Skip to main content

Wanderer

I must confess that I have a fascination for travelling. More often than not, I get excited by prospects of traveling - not just by seeing new places at the destination, but also by the journey with train journeys being my favourite. It gives me immense pleasure to see towns and cities pass by, observe people at different places, to just get a feel of places as they come and go by! As a child I used to know many trivial details about the routes I was travelling on and nearby routes and trust me, it was extremely interesting, and it keeps me interested even today!


Recently, while travelling in Delhi, I suddenly decided to take a longer route to my destination, which required to travel on metro train in all three different lines, with 2-3 stations in each line. I had no deadlines, no pressures to reach somewhere. And it was wonderful. Passing through CP, Chandini Chowk, Old Delhi - the places about which we have been hearing since childhood.

One way of looking at it can be kind of a chore. The other way is enjoying the subtleties of a seemingly boring task. at times, it seems quite surprising that there are such trivial things in this world which can fascinate us and leave us mesmerized- it can be anything ranging from sound of a river to the way the parallel railway tracks seem to meet at the horizon, but never actually meeting to things like croaking of an insect

I have a strong fascination for roaming randomly, without a particular destination in mind. There have been times when I just took out my bike and started roaming. But this has sadly, been quite limited. Maybe, I can explore few more places in near future, or just enjoy the ride without worrying about the places. One of the wishes I have (seemingly unreasonable) is to start travelling without a particular destination in mind, deciding upon destinations on impulse and just keep on exploring - not something like Forrest Gump who kept on running for 3 years, but maybe, just for few days.

I once saw in a movie - "If you want to see real India, travel in second class compartment of train, travel in buses, observe the people". Going by this parameter, I have seen a very minuscule part of India, and may see some more in next few months, but in long run I wish to explore these subtleties and differences.

Comments

  1. Interesting.

    Would like to hear about one of these trip experiences.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Shop @ Amazon

Popular posts from this blog

Gunaho ka Devta

During last few days, I had a privilege of reading one of the most accomplished works in Hindi literature - "Gunaho ka Devta" . This was the first time I read a Hindi novel after being highly recommended by 2-3 different people. I was kind of compelled to read it after initial 15-20 pages which were largely in an unfamiliar territory of Hindi literature! It is a novel set probably more than 50 years ago, and is a philosophical cum love story. It is one of those books where I can't be sure about how I feel. It is an excellently written book ( ... or maybe it was the first time I was reading a Hindi book ... but probably this is not the explanation!) , with the entire spectrum of emotions thrown in generous doses. The scenes are recreated almost poetically, emotions mentioned perfectly. But at times I am tempted to question basic assumptions of it all. At times I am tempted to say that he is preaching many things which I don't believe in, which I find improper, but the...

Om (Ctrl C-Ctrl V) Om

This is a case study in how to make a presentation or a project report in a B school. This is a study of how to copy-paste from various sources (at the same time acknowledging it) and presenting a complete package with some excellent glossy packaging! For example, the movie - Om Shanti Om had the basic template from the movie Karz. The main attraction was inspired from John Jhonny Janardan’s title track. There were generous doses of movies like Madhumati and Karan Arjun. Some traces of Maine Pyaar Kiya, some Rajnikanth movies, some Jeetendra movies, many 70s ki movies, many actors ka style and lives etc. etc. were present. Thrown in was some amount of nostalgia in order to emotionally connect with the audience. Some quotes were from various sources (The one mentioned 3-4 times was from “The Alchemist” –“ When you want something, the whole Universe conspires to help you realize your desire”!) And then all the ingredients need to be mixed in right proportion so as not to have an ...

The Shrill Voice

There was a shrill voice within, Longing to see the light With each passing moment It grew louder and bright. It didn't stay there for long As louder became its screams, Sounds of half-fulfilled wishes And long abandoned dreams. And then I asked those troubling voices What is your wish and what do you want? It spoke, and I replied -Y our wishes are unreasonable, And asking something that I can't.

Hospitality

Dictionary meaning Hospitality - 1. the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers. 2. the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way. Indians are believed to be one of the most hospitable people. It may be true to quite an extent, but there are some elements which seem strange. Say the obsession with eating, or to put it in some other way, guest eating well being a surrogate of a good, hospitable treatment. This may be more visible in interior or 'traditional' parts of country where ofter the person who is 'guest' is supposed to be 'following' or 'eating' thing served by the host. Plus there are some unwritten rules like you need to be always smiling, you need to get along well with everyone irrespective of age, believe with XYZ rules and all and blah blah. To hell with what you believe in, to hell with what you like or dislike, to hell with what you are as a person! It all rem...

National flag

Figure this - Some (publicity hungry!?) lawyer sues Mr. Narayan Murthy for showing disrespect to our national flag! Some other (publicity hungry!?) lawyer sues Sachin Tendulkar for showing disrespect to our national flag by cutting some Tiranga cake! There have been many other controversies related to insult on national flag, and pertaining to millions of code of conduct to deal with it. But, probably these two have been he most high profile ones in recent times! But all seems too idiotic to me. Probably these two persons in question have contributed million times more to the nation than those 'petitioners'. And they are being belittled on basis of doing some act which they think is a proxy for insulting national flag, which they believe is a proxy for disrespecting the country. Hadh hai ! But, a part of blame lies with the kind of laws and code of conduct that exists for national flag. Maybe, we are too much concerned about proxy for respecting a nation, than doing something c...