beyond and back

The past 6 weeks has had me travelling almost non-stop across the length of India. Across paddy fields, treeless plains, hills tonsured of vegetation, snow sheeted slopes, shaky bridges, bustling towns breaking into cities, moffussils bulging into towns. Through freezing chill, stifling heat and invited monsoons. To welcoming courtyards, cosy tents, old, asbestos roofed furnace like rooms, unfamiliar yet doting foster grandmothers, fawning relatives, inquisitive acquaintances, rusty, old friends, feisty mountainfolk, laidback but opportunistic small town businessmen. Lives were led in such varied and myriad forms that I felt India is but an assortment of cultures, habits, sensitivities; the boundaries are beyond the horizon.

Travelling alone for most of the time my mind was engaged; there was very little time for boredom. Solitude and introspection made happy bedfellows. Strangely because one is always alone and the other into his thoughts. Still when you are with them something stirs you up like freshly brewed coffee, wafting into your consciousness and opening heavy lids. Of neatly stacked boxes preserving the spices of life. She - your life - was bland, you realise, and merrily, hurriedly usher in the flavours. They say when this happens you evolve, become more of a man, grow up or rediscover the child in you. Whatever it is, when you get to here, anything is possible.

I can vouch that citypeople, shorn of the support systems of an urban lifestyle, can get listless and cranky beyond a point. Boredom, insecurity about not being in public eye rear their heads sooner rather than later. Personally though I shall treasure the people and places and the experience of spending time alone because it told me a lot about myself. I realised my roots are flimsy. Like those of puny shrubs in loose soil. The next shower can uproot me, wash me away into oblivion. As much as I need to grow taller I've to dig deeper. For stronger roots. For a stronger home.

P.S: I just couldnt think of anything to write on my trek and other trips I made. But surely, as the mood sets in, I'll tell you of la vie fabuleuse de le satyajit