As I walk along the muddy narrow streets and the hot air brushes across my sun burnt cheeks I can feel beads of sweat swarming my forehead and my temples. I cannot comprehend whether it is the desert heat or the newness of my presence there. Whatever it might be, I knew it was an experience, either one to be savored or one to be disheartened from. However at times it does not matter what the genre of experience it is, but what actually holds confidence is the experience itself for it always leaves an impact.
Travelling is an experience which comes with its pros and cons but at the end of the day, when you lay down for sleep, be it on a bed, a sleeping bag, an air mattress, a bench, an airplane seat, or even on the grass, you feel like a human being, one that is alive with all its senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste even if you are not blessed with one or the other. It makes you sit in the front seat of a roller coaster whether you like it or not and lets you enjoy the ride as you go up and down along the waves of life and change.
Travelling does not necessarily depend on the physical destination and its meaning also is not only derived from here in fact in my opinion it is everywhere and everything which is different and that is but travel for me. Be it different cultures, different people, different sights, different landscapes, different languages, different cuisines, different religions, different ideologies and many more differences, it always inculcates that differences do not tell us apart in fact they bring us together and they should. Without differences there would not be any progress, there would not be any excitement or curiosity or even the will to move forward. Thus differences are to bring us together, not to tell us apart.
As you traverse along unknown roads and numerous cities, you come across a wide variety of humans and their own unique ways and perceptions that often differ from your own. You learn to accept them and to respect them and everyone around you. It makes you a different, a better person. You learn to give significance to the people in your life because you are given significance. You learn how numerous people in this world, many that you don’t even know might love and care for you in endless ways. It makes you feel like a better being altogether.
Travelling like any other experience is not always a positive one. At times you learn many important survival tactics. You learn how to be patient and tolerant, how to survive in a crisis, to make the best of it and also find solutions to the problems that you encounter on your way. After learning these problem-solving skills you learn about the practical world and gain the confidence to deal with it and its people in various ways. Thus you become accustomed to a variety of personalities and their psychology and the ways to deal with them.
More than that you feel relaxed and tranquil. More often than not you get a little time off from the usual routine and get to take a little detour. At times it isn’t the most restful and can be tiring and stressful but in my opinion that is the healthy stress that you take. Physically in fact it improves your stamina of MANY MANY things. Be it the stamina of sitting in one place for many hours, or bearing a talkative fellow traveler or waiting on the side of the road while being stranded in an unknown landscape, this is all but an adventure of another kind. At times it also gives you time to follow your forgotten passions and ambitions, to socialize with various people and often at times expand your social circle and make new friends.
However for a true traveler it is always more than this materialism. It is the love, care, support, hardship, spiritualism and the friendship that he learns for and craves. It is the constant road, sky and the landscape that keeps him going. And as he travels along infinite roads, valleys, towns and highways, he sees life, beauty and love springing in places, all the way through the darkness and vices. He feels alive and grounded. For in the greatest unknown, the greatest of mysteries are resolved and what is man if not a mystery.
The Genres of Life 