Eat Pray Travel

Some of the most loved "coming of age" movies have a common factor. There's a scene in which the group of friends take an impromptu trip and have tons of unexpected fun. Now, although I joke around and have fun, I'm not a "go with the flow" guy. I don't wander around nature and I don't saunter aimlessly around beaches. I just like to know what's the plan when traveling and be clear where I'm going and what I'm doing there.

Recently I took the call to change my job and had a couple of weeks holiday to myself. I was watching an interview where the famous Sadhguru was asked about managing loneliness in today's world. His trademark witty response: "if you feel bored when you're alone, you're clearly in bad company!"🙂 That sparked something in me. For the first time in my life, I decided to go alone on vacation. Quite unnerving for me by itself. Then I took it one step further and decided to just book the plane tickets - and "go with the flow" on everything else! I had a brief moment of panic when I made that call. But the voice in my head said - this is the only way you'll truly discover yourself. So off I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Have you ever felt free? - truly unencumbered by any responsibility, unbothered about kids nap and meal times, unworried whether something is clean or washed, unhassled whether your wife/husband is getting ready on time and uncaring about missing the bus. THAT's what I experienced for the first time in my life. That freedom gave me 3 lessons for life. Let's begin with Travel:

#Travel: The day I landed, I met a local guide with whom I went on an off-road cycling tour of the local countryside. Lotus ponds, green rice fields, duck farms, little forest dwellings and a pristine sunset. We didn't have a GPS, we didn't look at a map, I didn't meet another soul as I cycled immersed in miles upon miles of nature and fresh air. For someone who always refers to GPS when driving or walking around the city, I learnt that letting go of the map is a good thing. As JRR Tolkien said "Not all those who wander are lost"...

#Pray: Next morning, just before dawn I travelled to witness the most majestic, awe-inspiring and gigantic monument ever built by mankind - the Angkor Wat temple. As the sky blushed pink and the sun cast a magical spell of gold and crimson, the temple stood resplendent in it's grandeur before me. You tend to go quiet and wordless in the presence of it. The scale, magnitude and beauty of it is simply unbelievable. It is 8 square kilometers (yeah that's right - kilometers) of stone worked to perfection by human hands a 1000 years ago. As I explored the vast temple and saw the enormous sweep of history spanning millennia, I felt overwhelmed by the thought that something as colossal as this can vanish from human memory and become a desolate ruin. I learnt that no matter how big our problems are or how important we think we are - it is insignificant in the face of divine will. 

#Eat: As I cycled to other spell-binding temples, we stopped along the way for some fresh dragon fruit, coconuts, bananas and duck eggs for breakfast sitting on the floor of graceful and tidy outdoor huts. I relished the local street food with its cacophony of spices, fragrant herbs and fresh veggies. I love to cook and decided to try my hand at Cambodian cuisine. At the home of a gracious host, we picked fresh veggies, mushrooms and spices from her garden and with her guidance, I cooked a whole meal: Amok Fish, Pineapple Fried Rice, Raw Mango Salad and Sweet Potato Raw Sugar dessert. The simplicity of Cambodian life was refreshing! I've come to learn that food opens up the culture and people to you like nothing else can. And when you're happy inside, rustic modest food is the best succour.

As I sat back on the plane to go home, I felt something shift at my very core. I had turned over and examined many aspects of who I am and what I thought I liked (or disliked). I had lived unfettered moments that will remain with me unwashed by age.

Most importantly, I had discovered that I relish my own company.🙂