The Impact of Travel

"To travel is to live" – Hans Christian Andersen

It was around 6 PM. The pilot had just announced that we will be commencing our descent to Hyderabad.

I didn’t really like it.

It was the end of a 26-day long tour to New Delhi and around. In the course of this, I had seen a lot of new places and met a lot of new people. It went so fast – I felt like it was a week. It was tiring, without a doubt. And yet I yearned for more. I had got so accustomed to this deviation that I was totally unwilling to get back into the normal routine again.

What is it about travel that enchants so many people? What is the secret of wanderlust?

I remembered the stranger girl who calmly asked me directions in an overwhelmingly crowded place where she was totally lost. I remembered the American guy in the hotel who said “Shukriya” as we kept the elevator door open for a second more until he entered. I remembered being witness to the majestic Taj Mahal and its perfection on such a massive scale. And the wily salesman who sold us a fake marble showpiece (as we discovered later) right in front of it. The secret tunnels of the Agra Fort. The city of Agra, which is virtually a diamond and a ruby shining amidst an enormous stockpile of shambles. Would Shah Jahan ever have imagined that his city, the capital city of the mighty Mughal empire would one day be reduced to these ruins 400 years later, compared to other cities in the vicinity?

Travel is more than just looking at new places. It introduces you to so many varied kinds of people and their customs, their traditions and their ways of life. Sometimes, it even takes you to a different era. It gives you a real idea of how diverse and huge the world is beyond your regular lifestyle. It gives you the urge to break out of your comfort zone and try new things in a figurative sense as well – which is something one definitely needs to do if they have to achieve something great.

I think one of the best decisions I made during this tour was not to switch on the internet in my phone at all. It feels great to stay disconnected. You feel like you can’t live without a constant update on what’s happening in the world but trust me; sometimes it’s actually the other way round.

Travelling makes you introspect. It makes you know yourself better. It makes you grow.

And this was just the impact of travelling to another city within my country. Who knows what more I’ll come across when I travel the whole world?

(and hopefully Mars too :P)

This pic was taken by me during the tour

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

A Language Beyond Words

Music is truly one of the most beautiful creations of nature. It has become so ingrained into our lives that it is virtually impossible to imagine a world without music. It’s one of those things in the background that are not technically essential for life – like water, oxygen or food – and yet, it forms one of the cornerstones of our existence. Man simply wouldn’t have evolved if he had never learnt how to create or appreciate music.

Music is there all around us. The chirping of a bird and the falling of raindrops has never failed to enthral humans since time immemorial. Eventually, music has spread far and wide and diversified itself into innumerable genres – though they are all connected by an invisible strand that appeals to the very basic senses of the human mind.

Back during my school days, the Backstreet Boys were a worldwide rage – I used to love listening to them on MTV. Bollywood songs were also a favourite of mine – who can forget the melody of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge? My interest in music really grew after my Mama gifted me an MP3 player. Yes, remember the rather thick USB player of the last decade, with a single-line monochrome LCD screen? They met their death rather quickly, as iPods and smartphones took over. So that’s when I started downloading songs and trying out different genres. Linkin Park (of course!) and Nickelback were among my first favourites (they still are).

I learnt to play the keyboard at around nine years of age. It was a favourite pastime of mine back then – I had a tiny beginner’s keyboard, the one with two octaves. Even now, even after about twelve years, I still play it occasionally. It gives a particular feeling nothing else in the world can ever match with. I always wanted to play the guitar but never got around to doing it so far, but in the future, I’m still very much interested!

With the advent of the Internet, we now have the choice of listening to music from virtually any part of the world, just at the touch of a button. The music of a certain place tells us a lot about its culture and tradition – and it’s amazing to be able to explore so much right from the comfort of our homes. Initially, I was a fan of Hindi and English music. Being in Hyderabad, I listen to a fair amount of Telugu music too though I’m not very fluent with the language – nevertheless, it’s fantastic! But recently, I discovered some amazing Indonesian (Peterpan!) and Korean bands as well. Some of the Arabic singers are really good too. Music blurs the borders between cultures – it takes everyone in its midst. Thus, I reckon it’s indeed a universal language, if ever there was one – a language beyond words.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.