A Blind Date with Stories #TheBlindList
I am a story chaser. My travel bucket list is not in terms of destinations but in terms of stories that I churn out of the travels. The destination is the same for the whole wide world but what you squeeze out of it is your personal collection. Over the time my store repertoire has been increasing exponentially. I am satiated by people I meet and things I discover by venturing on blind dates with the destination.
During my trek to Nagtibba, I met with some wonderful people. While the trek was preplanned, meeting those people wasn’t. We camped together, trekked together, dug out shit holes and sang songs around the bonfire. While I sulked about my corporate job, they shared the intricacies of their high paying jobs. While I thought I was courageous enough to go on a trek with strangers, I met another girl far younger to me. There were all sorts of discussions and everyone poured their hearts out without any inhibition. There was no shame or fear and that’s when I realized how important it is to #SayYesToTheWorld
On the same trek, I got a proposition from a village woman to marry her son. She thought I was beautiful enough to be her daughter-in-law. She regaled me with all lucrative offerings. We had tea together and even with the language limitation, we communicated so well with each other. The events of that day conspired into such an eventful story that we still joke about it on the WhatsApp group. If I hadn’t taken that blind path I would have deprived my life of such an exciting story.
Leave aside the mountains the ruins of Hampi have been generous to me as well. The plan was to unwind, relax and ruminate over life but Hampi had other plans for me. While I was roaming around alone in Hampi I met not one but two other female solo travellers. What are the odds of that, none I guess? But my blind date with Hampi made me cross paths with two strangers who in no time became such good friends. As I write this I can clearly reminisce how surprised we all were to bump into each other. By the side of river Tungabhadra, three of us sat together, watched the sunset and drank tea.
The backwaters of Kerala made me meet Melissa. Melissa made a huge revelation to me about my own country. She came all the way from France to India to treat her eyes by Ayurvedic treatments. India is a frontrunner when it comes to Ayurvedic treatments but I never realized the impact was so monumental. Her story was a testament that no matter what there will always be something that you would unveil about your own country. My ignorant self just didn’t bag another story but also got enlighted with the accomplishments of my own country. If I hadn’t taken that blind turn on the canoe in the backwaters I would have never met Melissa and I would have been forever ignorant of such colossal facts about my own country.
Irrespective of the geographies I have been fortunate in curating stories all across the country.
I feel blessed to be bestowed with enough courage to take those blind turns that have inundated me with love and warmth. As I travel to one destination, the itch to plan another one from the bucket list starts. My stories are my travel inspiration. The enriching experience compels me to create more and more #Blindlist and venture on them.
My stories are my real treasure. I plan to pass them to my kids. Such is the shelf life of stories. They live with you and they live beyond you. So say #YesToTheWorld and create your own story.
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