Bharath and I are heading off to Mia Cucina for lunch before we drive to the venue.In 3 hours I get to meet everyone… Nothing about how I am feeling just the thought that Bharath and I will have fun no matter what and we will spend time with each other( long due!) and with all the other participants.

Best of luck to all of you.

Cheers!

Its human trait to settle down in places, make units and grow. But I think its more a human tendency to get up and leave, to leave and wander. Be it in mind or body. I have always wondered why we need to travel? What are we in search of?
We tend to reminisce about our travels and memories. Put it into words or cinema- a way of expressing what the road can do to us. How traveling can change the way you think and see. For Bharath and I (and most other people I know) movies and books with a travel twist seem to inspire us into thinking more than just about ourselves and gives us an insight into people, places and how everyone sees lives from different perspectives.

I thought it would be nice to give you a little insight on our favorite travel movie and travel book.

On the Road
Jack Kerouac’s autobiographical novel is all about life and seizing the day. Part of the beat generation the novel was about the characters of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty racing around America with a backdrop of sleepy small towns, rural wilderness and endless deserts all linked by the road. It was a need to get out, find freedom liberated from any notion or ideology. Having one and only one philosophy and that was LIFE. Bharath says this is his favorite travel book because of simply that. That it is about what you see and how you are on the road.
Trivia : Beatnik was a culture which started out as an expression of alienation of from mainstream american values and experimentation with travel, drugs and eastern philosophy. Beatnik culture paved the way to ’ Hippie’

Falling off the Map:
Pico Iyers travel essays on ‘lonely places of the world, this book definitely transports the reader to the streets of N Korea, Cuba, or Paraguay with plenty of funny moments, at the same time giving insight into the political or geographical isolation of these countries. At every corner Pico seems to find the ironic and definitely brings out the eccentric of the place. My absolute recommendation for all those who love to take the road less traveled.

Travel Movies: Into the Wild
The movie recounts the life of Christopher McCandless a student who gives up his home, family, possessions and donates his money to charity before he embarks on a journey throughout America and finally ending in Alaska, into the wild, to spend time with nature, with real existence away from the trapping of the modern world. After 20 months of traveling he reaches Alaska and realizes he is insufficiently prepared. but nevertheless continues and finally meets his end in the wild.
The courage to break away from from society, to follow your own path whatever the end result maybe and the carefree way of traveling is what appeals to Bharath.

The Motorcycle Diaries

A biopic into the life behind the myth of the famous figurehead of the Cuban revolution,  Ernesto Che Guevara, the movie is about the young Ernesto and his friend Alberto Granado making a journey on a sputtering motorcycle throughout Latin America. The goal of the trip was simply to have fun and meet a few girls..

As the trip unfolds they learn a lot about themselves through watching the impoverished lives of peasants unfold in front of them. This is a journey of sheer self discovery through travel and I think it absolutely reflects about how I think travel can change the way you think.

