Travelling Makes You Richer
A friend of mine told me ‘Travelling makes you richer, in the aftermath of conversation about my recent trip. So, I thought of sharing the richness I attained through the trip. I dedicate this to her because she is the ‘Adam and Eve’ of my thoughts I used to engineer this blog. Thanks a lot ‘N’.
La belle dame sans merci is a French phrase which means The Beautiful Lady Without Merci, was one of the most fascinating work by John Keats. Although the beautiful lady in his portrayal is different from the one I believe. The phrase made me put my goblet of thoughts around it.
Life, in my opinion, is the La belle dame. It is the most beautiful and skillful teacher without any mercy, who tests you throughout your life, to make you successful in so-called LIFE again. But it is an out of box kind of teacher, it first tests and then teaches you the lesson.
Beauty is a description of the work. If someone is looking beautiful it means they are just ‘looking beautiful’, and the actual credits to that adjective will be owned by his/her creator. Your actual beauty is described by how much you will be yourself (which itself resembles all your work, on the small trip to this planet). If you want to say life is beautiful, you need to consider its work, which is actually your journey from your mother’s womb to your own tomb.
And it’s without mercy because no matter how deep you succumb to your wounds in the process, it just shows you the lesson and leaves you alone like a strong breeze pass over you leaving your hair scrambled but giving you a sense of relief, just after its departure. It’s up to you to learn or mourn. Remember the best teacher never spoon feed you anything.
So, in my recent trip, this teacher had taught me some lessons through small moments which I want to share. BTW, I went to Rajasthan :).
We went by train to Jaisalmer from Ajmer. Initially, I was frustrated about the train journey in the mid-afternoon. My friends said we have no other option, so we boarded the train. Add-on to this is, I couldn’t sleep due to the heat and my playlist was in a loop, try to know when his master will give him some rest. A couple was sitting beside us, locals basically. We had a conversation like this
Husband — Where are you from?
Me-Hyderabad.
Husband- ohh, nice. My son is working there in X company (leading pharma company)
Me-wow, that’s nice.
Husband- He was graduated from IIT Chennai (IITs are colleges many engineers dream to study, in India).
When he is saying this, I observed his face, he is so proud and happy. I just imagined how proud my father would be, with my achievements. I just felt like talking to my dad immediately. And we had a good conversation throughout and we waved our hands in Pali.
After some time, in Jodhpur, two ladies from the Netherlands boarded the train. We had a conversation that deserves a place in my auto-biography for sure ;) and these two guys even. You can call them N and S. That conversation taught me a lot of things. But to start the conversation I had a mini-battle inside me (typical Indian guy), which I won ultimately. But there will be a moment where you will be on the edge thinking to do it or not(shall I talk or don’t talk). That moment, you will remember for a long time, if you succeed in doing what you thought. That very moment will be like yourself standing on a small wooden log, balancing your weight while crossing that.
And we said bye to each other in Jaisalmer.
If I had argued with my friends and avoided this train journey, I would have missed all of these. “Everything happens for a reason, wait till the end if you want to rate the movie correctly”.
We met a hotel manager in Jaisalmer, he was very generous and very helpful. He arranged an auto for roaming inside the city and arranged a car for going to the desert camp. We were locked in his generosity and eventually ended up spending way more than what we planned. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn”
In Jodhpur, while we are crossing the road a kid came near me to sell small key chains, in the mean process he forgot to see the vehicle coming towards him, fortunately, he was in my reach and I dragged him towards me. I asked how much it costs, he said 30. I gave him money and haven’t bought the key chain. That kid was first confused but later understood and gave a smile when I left him. “Small things matter the most”.
We met a guide in Mehrangarh Fort. He is the oldest guide there, throughout our journey. There is no insider who hasn’t greeted him. There were instances where he told us, what is being portrayed and what is actual truth were for some places inside the fort. He is a retired teacher and at that age, he is still doing some work, without giving up. FYI, Mehrangarh Fort is a 12 storey Fort. He even works as a translator for archaeology departments. After he completed the tour inside the fort, one of the members of org came to greet him and said: “you were lucky to have him as a guide, you met the most experienced guide we have currently( 30 years)”. Later we took a picture with him and waved our hands. “Respect is something you can’t buy, you should earn it”.
In Jaisalmer, we were in a position where we need to eat south Indian food or we may end up with health issues. And an auto driver showed us a guy, who is selling south Indian tiffins on a small 4 wheeler( which has a flat surface where you keep vessels and moved by 4 wheels supporting it). I first thought it wouldn’t be tasty and unhygienic. But later ended up eating sambar-idly and dosa. And we found Noah in Jaisalmer. “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.
We met a guide in Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur. We call him one king nine queens guide. Because that's the longest phrase he spoke in which all are English words. He is an English guide by profession. After listening to his explanation, I understood survival in India is not tough at all. He calls himself an English guide but he only knows very few words in English through which he is managing his profession. Fortunately, I can speak Hindi, but one of my friends in our group can only stargaze if someone speaks in Hindi. So, I became an English/Telugu translator for an English guide. “Believe in yourself, survival is not that tough”.
I missed sunrise in Jaisalmer due to lack of sleep on the previous night, but in Udaipur, I haven’t done the mistake twice. Seeing the sunrise I felt like even being such a big, enormous guy he is still a kid inside. Coming out of mountains and clouds like a child who just started walking in his life and we are watching it happily without missing a moment like a mother watching her child when he starts walking to reach her.
At the end of the trip when we are leaving Rajasthan, we were sad. Not because we were not satisfied because we should get back to the routine in no time leaving this paradise. But deep inside my heart I know I learned a lot of new things, gained good friends. It made me richer than before. With this richness, I cannot buy estates or buildings but acquired a lot of wisdom which makes me a better person.
Try to go on a trip with friends at least once in your lifetime. Because there will be memories you will have through that trip that are priceless.
Disclaimer — A lot of things in this blog are my opinions and the reader has complete freedom to disagree on that. So, be happy don’t think seriously if at all you find something ambiguous.
With this — — — — — — SatyaAditya signing off.
