We are trying to flash the lights of an old haggled bike, trying to see the many huge figures walking towards us along a long winding road which bore no lights for miles and miles. The night is chilling, not with the wind but with the silence all around us. That feeling of unknown territory or what might haunt you in the late dark hours of the cold night, yet gives me the goose bumps. Eventually the bike handle slips as my eyes turn to the left to see white shimmering ivory tusks shining, huge trunks and ears moving so close, my mind flashing away shots of my entire life
in front of my eyes, which wouldn’t dare blink. The massive tusker also known as “Aane” in local lingual slowly strolls away followed by his 9 of his family members clearly hinting us to not even dare move a bit. Even as the herd passed away, we were trying to regain our voices, our composure yet hay wire, I had one of my most dangerous yet memorable moment captured. The night passed away in silence and I woke up to a fresh morning with a clear picture of what I finally wanted to do in life.
Many a times I’m posed with a question (In my mind, though), how interesting is your life, you travel to exotic locations, meet interesting people, enjoy the many cuisines, basically you are living the life. Well, and I think to myself, well isn’t that true.
Born to a middle class family, I was frequenting the mountains close to my house in Pune since the gymnasiums back then were not affordable to all. My father wouldn’t need to kick us out of our beds every Sunday morning, neither were any alarm calls required to get us dressed up and strapped up to head to short trekking excursions. The cold, the heat, the rains never hampered thy spirits we were learning those little nuances of being in the outdoors. Well life soon caught up with those beautiful days and jolted us into reality, where we have to get ourselves locked up in between those 4 walls that we call an office, watching those mountains and the trees just on those small computer screens or simply watch the rains pouring outside the windows with thoughts simply rushing through the mind. The rat race for position, for money, for social status has engulfed us so deep that we simply are running in search of more and more.
A journey spanning 3 years now, a journey that began within those solid concrete walls and glass windows to small wooden plank benches perched in front of a calm river with birds chirping as the breeze whispers endlessly into my ears, well yes I’m finally all smiles and at peace.
iTravel, a hidden dream which was cooking up within myself all these years, getting converted into steam, which, now I know, exploded in the right direction. 3 years now and a seed called iTravel now has grown to be a plant. Love, care, sacrifices, smiles, tears, sweat, hard work and trust are just some of the many components which helped us reach here and the love doesn’t end here.
Big cities, small cities, shady cities, dead cities, forests, dry forests, and denser forests, staying in shanty hotels to the village huts, to the damp tents or simply out in the open, being chased down by crazy threatening people and the simply defensive wild creatures, or even running behind lions or snakes. Getting lost in the mountains, to falling over rocks to simply drifting within deserts, we have bared it all and feel there’s still so much in store. The dream that I have once dreamed is what I’m living now and breathing it along with the many people that are a part of my life.
We at iTravel believe in living and baring it all, pushing our limits and have been lucky (not always though)to have bumped into similar souls who are willing to test our limits, I would personally like to thank to all the people who have decided to hold my hand and made all this possible.
So finally I would to end by saying, dust off that bucket list (If you have one) of yours, add that to ours and lets head together to strike them all out one by one.