Monday, September 1, 2008

Travelling...Peace

Till sometime back, I never thought that certain places can be so tranquil. In my earlier post about Kerala, I had mentioned that I've never felt as peaceful as I did when I was rowing this boat in the backwaters there. I mean you could literally hear a pin drop. It made me re-think my priorities in life.

I've started appreciating the smaller and finer things in life. There is so much more to do, so much to learn and so much to see. Travelling is one of my passions. I mean if it were upto me, I would just do that for the rest of my life. Switch off my mobile phone, and abscond. Here, I've to come back to the money factor. You need the green, for everything. So its a catch 22. No Money, no Honey..i mean no travelling!!

Anyways, without drifting away from the topic, its imperative that one gets to travel. Ofcourse, it depends on each one's priorities. I sometimes feel that our whole life becomes ironic; we work so hard to strive for those very things and then never get the time to experience them. Well, i am definitely going to try n live out my travelling dream.

A perfect case in point: I recently saw this movie called 'A Good Year' *ing Russell Crowe. He's a hot-shot investment broker with a fancy job in London. He inherits a Chateau in France, from his uncle, where he had spent his childhood, (wish i had an uncle like that). Goes there with a view to restore the Chateau, sell it and come back to his job in London.

So he tries his hand at making wine and, meets his childhood love there. He goes back briefly to his job in London when his employers become impatient, but decides thats not what he wants to do. Gives up his job and goes back to the Chateau. First of all, what is the deal with France. Its an unbelievable setting. No wonder all women become weak in the knees when the word 'France' is mentioned. After seeing that movie, am in love with the bloody place. There's a particular scene in the movie where Crowe and Marion Cottilard are sitting in this park; there's a live band playing some awesome music, with a projector screen at the back showing some clippings from some old black and white movies and to top it all, you have some bottles of wine on the table. I think this was one of the most peaceful settings i've ever seen in my life. I am going there for sure. The movie ends with them having breakfast on the patio of the Chateau, overlooking the vineyards. Perfect....

Though the movie didn't do too well at the box office, it gave me a good insight into some of the things i want from life. Travelling, is right up there!!

(My inspiration for this post has been a song called 'Goodbye Lenin' by Yann Tiersen. It makes you connect to similar surroundings as the Chateau. )

Acknowledgements to Mayank for this amazing song. I would highly recommend it.

1 comment:

Parul said...

If you really like traveling that much and the green is an issue (aren't they for all of us???), you do have the option of trying for 'Travel & Living', 'Discovery', etc. You would really be doing what you love then!

There are so many places in India that really touched me, Kerala being one of them. Munnar was a real favorite (of course the location of the guest house didn’t hurt either). Somehow, I really didn’t really enjoy Alleppey that much. The mosquitoes were enjoying me instead (idiots forgot to load appropriate amount of fuel)! The only area in India that I haven't visited (apart from Lakshadweep and A&N islands) is NE India. Hopefully I will be able to rectify that blunder in the near future...

Out of all my travels the one place that REALLY stood out was believe it or not, Sanchi Stupa. After that long trek up the hill, we were all panting once we got there. But the view and the vibes that we got at that spot were amazing. Of course, this was approximately a decade ago so I hope that there has been no development in the valley (fools hope really). I was in a really different place in life then but the way it bought a sense of peace and perspective into me was just so profound. I would highly recommend it!

A disturbing trend that I have noticed is how some people prefer to go abroad during their holidays. I have a friend whose nephew refuses to vacation anywhere in India. They took him to a hill station recently and he spoilt the entire trip by complaining endlessly. What these poor lost souls don’t realize is that they travel the entire world in search of that ‘something new, something hip’ when it is right there….waiting at home for you.