Finding My Happy Pill

I was always adventurous. Though I was never the best at anything, I tried my hand (and leg) at everything. I signed up for sports that I could never qualify for, I wrote poems that no-one read, I researched about things that no-one told me about, I drew, I stitched, I handcrafted, I even studied. I wanted to try everything and be everywhere. Maybe I was just rebelling - against my strict 'desi' parents, against people who called me 'teeti pandaram' (vernacular slang for overeater), against teachers who had a problem with me talking to 'boys', against society who had a problem with a girl being so 'hyper'. So I did everything a little more. Don't get me wrong, I had a good childhood - I don't have any major traumatic story that I needed to escape from - but then, why did I always long to be free?

Poem prefacing my Travelogue, written by me in 2015

The first time I felt that wind beneath my wings was when I moved to Mumbai on my own for 6 months for my internship, as part of my bachelors in Architecture. Just walking around the city, exploring on my own was so...freeing. In the few months, some of my friends and I, travelled to whatever parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan we could with our limited budget and time off. The anonymity that new places gave was so empowering. I had found my drug and I was hooked.

 

Few pages from my Travelogue, mapping my trips in and around Mumbai

Travelling on a budget almost automatically made me a conscious traveller. Friday evenings, I went directly from office to the train station and after visiting places over the weekend, walked out of the train and into the office on Monday mornings. Most of the time I travelled in the general compartment. The extremely crammed, noisy, ladies’ compartment was an experience in itself. I sat anywhere I could by taking up as little space I could – on the luggage rack, on the floor, on the footboard – to accommodate people from all walks of life. I think these journeys are where I shed all my inhibitions and learnt to accept people as they are. My friends and I usually stayed at homestays, as they were more affordable. We relied largely on the locals’ and auto-drivers’ knowledge to show us around the place, and I learnt to trust the process, to have fun while being cautious and to let go of things I cannot control.

Memories of our hitch-hike to Mt.Abu

I use to hate history as a student (we had 3 years of history of architecture also as a subject in college). I never understood the point of studying it. But when I started travelling, I started 'Googling' the history and culture of the place I was in, and that curiosity even led me to even pursue my Masters in Architectural History and Theory! When I walked through the immaculate marble carvings in the Dilwara temples in Mount Abu, ferried across the Arabian Sea to Elephanta Caves and rode through the living fort of Jaisalmer, I saw the centuries of stories on the walls that stood quietly all this time. Even though I have been to many more places since then, those first few experiences fueled my passion and confidence, and will always be my most special memories.

Of all the places I have been to, the one place I want to revisit is Triund, in Dharamshala. Sleeping under the stars after a short trek and waking up to the views of the snow-clad mountains is something I can never get enough of. With every place I go, I try to be a little more conscious of the impact each of us has on everything around us. It would probably be an understatement to say that travelling changed my life. It made me what I am today, and every new place and people, keeps changing me. Travelling made me realize I do not have to be the best, I only have to be happy. So I do it a little more.