Why Do I Travel?

There may be as many reasons to travel as the number of states in Incredible India. Robert Louis Stevenson said he travels for travel’s sake. One of the reasons I travel is to be in rhythm with my master and mentor, nature - to see sunrises and sunsets in the most picturesque settings, to be one with birds, bees and butterflies, to feel the heat and cold of the desert, to listen to the gurgling streams and brooks, to see the darkness of night, to inhale the scent of the pine. As Marcel Proust has said, the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. 

My peregrinations have taken me to the rainforests of Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh, with tall trees having canopies so thick that sunlight cannot infiltrate; to the indescribably enchanting Valley of Flowers, reached after an arduous soul-sapping trek; to the exalted heights of Ladakh where there is an astonishing sight at every twist and turn of the road; to the exhilarating expanse of salt and sand in Kutch; to the blue and green lagoons of Andaman Islands and a lot more. 

Planning a journey is half the fun if not more - the details that go into constructing the itinerary, deciding on what goes into the bag and what stays out, having a plan B just in case... But as Lao Tzu has said – A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. Losing the sense of time can be a joyful experience, leading to serendipitous discoveries.

Mark Twain wrote - “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts”. Indeed, travel can bring about such a transformation. Travel has honed me in three virtues – tolerance, patience and perseverance; toleration of the idiosyncrasies of fellow travellers; patience when a 60 hour train journey stretches to 84 hours because of derailment; perseverance when the light is not good for the perfect picture. 

Every trip is a project and to travel is to live. Perhaps travelling helps me to do my projects better and to live better.