Wanderlust...

Wanderlust….

People have strange and odd ways of overcoming despair , sadness and boredom . Some find solace with a bottle of Whiskey , a few wise ones choose to read , lucky ones are gifted with sleep , while some keep it inside themselves .Well about me , I travel .

Every place has something to offer , when the air around us changes , we realize how wide and open the world is .

My travel is my journey through life , it my way of reaching the end of the tunnel , its my way of  following the unseen light . People live through hours , days , weeks , months and years , I live through milestones .

Some people often consider me as a coward , they think I am running away from problems , struggle and commitments , but then aren’t we all running away from these ?  don’t we all count days and nights ?

People hang clocks and calendars in their houses , I keep maps and compass in my bag ,

Like you change calendars when an year ends , I change maps when my journey ends , a new map is a celebration of successful completion of a journey and a beginning of a new journey that takes me to the new unseen realms of the earth and the hidden adventures of  life .

My co passengers are my neighbors , we might not get to share a lot of gossip , I might not get an invitation to the celebrations in their house , I may never attend a wedding and never be expected to summon at a funeral , but I do get to taste the food , they serve with warmth and affection , I might not witness the colors of their life , but I do taste the spice of their life , we may never share problems ,but we do share jokes and stories , we share smile and we share laughter . I make friends on my journey , not because I am a friendly person , but because my stay is too short to make enemies , and before I start to fall in love with a place and get bound by the obligation of sharing it , I leave , coz the feeling of falling in love is beyond any other emotion , before I begin to smile without a reason , I remind myself that a hermit lives in solitude and the only way to achieve it is through a constant and unending travel .

As a traveler with limited resources , I prefer eating at small joints , not just because the fancy restraunts are beyond my reach , but because to taste the local cuisine , one has to sit with local people and not with tourist , though the food might not be served in beautiful cutlery , but it surely, is served with a smile.

I have had many ‘on the house’ lunches in my journeys , and this strategy of promoting love and liking towards the people has never failed , unlike a complementary ice cream in a fancy restraunt which fails to promote its name .

They fail to realize , man’s longing for simplicity , affection and warmth .

When a person bids adieu to the world , his wealth is calculated in terms of the friends he made and the smiles he generated , being friends with someone is like opening a savings account for life , the warmth keeps multiplying over the years .

As a traveler , its easy getting cheated for money and loosing possessions to thugs and thieves , but I eventually learned that I was never stripped of the basic requirement for a travel , and that is , the love for the roads , I could become a few coins poor and take a less comfortable bus , but the tiring journey helps me get a sound sleep in the night , and the genuine concern of the people and being helped without being asked leaves me richer.

And I feel contended that my belongings went to a person , who was in greater need of it , than I was , and thank him for reducing the burden hat I ‘ve to carry along myself .

On one of the travels , I became friends with a young kid , we shared our life with each other , I was told how princess meets the prince eventually , why ‘ talking to strangers ‘ was bad , about the mythical creatures that live deep inside the earth , and why eating food was among his less favorite of activities , with his enthusiasm he led the conversation and dominated it too , I did eventually get the chance to speak my part of the story , tired , when he had closed his eyes for the afternoon nap .

I remember being asked by him where I was heading , I told him the name of destination .

“hmm…we are going to nana’s place “, he said , without being asked , and I realized my love for traveling was nothing compared to his , he was so excited that he wouldn’t care if people asked , but he made sure everyone knew it , over the years I ‘ve endeavored to develop the same childlike enthusiasm and my love for travels has grown many times over .

Its never the destination , it’s the journey that allures me , it’s the travel that I live for .

The earth may be round , but the world is flat , and is spread for you , you would never return to the same place in your lifetime .

Many times I missed busses , and waited for endless hours on railway stations , but when you have all the time in the world, such things do not bother you , they just give you and extra hour of relaxation or perhaps a trip to the local market .

Life is pretty similar too , when you loose a bus , take your time off and find something relaxing to do meanwhile instead of pondering over the lost opportunity , in the race of life , its not how quickly you finish ,what matters is, how well you finish .

I might not have an address , but many people know me , I do not belong to a place , but the world belongs to me .