The airport is located in Negombo and not Colombo, Colombo is almost about 35 Kms from the airport so I preferred to stay in Negombo. The noise of waves hitting the shore was like an alarm waking me up, went for a short walk by pushing my feet inside the sand to feel the warmth and gazing at the waves. Fishermen were getting prepared to go fishing; I continued to walk around while sand was crawling on my feet.
Negombo was earlier colonized by Portuguese and then the Dutch. When you walk around the roads in Negombo, the way roads are laid and the buildings on both the sides give the Dutch vibe. A traveler friend joined along for a short cycling tour. While I started paddling cycle, sun rays striking my eyes, smelling the pollution free air, clean roads, ever smiling people all around. This place was definitely Love at first sight for me, every lapse I take on the paddle I kept smiling and smiling even more. Wings that were hidden on my shoulders were opening up, I could sense the freedom that I always wanted and I was indeed a free bird.
Negombo is famous for fishing and their huge fish markets. I have never seen these many varieties of dry fish and such a huge market which has only fish everywhere. Along with the fish market, there was also a market for clothes and daily needs which was more or less like a flea market. Later went to relish on my first meal in Sri Lanka. For Vegetarians, food in Sri Lanka would be a feast, the meal was more or less like an Indian meal with a different taste in spices where there was rice, dal, drumstick curry and ladies finger dry fry.
One of their famous non-alcoholic drinks is EGB (Elephant Ginger Beer) which can be found all across Sri Lanka. While savoring the food and the drink we spoke about India and Israel. It so happens in Israel, it’s mandatory for everyone to be in the military for 3 years which I did not know earlier. I later went for another cycle ride in the evening with an Austrian friend I met; while we were riding we spotted the sky in orange. It was sun spreading the shine all around the sky and on water, reflection on the water seemed like the sky was floating on the land.
Get lost in the woods, experience the antique vibe in the modern era, chill around by the lake, show some love to your taste buds with the yummy vegetarian food served.
Climb over this lion rock which was once a palace and now one of the World Heritage Site, feast your eyes with greenery laid down like a bed. Later on, rest those eyes in the capsule sleepers in Kandy.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it-Paulo Coelho
In my school days, I remember when we were asked to draw India Map; we would also draw Sri Lanka along. I use to wonder while drawing, what must be in this small place and how lucky those kids would be to draw such a simple map. Whenever I wanted to visit this place, there was always someone with a “meh” face stopping me saying it is similar to India. Guess this time, I wanted to get the answer myself that I had since my school days and I didn’t want others to stop me in doing what I want to do.
I have never liked planned or packaged trips, I cannot adhere to plans made by others and that is why I prefer to travel solo. Over a conversation with my friend Eeshani is how I randomly booked flight tickets, from booking tickets to whatever I did there; nothing was planned. As this was my first time going to a different country alone, I was of course scared! I had caterpillars in my stomach crawling all around; after I booked my tickets I didn’t bother much with my plans. It was only when there were 2 weeks close, I thot I will make some plans. But all I did was stare at Sri Lanka map, read few blog posts, shut the laptop and go to bed.
There was something in me stopping not to make the plan, I wasn’t feeling comfortable to make a plan, book a place to stay, check where to eat. I didn’t want to do any of these, all I wanted is to just go and see how things work. Everything else that happened on this trip, people I met, places I visited just worked out even better than it would have if I had planned.
My earlier rough plan was Negombo->Galkadawala->Sigiriya->Polonnaruwa->Nilaveli->Kandy->Ella->Hikkaduwa->Colombo
What happened there Negombo->Galkadawala->Sigiriya->Kandy->Ella->Colombo
As I stepped out my feet from the plane I could feel the warm air entering through the pores of my skin. The sense of happiness on my face, Caterpillars I had in my stomach for the past few days had been going through Metamorphosis.
Not all those who WANDER are LOST – J. R. R. Tolkien
This was more of an Instinctive decision to test my guts of traveling solo to an unknown, a place that I had never heard before. It happened on one of the long weekends in March, while I was wondering where to step out my brain reminded me of a cousin who collects articles about off beat travel destinations, there were many options but this place pulled me towards it. I immediately booked a place to stay, packed bags and hit the road!
There were still knots in my stomach, and a little bit of fear in the head as it was my first time alone in an unknown place. From Pollachi which is the nearest town will have to take a bus to Valparai which is about one and a half hour journey in a local bus. Bus climbing up the hill, turning through the hair pin bends, watching the hills as sun was just opening the arms, clouds passing by as they were just waking up in the morning, an island that was like icing on the cake which later I figured out that it was Sholayar dam. As the view was quenching the thirst in my eyes, knots in my stomach were releasing and the fear in my head flew away in the air.
I stayed in River View Homestay and went around seeing the places in an auto. We were driving mostly through tea plantations and these tea plantations are covered by forest, had to walk for about 15 minutes to reach Nallamudi view point which has the rarest view of tea plantations on one side and forest on the other side.
