Explorer fellowship – a journey that started with fear and anxiety but ended with happiness and ecstasy. Unknown to each other we started our journey in the quest of exploring our country. Destination was not known and path, full of obstacles. Inexperienced and immature as we were, we started our journey by boarding our first train to Jaipur. This was our first vacation out with friends. With courage in our heart and smile on our face we started exploring an unfamiliar land. But people were kind and gave in all their efforts to make us feel homely. Slowly and steadily we started opening, enough to start a conversation with a bystander. Introvert as we were called before the start of our journey, mature as we ended it. A sense of understanding, oneness and unity began to cultivate in us.
Our love for science and math never allowed us to like any other subject especially history. But memorizing the series of events and dates seemed like a cup of tea when we explored the forts and museums. Everything seemed like a movie screening, delight to heart. Taj Mahal, the historic symbol of love, mesmerized us. Fatehpur Sikhri showed us Anarkali’s death escape. We wondered how mere stones and walls could tell us tales as we stepped into the majestic fort of Golconda. Not just the fort but the neighbourhood too lit up by its charisma.
From the early morning drives to the sweaty afternoon stroll to the brisk walk by the dawn enthralled us. Dreams engulfed us as soon as we laid on the bed. From climbing the rocky forts of Jaipur to rafting in the turbulent blue water in Dehradun to walking through the grassy green plains of Guwahati to the sandy beaches of Goa, our trip captivated us.
Something that we will miss the most is the flavours that we savoured on the trip. From home-cooked food to mesmerising fancy restaurants, we had the best tastes one can imagine on such a journey. The food capital, Hyderabad did just to the non-veg admirers. We heard that we can get the hang of a place by the food served there and we saw it come true before our eyes.
People around the country are amazing. Yeah, we can surely use that adjective for the folks. The ‘culture’ a place has defines the ‘people’ that live there. The people there overwhelmed us with the culture they represented. Many a times we met many people who went out of their way to help us. India is versatile indeed.
Like every coin has two sides, we too faced many ups and downs. Due to riots around Sikkim, we had to cancel it. But like every cloud has a silver lining, we learnt many new things from it, an experience that would always be remembered. The happiness of being around with friends outshined all the bad memories.
As we concluded this beautiful journey our face smiled but our eyes were wet. It was a trip of a lifetime for us. If footprints can be left on the sands of time, we walked a thousand miles…
