Wanderlust: The Only Luggage That Matters

I have always loved travelling and visiting new places. It excites me, inspires me, and honestly makes me feel alive. But one thing I have noticed again and again is how travellers quietly judge other travellers. It happens more often than we admit.

There are usually two types of travellers. One group travels mainly for a break — a proper vacation with rest, slow mornings, and easy days. The second group travels to explore — to fit as many places as possible in a short time, even if it becomes hectic. I fall closer to the second group. When I travel, I want to see everything I can. New places pull me like a magnet and I enjoy soaking in every bit of it.

But here is the funny part. The explorer travellers often look down on the vacation travellers for being “too slow”. And the relaxed travellers think the explorers are “doing too much”. So who is right? Honestly, neither.

The same judgment happens with food. Many travellers scoff at people who crave Indian food while abroad, especially vegetarians. They say you should try the local cuisine or you are not a “real” traveller. But having lived in the Philippines for two years, I can tell you it is not easy to find pure vegetarian food everywhere. Sometimes it is tiring. Sometimes your body just wants the comfort of dal, roti, rice or something familiar. And why not? Indian food is the best anyway.

The truth is very simple. There is no one way to travel. There is no formula that everyone must follow. Each person has their own life, their own comfort zone, their own needs and their own way of experiencing the world. Travel is meant to make you happy. It should not become a competition.

Some people want to relax. Some want to explore. Some want local food. Some want Indian food. None of these choices make someone less of a traveller.

The moral of the story is this. Travel the way you want. Enjoy what feels right to you. And let others do the same. No judgment. No pressure. Just pure, personal experience.

At the end of the day, the world is too big and too beautiful for us to waste time criticizing how someone else chooses to enjoy it.

Kaas Plateau – Valley of Flowers

On this Maharashtra Day, as we are cooped up in our homes because of the #ChineseVirus, let me take you to one of the unexpected gems of Maharashtra – Satara

Wanting to spend more time together, we girls thought of taking a road trip to the Valley of Flowers in Maharastra, the Kaas Plateau (Kaas Pathar). It is situated 25 Kms from Satara City, in Maharashtra, India. It falls under the Sahyadri cluster of Western Ghats and it became part of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2012. it is known for it’s seasonal wild flower blooms in the month of August & September.

We landed at the place early in the evening. After having a much needed hot tea and delicious kanda bhajji (onion fritters) in a nearby hotel, we started exploring the place. It had rained heavily that year, plus we had been there in October so the blooms had already withered but the view made up for that loss. It was like we had landed in heaven!

The last one is the view of Satara City from the hotel we were staying in.

In the morning, we woke up to this

Next stop was Thosegar Falls. It is 20Kms from Satara. Thosegar falls are very scenic series of waterfalls with the backdrop of lush jungle. The falls can be viewed from a platform.

Next Stop Chalkewadi Windmill Farms, Satara. One of the best scenic spots and awesome for photography!

Would love to discover more such gems in Maharashtra once the situation gets better!

Happy Maharashtra Day! Jai Maharashtra!

A Walk to Remember

What do you do when you have an amazing company, fabulous rains and a will to explore the city beyond cafes, restaurants and air conditioned malls? (Specially when you are living in the godforsaken place called Dombivli)

You plan an impromptu trip to Yeor hills. You have no clue what you will find there. You have only heard about leopards being spotted or about the wonderful waterfalls.

Yeor hills is a part of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, located in Thane. (Insist on going by the meter from Thane station, we paid double of what the fare ought to be) The autos / cars / bikes are allowed inside but the real charm is in walking all the way to the top of the village.

It was drizzling nicely when we started the walk and it started pouring heavily as we inched further towards Yeor village. The raincoat and umbrella were barely protecting us. The climb was not very steep, except for a single patch. It was so nice to get drenched in the rains to the core, experiencing a much pleasant weather and looking at all the flora (fauna was hiding from us because of the rains I guess) The best thing we experienced was that we had left all the negativity behind us and we carried only a sense of wonder. It was unbelievable that such beauty exists amidst the chaos of the city. The hills are as scenic as Lonavala. We ended the trek with the delicious duo of hot tea and vada pao at a quaint little tea stall, which was a surprising discovery indeed.

This was going to be a Walk to Remember forever.