Benny one of the hosts took me for a walk around tea plantations to see if we can spot elephants, they have even spotted leopards sometimes. Hard Luck, we couldn’t see elephants except for their dung but spotted few bison’s. It was a short trek; I have this dream to have snakes as pets. Benny was into Snake preserving and we had a long discussion about different snakes.
They also do offer night jeep safaris, if you are lucky enough you can spot leopards. As I was alone, hosts offered to take me around for a drive to check if we can spot any animals. We packed our food and headed on the road in Ghats again with really cold weather and fog all around. Hard luck again, we didn’t really get to see animals.
The next day, I visited a tea factory. It’s amazing on how different varieties of teas are made from the leaves plucked at different stages of their growth. Not being more of a tea drinker, black tea that I tasted there was one of the best tea’s I have had till now. While my taste buds were dancing with happiness, we headed to see Nirar Dam. The view from the dam surrounded by forests was surreal.
A place like this in Tamil Nadu which I had always assumed to be having hot weather, it is purely a hidden treasure and I am glad that I was able to find! I would really want to visit this place again during monsoon.
Quest in search of unknown bought me here,
with the tiny amount of fear.
I was in Solitude and so were you,
glad that I came to see you out of the blue.
Hidden treasure you are locked in the wood,
bidding adieu with a grin more than I thought I would!
Chikmagaluru has always been on the top list of my favorite places with the best of the climate that you can ask for, mountains stretching all around, waterfalls that you can see after every few meters on the road, the fog that hugs your body with the chill breeze where goosebumps too would feel good. I would never get bored to visit this place; my friend’s call it as my second home but I call it just like home. I have been going through a lot of blogs since many years and this travel blogger Shivya Nath is one of my favorites who had written about how to start solo traveling where she stated to start a solo trip with a known place that you are comfortable with and there you go, I knew which place to start with.
Been wanting to share this post from a really long time but there was something holding me back, maybe my conscious somehow knew I would be visiting this place again and again.
I have been to Chikmagaluru twice earlier so have pretty much seen most of the places around. As this was my first solo trip, I just wanted to feel comfortable in one place and come out of my hidden fears. I have always been scared of dark and staying alone, I really had to come out of that fear. One of my friends referred me to stay in this place, Devigiri Homestay, which had everything like I wanted. As comfortable as I want to be and as adventurous as I can be.
This is the tree house that I stayed in where there is no electricity, solar lamp is used instead and is about few meters walk in the woods from the main area. It was luckily a full moon night; there was moonlight peeping through those tall silver oak trees. I managed to walk all through gazing at the moon by telling thanks for shedding the light while I walked!
These pictures are from a short trek that I went through the estate I stayed in, got to witness the spectacular sunset amidst the mountains bidding goodbye for the day.
On the last day of any travels that I have gone so far, I have always felt wish I could stay longer. But on the last day of this one, I was very happy, there was a smile around me that kept saying this is not the last day, it is a beginning of many other travels in future. I made a promise to myself that I would never stop traveling and it will always or mostly be alone.
The two most important days in your life are the day you
were born and the day you figure out why.-Mark Twain
I did get this idea to do this for all of your birthday, but
my lazy ass said just finish it off all at once on your birthday. Hahaha!
So I am doing this for 3 reasons:
1: Because it is my birthday!
2. Because I am away and you shouldn’t forget my birthday!
3. Because I love you all, I swear I do!
Jokes apart, a small gesture to show how important all of
you were and still are for me to keep going with what I have started and have helped me in giving the shape that I never thought would be born at all. One
common thing will all of you is, the first time when I met you or saw you I had
thought I would never be able to be friends with you all but it turned out to
be the other way around.
Wonder Wash room|Bincy|Spinal Cord!
All thanks to gallons of water that both of
us drink which led to go to Wash room very often and which led to us smiling at
each other awkwardly. Now even with distance relationship we maintain we are
still as good friends as we never thought we would be. Bincy, you are the only
person whom I can talk about anything and everything and even if it is the
deepest lame shit that I am talking about, you would still have all the
patience to listen to. She is the Spinal Cord behind the idea of me starting
the blog!
Air in Aerobics|Sherly & Nikhita|Wings!
Lady on my left is Sherly, who most of the
times gets me on my nerves and at the same time knows that how much ever I am
pissed with her, I wouldn’t let her go. She is my first Photographer, Mentor,
Proof Reader and in the end a bit like my mother who keeps irritating me most
of the time but knows that I love her and I know that she loves me like her kid
too!
Lady on my right is Nikhita, until I met her
I thought I was the only one who laughs loudly and make people around me
uncomfortable. This girl is always busy in setting me up with some guy, even
though she is younger to me she does know how to handle me so well with all my
shitty problems around! Oh, also all credits to her for all my photos, why? You
would know in sometime. I wouldn’t have been able to fly so confidently without
these two wings!
