only kept on adding up to my passion for travel. Thanks to the social networking websites, which helped both of us to remain connected with our old school friends. After a couple of meetings, drinks, lunches and high teas, we zeroed on one very important decision- Let’s travel together!

Guinea Pig…

To start with, in March 2008, we chose a short distance destination -Agra. As they truly say, “to know a person better, you need to share a room with him/her…” after this short trip, we knew one thing for sure: we want to travel more and more and more!!! It was a hit one and we decided NOT to look back. Just after three months, our next trip was to Kausani, Ranikhet & Nainital. This time we had a grup of six people. We could never make those summer days better. The beauty of the Himalayas, the rivers, the air, the clouds…everything seemed to have intoxicated us. We would just stop our cab anywhere we wanted to, and would jump into the brooks and simply get ourselves fed with the nature!

This was the trip when Dev (my other half!) & I realized that, there was another common interest that drove us crazy- Photography. Travel & photography are very good friends of each other and mostly they go hand in hand! So this was the second bug that bit both of us, and we wanted to make the most of it. We started clicking, and kept on clicking each and every bit of the air that our eyes could capture. Tried new angles, experimented on the old ones, discovered different compositions, played with colors, shades and lights…in short, we gobbled as many photographic thrills as we could! It was pure bliss! It was such a beautiful experience, that we still cherish remembering that trip.

Salt & Pepper

Since then, we visited many other places in the span of one year. Those included, Manali & Rohtang (August 2008), Jaipur (December 2008), Kurukshetra (March 2009), Corbett and Shivpuri- White water Rafting in a week’s gap (April 2009) and Haridwar-Rishikesh-Dehradun (June 2009). Each trip was different from the other and had its own significance. For example, rafting in the Ganges was truly the most exciting and adventurous experience. It was like the closest encounter with fear, in true sense. On the other hand, we went dumbstruck by the beauty of the huge Himalayas in Manali with its snow covered peaks peeping out. The vigorous Beas seemed more than a river when we adventurously crossed it by dangling ourselves in ropes right above it! And not to forget the chilly winds that froze our spines while we reached the Rohtang Pass at an altitude of 13,051 feet. Although we couldn’t spot any tigers in Corbett, but the safaris we went out for in open jeeps definitely gave us a real thrill of the jungles. Kurukshetra, Jaipur & the Haridwar-rishikesh-dehradun trips were more of the relaxed ones with not many activities involved other than getting a break from our routine lives/places…these short trips are like refreshment breaks in between a long monotonous board meeting!

In the past five months, there were three more interesting places we visited and the memories of these trips would be unforgettable forever. Keylong-Baralacha La, Kolkata and Varanasi. Three places, totally vivid, diverse and very interesting in their own special ways. Keylong & Baralacha La gave us the magnificent glimpses of dark brown gigantic mountains with snow icing on them. Never before did we see such hugeness. It was scary yet beautiful. It was dry yet mesmerizing. It was crazy chilling, yet we loved breathing every bit of that air. There was adventure in the air itself. The picturesque monasteries on hilltops attracted us as much as the way to reach them scared us! These were hardly 2.5 meters wide unpaved roads, softened by the recent shower. Spirits, greed to see the monastery and our smart driver (as nothing else was left as option!) were what led us there- safe! But I still can’t deny, that I really enjoyed that scary thrill as well! After all, these are like spices that make a trip complete, full of punch and zeal!

One the next one, we experienced the magic behind the 1984 built first Metro rail in India, the mysterious old buildings, the mouth-watering cutlets/chops/rolls, and any other possible fried junk, one thousand and one variety of sweets and Fish which you simply can never get tired of eating! You just guessed it right! None other than Kolkata is what I’m talking about. And did I forget to mention how it feels to travel in a local train during office hours? Well, TRY it…I dare you! If you can manage to continue this particular travel for even a week, you are sure to lose that extra flab you developed by hogging over all the junk foods! Guess, that’s called “Acu-PRESSURE” therapy (does it, eh?). Moreover, if you understand Bengali, you get to hear, see, and participate in the most interesting conversations around, on any topic under the Sun. And that’s free of cost…100% entertainment guaranteed! Another very significant and interesting nature of this city that we observed was, be it a rickshaw-puller, pan-waalah, priest, bus-conductor, student, doctor, businessman, or even a parrot may be…they all have their opinion. They are all well read (novels or newspapers, they survive on reading) and wit/sarcasm is their second language! We were truly awestruck by these interesting facts of the city. It has a different life altogether. Enjoyed it!

Mysticity of the City

Now, let me tell you about our last trip. A place where we spent our Christmas. A Christmas very different from any other year, a place totally contrasting to any other place we have been to before, and a thread of experiences, which again, was something, we never went through-before. This was our Varanasi trip. After much brain storming discussions through e-mails and chats we decided on this place. as soon as Dev and I heard this name “Varanasi” we both felt a wave of excitement that ran though our spines and we both uttered these words “lots of photography man!” Now this place was not at all what is conventionally called a “chilled out place to spend your Christmas with a gang of friends”. It had a different story. Varanasi was special because of its amusing history, its vibrant culture, its people, the maze-like streets, the Ganges that assures a peaceful rest of souls, the Ghats showing varied activities going on, the irresistible street foods, the numerous temples in every other street, the evening “aarti”- the place had a different shade, a different air.

In this trip, we had seven people in our group- the largest number so far. And interestingly, they all had some reason of their own to be excited about this place. For some, it was a great platform for photography, for some the temples, for some the Benarasi Silk sarees, for some the most important ‘must do” thing was trying out famous Benarasi paan, street foods and “bhaang based thandai”, and for some just being so many friends around was the simple reason to be happy and excited about! Honestly, all these reasons were perfectly valid. And, we did NOT miss any of these! Our cameras were getting enough food. The boat-ride early in the morning at 6, along all the ghats and watching the sun rising and gradually changing the color of the river with its approach- this entire two hours journey on the water got us completely captivated. No word, no song or not even a picture can explain what our eyes and hearts felt. Then our haphazard roaming through the streets, the babas (Monks) and watching almost eleven cremations at one time on the famous “Manikarnika ghat” – these were all such scenes that gave goosebumps. These define the intensity, the mystic behavior of the city. Completely diverse to these feelings, was our crazy experience of trying Bhaang! It creates waves all through your body, enters into your mind and gets stuck there! And I’m not going to write anything more about it as you got to try it to get the feel, really! And then the gorgeous aarti in the evening with the glowing huge lights, the bells and shankh sound filled the air with a strange pureness. An amazing positive and serene touch, that moved our souls for a while. Some mystery, some unexplainable magic...After all these, when I lied on my train bunk, I said to myself, “I am coming to Varanasi again…for sure!”


I don’t know whether I’ll visit any of the places I have been to, again or not. Neither do I know how much of India I’d be able to cover in the coming year. But, what I feel, believe and know very strongly now, is that I want to “look around as much as I can” in my life. Because this is what gives me the feel of “pure contentment”…something what I call as “ Travel Bliss”!