My Love For Travel

I can vividly remember my first step to a strange land. I travel; initially to lose myself; to initially soak in the culture, look at how life is lived on a different lens and culture and how to literally trudge on an exotic soil far different from where I come from. Hence that’s how it all began and I was bitten by the travel bug and fell in love with tarmacs and suitcases like a metaphorical lover waiting for his inamorata’s arrival. 

Then, I travel, next, to find myself. In the course of the rigorous grind of the mundane things, the routine of the everydayness, the predictable cycle of domestic realities, I do find myself wanting to unplug and just sink into the new invigorating escape that travel brings. I travel to open my heart and eyes and learn more about the world other than our newspapers, books or TV tubes will accommodate. I travel to bring what little I can, in my finite knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches and offerings are differently dispersed. And I travel, in essence, to become the young, lapping hopeful lady once again — to slow downtime and get taken in, and fall in love once more in a seamless, borderless sense in shots of awe of these foreign places.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places but in seeing with a figurative new pair of eyes. Yet one of the subtler beauties of travel is that it enables you to bring new eyes to the people you encounter. Hence even as holidays help you appreciate your own homeland more — they help you bring newly appreciative eyes to the places you visit. You can teach them what they have to joyfully celebrate as much as you celebrate what they have to teach from theirs.

I travel, in search of both self-introspection and anonymity. We experience the freedom of image, job and class standing; we are literally folded into a sea of foreign crowd and people do not judge with a preconceived notion, apart from the occasional racial prejudices. This has not perturbed me surprisingly but rather look at it as an exhilarating way to purify and clarify my homeland instilled stigmas and free myself of unessential labels as much as I want to suspend my judgment to the people I encounter on the road.  It is a commonality that we encounter being the object of scrutiny much as we scrutinize the visited culture and people that it draws a very fine line between thrill, wonder and resistance. But in the end, we have to remain resilient and open-minded. I always have the opportunity to re-connect to my pure self again, the one I know devoid of all the labels and expectations, peeling all my inhibitions and cultural restraints. This is why maybe I can explain why I feel most alive when far from home, like a child peeking through a candy store windowpane eager and anticipating to discover a treasure trove of goodies. 

At the same time, what is intrinsic to travelling are the newly forged friendships, culture assimilations and geographical appreciation of the newly chartered lands which I profoundly admire as I soak in and sank in the new experiences. It is both ethereal and visceral; one cannot capture the essence of the entire venture and that one has to be immersed to truly enjoy the process of beauty that travel brings. All the more that I have this sense of home that I want to eagerly share to my newfound friends and family by virtue of best culture practices exchange that I do want to share back home as well; the mutual benefits are priceless and this is what makes us in all sense a global being.  With these inspirations in mind, I know that as I enrich myself with my continuing journey to explore unknown territories, this would just not end to myself. By giving back and sharing all the learnings and discoveries, it paves way to a more heightened state of awareness, sensitivity, a broadened perspective that could foster a better business, improve my overall outlook and radiate the fluid positivity to the people around me. Possibilities are endless and we are just but a speck of dust in the realm of grander things; I am just grateful that in my own small ways I can help manifest a better journey for those lives whom I can touch with my far-reaching adventure narratives.