Wish we could turn back time!

“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets” ~ Oscar Wilde.

19th March, 2020. This was the day when I had laid my foot on the streets for the last time. Yes, it has been 4 months since I had seen the world outside my home. I don’t seem to remember a single day during this lockdown when I had not thought about how my life would have been had this entire corona virus fiasco not taken place. Trust me; it would have been quite eventful. But as it is, like many of you, I had to cancel all my travel plans for 2020.

So, I thought this would be a good time to relive those good old days and ponder about the few places that I have travelled to so far.

• “The best view comes after the hardest climb”

The sheer feeling of accomplishment and happiness you get once you reach the summit is kind of difficult to explain in words. The silence is so intense that once can actually hear his/her heart pumping. All the adrenaline rush and "don't give up"s that you told yourself during the journey start making sense.

I can recall my trek to the Bhrigu lake last year when we had to trek 6 hours before we reached the lake/summit. Needless to say, the view was beautiful. The Lake with the reflection of the surrounding mountains was a delight to the eyes. Most importantly, all the fatigue and negativity had vanished. The same person who was taking a 10 minute break after every 5 minutes of trekking was running around throwing snowballs. It is really amazing how once you reach the top everything becomes better- the food gets tastier, the water becomes sweeter and so on!

• Thinking out of the box?

Not everything goes according to the plan during a trip. Even if you are not an avid traveler, you can relate with that sentence. In all such situations, coming up with solutions is important.

A very funny incident that comes to my mind as I write this took place during a Nature Study Camp in Mouray Forests of North Bengal which I had attended when I was in class 8. Let me see if I can narrate the whole thing in short even though I am not quite if that’s relevant. It was during one of the night outs when we teens were unable to maintain the fire we had lit. As it was getting late and we had to cook the rice as instructed, a guy came up with a ‘not so brilliant’ plan. The way we eventually ended up cooking rice was to use the deodorants we were carrying to maintain the fire.

There will always be situations one isn’t familiar with and those are all parts of the journey.

• Trying new things!

There have been quite a number of instances when I had to leave my comfort zone. Also, many a times, I have seen my friends leave theirs as well, mostly in a quest to attempt something new. This, I guess, is one important aspect of traveling.

In 2018, I experienced Paragliding for the first time at some place near Nainital, Uttarakhand. Well, I am not afraid of heights but when all my friends backed out from it at the last minute, I did think twice before making an attempt. I had closed my eyes as I ran towards the edge of the cliff not knowing when the ground beneath my feet would disappear. But believe me, once you have experienced the skies, you’ll always want to go back.

• Little things matter.

One of the best parts about the camps I used to go to as a child was that the local kids who lived near our camp site would join us as campers. They had better knowledge than anybody else about the area and the interactions with them were really interesting. But what still fascinates me was how content they were and how they celebrated the small things in life. I remember, in one such camps, seeing the kids play a strange game with a tire and a stick, something none of us had seen/played ever. We indeed gave it a try and failed miserably.

There are always some incidents while travelling which leave a long lasting impression on you. There are many such small incidents from those camps which still reside in my head and pop up from time to time.

Whenever I discuss my journeys with my friends after coming back, it indeed gives rise to some interesting conversations especially when someone has visited the same place before. And most of the times, their stories contain elements quite different from mine. This is something that intrigues me. It shows that we can never fully absorb a place. Well, I think I will stop writing here even though there’s a lot I want to write!

I just hope everything returns back to normal soon and I can get to pack my bag again!

So, till the next story, ciao!

____________________________________________________

In case you want to read my other stories, click here.

Currently reading: The Lost Symbol.

Go check out my science blog: The Qrius Rhino