I say, Yes
You mean you are all alone, by yourself?
I say, haan haan ...
Is your group hanging out elsewhere?
I say, I am not with a group
This is how the conversation goes on ... but sometimes it will take another tone ...
- Are you not married? You should get married ...
- You came all the way to here, you should have brought your parents ...
- Do your parents know you are alone? ...
- Don't you have friends to go with you? ...
- (in a temple) By the blessings of God your next visit will be with your husband ...
- How can you travel alone? It is not good ... you cannot enjoy being alone? ...
I just smile, never try to explain. Because there is no need, they will not understand anyway ... I faced these questions for 50 days and then decided to put my thoughts in words just to know myself ... why do I travel solo? Well, each and every solo traveler has his/her own reason to travel alone. The most common reason being the Feeling of Freedom. Yes! Freedom ... freedom at many levels.
I am neither self-centered nor eccentric. I just love solitude ... and the freedom comes with it. I want to enjoy my journey. I want to enjoy, observe, know, feel and get soaked with the sense of the place. Most of the times my interests conflict with the group's or that of the travel buddy. I do not want to compromise with my desires and I do not want to compete with my travel buddy's desires either. A point to be noted here. There is nothing like good or bad travel partner. He or she is just like us. They are also travelers who want to share the expenses, share the experiences, share the fun, share the downfalls. But, it is time, money, compatibility, capability, thinking, point of view, attitude that matters. And it is all relative ...
I do not want to worry about the slow or fast partner, lazy or crafty partner, moody or dangerously laid-back partner, cheap or over-spending partner, romance-seeker or depressed partner, careless or irresponsible partner. It is pure experience, I have listed these categories because I have traveled with such partner once at least. Well, har ek friend zaroori hota hai ... is good ... for AirTel. In my opinion, in my journeys aisa partner zaroori nahin hota hai :)
It is nice to meet people on your journey, no matter what you think of them. They add taste to your journey, not the obligations! Sometimes in life, what you give is what you get. So, be nice to all and leave behind the travel companions ... there are many other rewards when you travel solo which you will have to discover ...
In the pic: Me, picture taken by one of my Photoshoot companions.
In the pic: Me, picture taken by one of my Photoshoot companions.
UPDATE: Well, I received a couple of private emails on this post. Just to clear a thing up ... I will always travel with a partner who is okay to do things separately if interests conflict and then join. This will avoid forcing each other doing things which they don't want to! :) I have tried this a few times and it works well.
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Leave a comment to share your beautiful thoughts :)
To read the next post in Backpacking India series click HERE.
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Leave a comment to share your beautiful thoughts :)
To read the next post in Backpacking India series click HERE.
If you want pictures please ask me :)
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Scrapbook- A Travel Blog by Kusum Sanu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Well put about the reason why Soloing is "The Best"
ReplyDeleteI get raised brows too quite often, but shrug them off before anyone notices and keep the game face on. It is not mere pretension that soloists impose on themselves, but an encounter with advanced level of reality.
Your words remind me of elementary math - Group Theory in particular Unions and Intersections :-) where Group Dynamics is controlled by common interests and common goals, with limited outcomes, let alone possibilities because there is very less option for exploration and more room for speculation and cynicism no matter how well knit the group is.
Instead consider one entity with limitless possibilities and this opens up one world rather too many, just like an idea is unique to one individual mind.
Best wishes for standing out for what is right . . . .
Very true. Thank you for taking time to read and type such beautiful comment.
ReplyDelete>>> one entity with limitless possibilities
Like this lne very much :)
ha ha ha..interesting conversation! Being a male, I also encountered some weird question, mainly from villagers and mountain people where I used to pitch my tent. My second solo travel gave me a sort of religious experience and I decided then I'd always travel alone. One of the major pluses is that you don’t have to compromise.Going solo allows you to travel in a way that is completely different to being with someone else, whether you want to try a local restaurant (no worrying about another person’s weird food allergies) or sleep in a hammock for a day; you can without anyone nagging you.
ReplyDeleteSolo traveling is though not for everyone. It's for people who can contented with themselves, love solitude and try to experience certain things in themselves for which they need some space. I love this post.
Welcome to my blog Shubhaji and thank you for sharing your experience. Hope you will join my virtual journeys on this blog :)
DeleteKusum love your blog,admire you for what your intrests are.
DeleteYour a lucky one who can actully do what you like unlike most women long for life long.
I wish you good luck and enjoy your life fully.Some day hopefully we will run into each other.
Anjali
Thank you Anjali. Glad you like my blog. Definitely some day we might run into each other!
DeleteIt's true...when we are alone...we see every moment a freedom giver..no comments on our do's and don'ts.The real enjoyment lies in only solitude...I felt and understand it...!Every one can be in a company...being alone tempts inner soul to see things in its own light..!keep it up...!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog Mr. Murthy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts :)
DeleteAgree with you.. sometimes I like travelling alone just because of the independence to go wherever I want :)
ReplyDeleteHey again!
ReplyDeleteI read this line in work with me sections "Please do not include self-promotional links" only now. Guess in my previous comment i did include a link to my blog but the intention wasn't to promote my blog. Please feel free to reject it :)
I would reiterate my comments here again just so that you arent in a spot. I think this is a great post and i could absolutely relate with it. I would anyway choose solo travel over travelling with the group. I wrote a similar post but yours is better! :)
Kusum you are a motivator to beginners like me. I have been trying to do solo, hope now I have to be very serious. Enjoyed your thoughts and appreciate your plans and courage. Wish you good luck and looking more and more travels from you. Wish you all the best.
ReplyDelete