Art of Travelling!!!

Travelling is one thing that will surely make you know who you are...Travelling for me has never been an instantaneous pleasure. It does not come and go, but stays, like the lingering scent of fresh roses and jasmine, like the whiteness of fresh snow and then very slowly fades away in time… leaving behind some memories forever stored in the attic of my mind.
When a moment is relived in retrospection, truly one can remember only fragments of it. Sometimes,it’s as alive as a dream while sometimes, it’s just a blur. A dream like memory has to come from a very good experience indeed. And for that good experience, one has to disconnect himself from any preconceived notions about the place he visits, any reviews or any general opinion that he may have. It has to be fresh. And it has to be your own. Samuel Johnson said “the use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.’
Travelling is like a curator’s job. One has to have eyes to discover, appreciate and admire the art of living and ordinariness. To me, travelling is to experience the place, to feel the place, to see beyond what eyes can see, to understand its essence, its existence, its people and its culture. While visiting a city, one should try to live up to the expectation of the city and not the city should live up to your expectation.I have often seen people debating about which place is better. Some friends of mine were recently arguing over Delhi and Mumbai. Obviously, there were two groups supporting two different sides except for few like me who totally do not understand even the slightest relevance of this debate. A City or a place is like a person. It has its own baggage like each one of us. It has its own history, its positives, its negatives and its own complicated personality.
To judge a place without knowing its culture, its history, its people & its origin would defy the relevance of its existence. It would not be justice. To like or to dislike is a very personal affair though and I do not mean to say that people have no right to have their opinion. But all I ask is to try to understand a place rather than treating it like a showpiece in an antique shop. Travelling is not just about visiting a city,completing a checklist of all the tourist spots, clicking pictures of your family, enjoying in a fancyrestaurant, taking a flight back and uploading pictures on the facebook as soon as you get home. This is a holiday, a vacation. But travelling is much beyond that. One has to experience the worst and the best that the city offers to its people. For what would you know about Mumbai if you have never travelled in the freshly stinking local train or if you have never eaten wada pao on the roadside stall…and so goes the list…
Travelling has been my passion. And I never get bored of places somehow. I never dislike places, nor do I always like them. Every place has its own charm and every place is different. One needs to understandthe spirit and just get into it for getting to know the place better. Like it’s said “When in Rome, do as Romans do”.Its applicable for every place. So when visiting a city next time, do as they do, and you will never regret your experience.