Tag: travel learning

What goes in my head when a trip ends?

“….it ain’t me..” with its strummings and beats fill my ears as the bus whooshes towards Bangalore. Selena Gomez is good. I never realized before that she sings this well. For me, she reminds me of  ‘The Wizards of Waverly Prince’. Aah! Disney Channel back in the day.

Anyway!

“….who’s gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning…”

I’m left to think of what I’m taking back from this trip. When you’re traveling alone, a lot of these thoughts come dropping by. Of course, the extra kilos and pictures, are a given. But, what else do we take back from a trip?

What do I take back from a trip?

The feeling of this place?

A sense of exploring something new?

Another place ticked off from the checklist?

Content for my blog?

Meeting people? And friends?

What is it that I’m taking back with me?

The bus stops to pick a few more passengers. As I notice other vehicles go past ours, I try my best to form an answer.

I’ve hated the feeling of getting stuck. Of not moving. This miniature depiction of my emotion is apt. Is this the answer?

Travel helps in knowing, if I intend to, I won’t get stuck. From decisions. From questions that life throws. I might end up choosing the wrong direction. Catching the wrong bus. Missing my bus. Getting delayed. Been there, done that. Fashionably.

I can try to not confine my boundaries. And even break the ones that I’ve set. Others haven’t.

What else do I take back?

The randomness of conversations. Ones you would remember as long as you’re part of it. You’ll remember the laughter. The faces. The sadness behind those eyes that they hide. The excitement of capturing something new. The people. Yes, them. I take parts of them with me. Imagine how they’d deal with situations. Making them part of my stories. The ones I write, the ones my reveries write on their own.

What does travel teach me?

A lot. And nothing.
I’m not being vague. This is how it is.

I’ve realized people, wherever you go, end up being a lot alike than we picture them in our stereotype. Travel helps break those very stereotypes. Language never seems to be the ultimate barrier. Communication isn’t limited by the language when you want to talk, get help or help others.

Travel teaches adjustment. Type of food with varying spice levels, adjusting to ways of answering the nature’s call, sleeping in different places, talking, listening or just learning more about cultures.

Sometimes traveling sucks too. Just like life does. The edited pictures might not tell the stories of those places. And they should not. It is a different experience for each of us and is so subjective. No one can live our lives. And no one can travel for us, but we.

I Saw, I Learnt

The experience that travel brings along is something that nothing else can provide you with. Trains used to be my lifeline, while my stay in Odisha. Half of the day was spent either in them or waiting for one at the railway station. People, Language and adjustments are what you are most exposed to. You crib, you complain, you enjoy and You learn. Learn a lot.

Learning is that one aspect that we only realize on hindsight. Like they say, “You realize the true value of something, when you don’t have it”.

There are of course innumerable things and instances that may be put to light in my quest to divulge about the things that I’ve learnt upon, but I’ll limit myself to the most basic and frequently occurring events.

Travelling on unreserved seats demands a war-like situation where you need to prepare a strategy to outdo the others in your quest for a claim to the seat. Using a rumaal/newspaper has been the traditional way, Indians have been doing it for ages. But this quest has many shades, which the spectrum of things travel brings as a package.

I’ve faced this situation, many a times in trains or even in buses, if there is one thing that we just cannot leave (apart from our belongings, be it our children, wives or our luggage) is the seat in an unreserved compartment. Even to the extent of not budging an inch even for a disabled or even a women!! Yes, its true.

Give away your seat

Numerous instances have added “faith” to this belief of mine, which baffled me then, and continues to do. Every time.

One day while travelling in a bus, enjoying the brush of cool Bangalorean wind through the window, in a packed bus. I end up looking inside the bus, only to find that a blind man standing, trying to hold onto a seat. I just couldn’t stop myself. I quickly got up from my seat, only to make my co-passenger sitting on the other seat feel a little uncomfortable. Watching me leave, others rushed in, to occupy the seat I was leaving open.

Pacifying the war-for-seat, I made the blind man sit, while people just looked on.  I’m not sure that whether they felt bad for the blind man, or for not getting the seat.

Numerous times, the same incident has happened, when I made way for a woman standing in the midst of the crowded buses or trains.

I just hope, that at least one of them, just one, would have taken a cue from it, and in future would allow others the privilege of these “seats”. Even though many seats  or even a full coach of a train is earmarked for women/senior citizens/ disables, yet we can see people who clearly do not belong to any of the aforementioned categories for which the seats have been reserved, take advantage of.

Giving away your seat to elderly/disabled/women is not a big deal, try doing once. Achaa lagta hai.

Sometimes, even helping others get a place to sit also helps. Maybe some won’t listen to you, but at least trying out for something good isn’t that bad. Right ?

This is a very simple act that each of us can follow, it won’t take much. I am of the firm belief that if you do good to others, good will happen to you as well. So, just don’t think twice before leaving your seat for others.

You are the best person to teach children the value of doing right. But you too have to learn from the world around you.

This blog post was part of the I Saw, I learnt initiative of TATA CAPITAL.

I am sharing what I Saw and I Learnt at BlogAdda.com in association with DoRight .

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