If anyone has ever been to Varanasi especially the old city that is built around the Ghats, the first observation that one will make will always make is about how narrow the roads are. I, on the other hand had never been to Varanasi. Having spent the day driving through to Bodh Gaya I decided on the spur on the moment turn my trusty Qualis in the direction of Varanasi. Having heard wonderful things about the city and the earlier mentioned tranquil atmosphere and inner peace, I decided that was just what was required after having spent a few eventful days driving through Bihar. Little did I realize that tranquil and inner peaces are relative terms. Please consider the following words of wisdom as a warning, from a traveler that has been foolish enough to believe their friends (I wouldn’t want to mention names but let me just say her name starts with a R and ends with an a-d-h-i-k-a), into how wonderful, beautiful, blah, blah, blah the place is.
Having driven through the GQ (Golden Quadrilateral for the ill informed) I made rather good time and had entered the city limits by early afternoon. I was rather thrilled because this meant more time to sit at some cafe by the river and watch the world go by (translation: be lazy). Being lulled into a false sense of security by the broad roads of the new city, I was still smiling from ear to ear as I started entering parts of the old city. I have been known to exaggerate a bit to emphasis a point or two, but I believe the following words are more or less a representation of the facts, a true representation of the events would involve words that cannot possibly ever be printed. The once broad and wonderful roads disappeared quickly and turned into rather narrow ‘roads’, well to be more accurate gullies, and these gullies seemed to be a safe haven for all the cyclist and motorcyclists in Varanasi. All these cyclists and motorcyclists for some reason, which I could not comprehend at the time, were honking away incessantly (I later concluded that they assumed, honking was the path to nirvana). I could go only as fast as the person in front of me but everyone behind me seem to think that I was the bottle neck and if I moved out of the way they would be able to reach their respective destinations in a matter of seconds. The Qualis is well insulated from all sounds emanating from the outside especially when I have One Republic or Nickelback paying, but that day I could hear every cyclist and every Honda Activa and every Bajaj behind me, it was as if I was being treated to an Orchestra but instead of sitting in the audience I was in the middle of the instrumental ensemble. It always amazed me how I managed to squeeze through from one gully to the other because I could have sworn that even a cycle couldn’t have gone through. To make matters worse I had no clue where I needed to go, so when I manage to ask for directions the conversation followed a very disturbing pattern….. 
‘Bhaiya, ghat ko kaisa jate hai’ 
‘Ghat wyo kya ho ta hai?’
At this point I’m thinking, how can anyone within a hundred mile radius of Varanasi not have heard of a Ghat? Am I the first person to make contact with an Alien being? After further explanation about what a Ghat is i.e. poojas, river, water etc.(in my broken Hindi), the man’s face lights up and he looks at me and says..
‘Ghhat ! ap pehale qu nai bhataya?’
I shall refrain from commenting on the thoughts that were running through my head at this point but needless to say, I needed the dip in the Ganges.
Having meandered from one side to the other for nearly three hours, through every road in the old city I managed to find one of the very elusive Ghats by night fall.
Needless to say I saw the whole of Varanasi taking a dip in the river trying to absolve themselves from having cursed me the previous day.  If you really want an experience that will be unique and tests your driving skills and your sanity at the same time, drive in Varanasi!
So the big question on everyone’s minds, did I find peace and tranquility? Well, not completely, but on the plus side I’m convinced I’ll be reincarnated as a cow (quite an improvement from a frog), thanks to my visit to Varanasi.
Did I also mention that if we get short listed we will be driving to Varanasi again
If the Cedia can survive that, and come out of the experience not reincarnated as a bullock cart it will be well worth holding on to.

P.s: I have to apologize for the lack of photographs but if I had stopped the ‘free’ flow of traffic to take pictures I’m certain I would have been a victim of vigilante justice  

Living where I do its quite natural that one is exposed to all kinds of wildlife. Growing up it was only natural that I noticed mammals, insects, birds and reptiles around me. Observing these creatures only led to a keen interest-You didn’t have a choice really! I mean, if you have wild elephants passing barely 50 yards from your house its hard not to notice! Everything fascinates you at an early age, and I, was no different looking at the world around me with awe. To be honest, I’m still amazed sometimes at what I see.
Apart from the larger more obvious creatures there is a whole world of insects, reptiles and birds that is hidden from us all, leading parallel lives in a parallel universe oblivious to our presence, until our worlds collide in pleasant or unpleasant ways. Some of the insects I’ve photographed, I’ve been clueless as to their classification. To me it adds to the mystery and only makes them more fascinating. The shapes and adaptations of various creatures sometimes confirms what one knows about from Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’, you observe evolution. I hope the images below and the collision of my universe with the parallel one would be considered pleasant, as I do.

The Ant Mimicking Spider is a spider that has evolved into a specialist in hunting ants. It has adapted by camouflaging itself as an ant for the purpose of getting at its prey. The only difference 4 pairs of legs instead of 3 that an ant would have.

Though the jumping spider looks more like a tarantula here the spider itself is harmless and is as big as the nail on my ring finger. This hunter specializes in running down prey rather than building a web. 

The larger Rough Skinned Bush Frog which is seen along the western ghats was sometime I came across by chance, the colours mesmerized me.

Some photographs were taken purely for the shape and form that only an image can create from something that we glance at everyday or uniquely unusual. The centipede (not sure if it is classified under the beetle family) and the flower are examples of the usual and the unusual.

 
It’s hard to imagine, especially when you live in the city, but sometimes, just sometimes when you travel, it pays to stop and take a breathe, you never know what the universe has in store.