Dreaming…
I feel like I should be writing something beautiful and thought provoking. Isn’t that what travel is supposed to do?
My definitions of ‘travel’ have changed a little bit in the past few years. From the resolution of at least 5 new places every year, I have come down to ‘visit at least 5 places every year’. Last year sucked, travel-wise. I did not even make it to Goa. Last year was all about Mumbai actually. And I did get to see interesting sides of the city. And then there were those one-day trips and weekend jaunts. Can’t really complain… but I do.
Because I really miss that big adventure.
When we graduated from college, a friend and me made an ambitious plan to backpack across India. Two girls, with vague plans in India, in peak summer, planned to cover most of west and south India, and some parts of the East. The plan got shelved because that was the kind of adventure that a lot of people were interested in. More people joined in and it got complicated. Expenses went up. “It is summer, we need AC trains!” one said, so the price of travel nearly doubled in one shot.
“We are girls. We need to book good hotels beforehand,” another said and thereby the adventure was gone, along with more expenses. Things went this way till I dropped out of frustration and the plan just fell apart.
But the idea still comes up to haunt me now and then. The fact also remains that the girl I had originally planned this with is one of the few people in the world who would be the perfect backpacking companion. I don’t know if this idea remains practical in India… but it does haunt me. I dream of times when I could just load up my bags into my car and set out.
The summer heat is slowly building and it is barely even March yet. I dread the long summer months and wishing something would come through so I could escape into winter down under.
