I just came back from Mangalore. Attended my friend’s wedding. For once, I could see the bride and her XX relatives ‘cause they weren’t covered in gold. A huge contrast from the Mallu wedding I attended last week. Before these two, my weddings-attended tally was 5/6. I suppose the whole move to Bangalore in a month is sort of pushing me to get as many things done here before I leave. It almost makes me sound like a terminally ill patient. But from what I’ve heard, apparently B is going to be a hectic affair.
Coming back to today, the whole lure of the wedding was really the fact that I could go to M’lore and hang out with few of my old classmates, which was totally fun by the way. We all screamed and ate ice cream. :) I love traveling. I’ve to say that I wouldn’t want to travel to “see” places but to feel them. My dad’s job gave me the opportunity to travel to a few countries. I suppose if you were to look at those trips with respect to what new things I saw, they ought to be. 1) Sri Lanka: I was introduced to planes and air pockets; ayubovan; the realization that elephants existed not just in Kerala; clean cities; beautiful beaches; escalators and Buddha! 2) Western Europe: Automatic doors; public washing machines (God bless them!); American Cookies; the real Coke; Thalys; Eurostar; Trams; The English Channel; Mona Lisa; Louvre Museum; Tulips; Pickpockets; really BIG supermarkets; Mars; Snickers; Spanish Steps; Colosseum; Eiffel Tower; Mini Europe; NATO HQ etc.
You get the point. The drill is ubiquitous in such spots. Smile and Click. Over to the next sight people! For me traveling has to be more than that. It is really not about the Romans having built fountains at every junction which makes it really hard to understand Italians trying to help you when you’re lost ‘cause more often than not the landmark mentioned is a fountain. It is not about whether the Monalisa original shows her smiling or not.
From my trips, what I’ve understood other than the clichéd exposure to different cultures is that there is exposure and there is understanding. Most travel to fill up their photo albums, and I know a few of them personally. The whole point of experiencing a different culture and lifestyle seems to be lost on them.
Due to my father’s schedule, our trips were mainly restricted to the weekends and I was there for just 4 weekends. As such, we unwillingly enrolled for those darn guided tours. But the best part of our entire trip was when my dad and I ‘backpacked’ around the city of Rome. We ditched the guided tour and ended up getting lost. In Rome, there are specific bus stops for each bus, not like the generic stops that we have here. And at each stop, they’ve boards with the bus’s number on it, followed by its stops. The stop that you’re currently at will be highlighted. This was our ‘compass’. It wasn’t huge, but that was an experience that goes way beyond throwing coins into the Trevi fountain. We did not come across any famous buildings, or maybe we just didn’t realize it. But we were a part of the Roma crowd that day. It strengthens your identity so much more. Not that it pronounces you more or less Indian. But it lets you know that one can relate to people from anywhere around the world. We can share the same path. We can make our footprints on those cobbled stones together. It helps you understand. There are a lot of doors between people that have to be rendered open, automatically. |
