“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…” – Opening line of the famous Poem ‘Where the mind is without fear’ by Nobel Laureate Shri Rabindranath Tagore.
Since, the subject to highlight here is “A Place That Allows You to Feel Free”, I have to say that it is slightly difficult for me to name one such place and it will be highly unjustifiable to mother nature who has gifted us with such endless options.
I Can Catch the Sun (Or so I liked to believe)
My first destination as a solo traveler was Goa, where I volunteered at a Bed and Breakfast. I lived with a house full of people with different nationalities. Our day mainly used to be full of work until about 5:50 in the evening post which we used to run so fast to make it to the beach in next 7-10 minutes for the sunset as if running for life at the bull festival in Spain. I guess Independence is that 10 minutes run to chase the sunset. Independence for me was that half hour on the beach looking at the sun calling it a day.
Silence is Golden (At times it’s just a boat ride)
After spending 3 months in Goa, I returned home to Kolkata and then took a small weekend trip to sunder bans, the world’s largest mangrove. The entire trip was very much like I expected: boat ride, rendezvous with the local villagers, living inside of the forest, spotting wildlife, discovering a few hundred varieties of trees. But there were these couple of minutes during one of the rides where the captain of our boat shut off the engine and everything around us was so quiet that I could hear my heart beating… Quite literally. And I believe that was the only organ of my anatomy which was active because my mind wasn’t. At times, I still think if I could get that moment back where I could have the freedom of not being worried about what’s going on in my head and just hear my heart beating.
Better late than never
The holy city of Varanasi (a.k.a. Banaras a.k.a. Kashi) is known to be the favorite city of Lord Shiva. It is also said in Hindu Shastra, dying in Varanasi brings salvation to the human soul. Upon my boat ride (I have a thing for boat rides) from Assi ghat to Dashaswamedha ghat, to see the sunrise (I have a thing for sun rise/set too!); I witnessed a corpse covered with white cloth and adorned with garlands floating on the river surface. And, immediately after that view I spaced out of the rest of the boat ride to the world of my imagination – the world where I would travel to a million places, see a mother deliver a child, witness a miracle, change someone’s life for better, and a thousand other things. But, I have to do it all before my dear life is no more mine.
Recently, I wrote about the importance of having a dream and living it. And, I guess independence is related to the same. For people who find joy in travelling the world, freedom is to be able to travel to the far ends and explore places unknown to them. There are times during most of our travels that we hit that space where we are free from everything worldly and are overjoyed by consuming what our surroundings have to offer. Near or far, long or short, no matter what sort of a journey you are in, make sure to keep moving if that’s your idea of independence because otherwise, you are just going to bound yourself to a life which you don’t desire.
About the Author: Aditi Roy is a Journalism and Mass Communication Graduate, who is originally from New Delhi, India but now lives in Kolkata with her family. She quit her permanent job in 2013 to chase her dreams and travel the world. She now works as a Freelance Writer and maintains her travel blog on WordPress. On her free time, you can either find her reading other travel blogs or picking after her mother!
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Nice pics!!!!!!!!!!! looking a delicious food and fantastic market.I will surely plan my upcoming vacation to this place. thanks for posting nice views.