I have been in an extremely cluttered space of mind off late. There are so many career options, so many things you want to do, so many places you want to travel to, and sometimes things just don’t fall into place the way you’d want them to. I wanted to backpack in the Himalayas after graduation was over, and spent months trying to convince my parents to let me, unfortunately to no relent. I was disappointed, annoyed and went on ranting about how I was now ‘21 years of age’ and still didn’t have the freedom to choose. But they had a strong point too, you know. You can’t let your daughter take off like a hippie, especially in a country like india, not to mention north India, which is definitely not one of the safest places around. They very willingly suggested I go abroad and visit a country where we had family friends or relatives, so they won’t be as tensed about my safety. But I didn’t want to take off from Bombay, which is an urban jungle, and land up in a place like Singapore or Kuala Lampur, which aren’t very different either. I wanted to go on a nature trail, relax, reflect, write, click pictures and maybe shoot a documentary if an interesting subject came along. I’ve always believed travelling inspires you more than anything else. You meet different kinds of people, are exposed to different cultures, even though nobody really teaches you anything, you end up learning so much just by absorbing things from the environment. There are times I’ve wished instead of doing a 3 year graduation course, i should’ve just travelled the world for the 3 years. I believe I would’ve learned much more and would’ve grown into a different person altogether.
But yes, education is important, but you know what, so is travel, more than you realize.
Sometimes I wish more than anything else that this country was a little more safe. Safe enough for a woman to be travelling alone and her parents not having to worry about her safety every minute of the day.
Let’s just be hopeful. Someday maybe my wish will come true.
