Travelling ~ A Soul Journey Within!

Life is a journey. A clichéd sentence! An accepted sentence. A metaphor I never could get in my school years. Then Life happens, and these elusive figures of speech begin making sense.

As an adult, my personal analogy went this way. 'Life is a sum of short bursts of heavy journey where the body and soul become weary and restless.' It literally wants to run away and kind of die! Like have we not all felt the urge to throw it all and just pack your bags and leave for Good? Then Reincarnate in a better frame?

Now hang in there if you feel I am a suicidal maniac! I could never muster enough gumption, to well...leave the bodily envelop. Illusion, it may be, but I do love the world with every breath that I take. Optimism is another synonym I can be accorded to. An ingenious way was carved out to deal with:

• Being stressed

• Being weary with exhaustion

• Transitioning with aplomb

• Rejuvenating with the transit

• Reincarnating Anew!

#SayYesToLife and Live on!

Living in a Metro City like Mumbai involves slogging off to afford living there. Add to it the crowd. Turn your eye in every direction- a beach, a mall, a railway station, a bus stop, a market place, a footpath. There are people-Unseeing, un-heeding and speeding. Going somewhere, me too! 

There is no time to stand and stare and even when if you do stand what do you stare at? 

Everyone is earning money, money and more money. No matter what you earn, it is never enough for anyone. All are in a tearing, jostling hurry. If you don’t run, you will be left behind with no one to stare at, or with. 

There are EMIs to pay, gadgets to buy, services to upload. Ambition screams everywhere so deafening loud that it drowns the sound of your very soul. 

That is where an unspoken exhaustion sets in. A sense of meaninglessness and vacuum stares back and there is a feeling of live-death. 

At a moment of drop down burn out, a gem of a transition happened. A magic of transition was discovered, called ‘Travel’. My husband decided to take us to a home-stay, at  ‘Gushaini’, a serene hamlet in the Greater Himalayas. 

It is where our ambition beaten soul took an 'in between' soul review and rejuvenation. A new awakening with thousand promises while coming back to the hustle and bustle. A part of our hearts and souls carried the imprints of that magical, quaint, peacefully breathtaking place of Paradise. 

At first, when it took us hours to reach there, my city bred, comfort and control-oriented being screamed and cursed. Just as an Earth bound soul would react with resistance at crossing over! 

As the jeep moved into the lush, silent valley, the driver too whispered a ‘Masha-Allah!’ in awe. His duty as a driver was in and around Kulu & Manali. It had never witnessed this. The Companionable solitude settled something deep within. 

As a soul stops to struggle, the beauty sinks in. Each house had golden corn cobs neatly bathing in the Gentle Sunlight. Each house connected by private cable cars over the river Tirthan. A primitive cable car roped over to take you in the house. Your luggage et al. Trust is the first emotion expected. Trust is one thing you regain, which you had lost. 

Each home, surrounded by apple orchards. Each home, an abode to a variety of gentle, guard dogs. Each home energized with the murmur of the sliding Tirthan waters. 

Exploration takes you places!

The Home-stay we stayed in was Raju’s Cottage, our host was Mr.Raju, who greeted us personally, with his dog Bhaloo. His home (to be ours too for a few days!) was a solid ancient wooden establishment to keep the freezing cold out. 

The windows thickly decorated with ivy wines. The food deliciously home-cooked by his wife. Every room filled with delicious apple juices and jams. No charge, no restrictions on when and if to eat. For a Mumbai bred, it was tough to behold, who pays a fee even for 250 milliliters of water. 

No Internet or mobile connect left only one alternative. To deal with each other and our Humanity. The sanctity of the tiny hamlet and their sleepy lanes revived something dead within. We saw children studying on the banks of the River and snacking too. 

Open Minded Learning!

We were told that each time there was sunlight, the teachers brought the kids out to catch the sun and its delights.

What a fun way to connect textbooks while soaking in nature!

No one in a hurry to go anywhere. No one pushing, no one jostling. Each one knew their role in the day. Each need so simple that hard work and trust in the Universe delivered it.

The Adventurous went Trout fishing, crystal digging deeper in Himalayas. Not to sell but to adorn their houses with Mother Nature’s bounty. 

The timelessness allowed deep reviews of lives so far. To create new promises within to what really mattered. To view inside out and find what you are deep down while you gaze the snow-capped mountains that seem to envelop you in their serenity. 

As we moved in the tinier by-lanes and interacted with the shy folks chaperoned firmly and patiently by the two Canine friends, we discovered Trust and Timeless Rapture! 

A peace that ensconced us. A permanent slice of beauty entrenched in our hearts. 

We were Reincarnated and ready to #SayYesToLife. 

We discovered a magic to let go off the Old and Embrace the New. 

We rebirth after each travel, come back to humdrum, get depleted, again find a slice of Earth neatly tucked away in hamlets and lesser known spaces on tourist maps and Rejuvenate. 

My Country India is a Theme Park in itself. It is so far my world. Each space holds a new lesson. Each terrain unfolds a vast civilization that awaits discovery and unraveling of myriad of worlds within the world.

One can give innumerable experiences and sojourns in each travel plan. The length and breadth of my country holds the freezing mountains, gushing rivers, cascading waterfalls, mysterious forests, long winding deserts, diverse cuisines and lifestyles and dialects and cultures to learn from, inculcate philosophies that do not sing for money, where ambitions have not yet shrouded everyone; dip into and carry in your heart a tune to sing when the weariness threatens extinction. 

Each time now my soul needs a review, we dig deep into our heart to conjure up a Travel experience. Each time the inner being revolts, we pack our bags, find a remote destination, and #SayYesToLife.

That then, is my answer to the question, "Why do you love the world?", that Lufthansa poses in this video: 

I may not be a World traveller but this does act as true travel inspiration! 

-Sonnal Pardiwala