You Can't Walk Before You Crawl

As I approach the five-month mark, I have come to regard myself less like a holiday-er and more like a traveller. At one month, I was shocked by the overload of India and still unsure of whether I would be able to sustain life over here for the time I had told myself I would before leaving home. After two months, I had perfected a system for packing and moving, I had grown accustom to hard beds, frequent power outages and I let my taste buds and stomach do the judging of food and not my eyes. Two months would usually signal the end of the longest of holidays, but this was still just a formation. At the end of three months, I could deal with any form of transportation from train to tractor and many a stern stare in my direction could be broken down with a friendly smile and a Namaste. I had settled into a rhythm and I saw myself as well and truly in long-term-travelling territory. At four months, I could say that I was completely comfortable - out of the ordinary has become ordinary. The goal isn't to cross sights off a list or snap the oldest temple or the highest pass. Although these amazing things just happen to be along the way, there is more a desire to converse, to observe, to admire and absorb the soul of places rather than just the statistics they have attached.

To be a ‘traveller’ (for me) is to be able to create routines despite being constantly on the move and it involves adapting to each new environment through making real connections and affecting the foreign environment/ habitat with something of myself. It also implies redrawing the limits of my comfort, and not just surviving the journey, but thriving in it. To last the distance, I've had to take things slow. It might sound ridiculous, but sightseeing becomes more like a job and you need to take a break from it and live life as though you have lived in the place for years. Otherwise you’ll burn out from it, or worse, become desensitised to the majesty and beauty that surrounds you.

Learning to cope with the limitless inconveniences and frustrations of travelling and come out of these situations smiling is a skill that has been refined over these past months. The first thing that becomes quickly apparent is that a structured approach or any plans whatsoever, are never final. It’s not so much leaving decisions to the last minute, but in many instances, it means having to delay decision making or simply going with the flow and letting outside circumstances decide your fate for you. In these cases, fighting against what the Universe has in store is futile.

Constantly changing variables and negotiating immersion into a new culture every few days has become everyday life. In India, arriving in a new place, as soon as you exit the bus, you have to quickly assess your new environment and its people and make decisions on the fly. Moving states or cities equals new customs, new food and new local dress, sometimes new religious beliefs – completely new vibe. You have to gauge people around you – whom do I want to speak to, whom to avoid at first. But at the same time, you have to be open-minded and not avoid every tout or person who makes contact first. Sometimes the first contact could be the most valuable relationship for the time you spend in that town.

Being polite has served us well and I like to think it has even been a sort of protection for us in many ways, without being naïve. We have had what would seem like incredible strokes of luck, but it all comes down to conversation and first impressions. People who we have crossed paths with, have come back to us in a round about way, and we have had mutual benefits from the meeting – either be it finding a comfortable place to stay, needing their help in finding transport and revealing local secrets, hidden around corners opening our eyes to the intricacies of a city or the pulse of town. 

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late, or in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same; there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that or not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”