Ink Master|Shailesh|Brain!
This bony artist who shows off that he is one of my
biggest fans doesn’t even have a picture with me! Meh! So I decided not to
reveal your identity without me 😉 who always texts me to check if I am fine
and co incidentally I wouldn’t be fine that day! However, if it wasn’t you I
don’t think I would even thought to put in effort of something that I always
thought I would suck at. Like Buddha who had his enlightenment under Bodhi
tree, it was in his studio terrace where I had my enlightenment and hence the
Brain. Never let go of that place maccha!
Magic Lens|Sravan & Mohon|Eyes!
Like the above two ladies who are like my wings,
these two men are like my eyes! Not sounding filmy but that’s the truth. If they
don’t see me through their lens and click my beautiful pictures (self-obsessed
me); I wouldn’t able to do reach even half of wherever I am now. Its Nikhita
who introduced me to Sravan over a FB chat, even though it was Sravan whom I
first spoke to and shared all my stories, due to his work schedule it was
mostly with Mohon I had to do most of my shoots. Both these guys have all the
patience to carry out their passion perfectly and they will definitely reach
some heights with their talent one day! Please do remember me and this post
then!
Hate->Love|Smitha & Triveni|Heart!
Triveni how much ever I try to hate you for
not giving your GF(Sneha) enough time like you use to before, hate is only been
converted to too much love and I know you love me too. You are busy with your
married life but I know and you know too that we are always there for each
other when needed and the “best” you ever gave to me is Smitha.
Super talented, Super creative and Super
patient Smitha, we got along really well as we both are day dreamers and it’s
only her who can understand and relate to the secret BF I have. Ssshhh Smitha,
let it remain as secret unless you give it to me as a gift. We both are on the
same boat most of the time in most of the scenarios and I know for sure that we
will sail together till we reach our destiny. I always have this Hate->Love
relationship with my heart just like you both, and I am sure you two can
understand what I really mean!
Yoga to Long Island|Prajna & Madhuri|Skin!
At an unusual place is where I met Prajna, Yes!
While learning yoga, I did learn but not her 😉 We share same kinda temperament
from Anger to Smile; from Travel to Shopping, from Mood Swings to Loud
Laughter, from Cranky Bums to Sweet Bums. We are so same yet so different.
This girl Madhuri is one of the biggest fans
of Long Island Ice Tea. Am sure both of us wouldn’t even have imagined that we
could be this close as we are now. Late night chats, gossips that we do and also
who can handle some of my melo drama too even though she is younger to me. Both
of them handle me really well in any circumstances just as the skin handles the
temperature of the body!
4 Sides|Divya, Deepa, Ashwini, Lavanya|Lungs!
My first job buddies, if not for these girls my first
job wouldn’t have been memorable. It was more like a college for us; we became closer
when there was more distance between us. We can spend whole night and day by
just talking and talking and only talking! Even though we don’t meet that
often, hope the distance holds our relationship even more strongly! I don’t
think I would laugh as much as I laugh with you girls and those memories still
brings a smile on my face; as good as the lungs that keeps sending oxygen to
heart to stay alive.
Dance|Eeshani|Stomach!
If not for dance, wouldn’t have met this girl! All we
do is eat dance, talk dance, swim dance, drink dance. I meant, in the name of
dance all we do is talk or eat or about joining swimming. Along with this,
ofcourse we do dance as well. One of the best dancers I have known and who can
be a good teacher only to me J
Teacher not only in the terms of dance, with life too! When I eat with you, my
stomach is happy and when I dance with you my stomach is even more happier as
that is where I store all my happiness in!
Soul!
At last, nevertheless none of my posts are
complete without talking about you. If not for you nothing would have started,
if not for you I wouldn’t be here writing this, if not for you there is no end
and it’s only beginnings; beautiful beginnings. I will surely find you someday
and fill in that space that is still empty. Until then and later, keep inspiring me!
Never give up on something
you can’t go a day without thinking about – Winston Churchill
Sleepless nights filled with thoughts of something that
didn’t happen the way it was supposed to happen, have lost the only thing that
you ever wanted, tons of tears that keep flowing which only leaves scar on the
pillow, the if’s and but’s that keeps pricking like thorns all over the brain. All
those billion neurons connecting to the brain seems to have lost connection. What
next? Is it worth, tearing up your brain apart so much for something that
didn’t happen because of you, what has your brain done to you for you to give
so much pain? All it does is listen to you and this is how you return the
favour, well we humans are that way. We always take things for granted when
they listen to us.
Life is not a movie or a fairy tale; shit happens, bad things
happen to good people, people lie, truth won’t conquer everything, time will
not fix things, thing’s don’t fall in place; there are no happy endings always.
Most of the times we do not want to accept this, we always wait for things to
happen, and we wait for the nature to give us signs. It is not wrong to be
positive, but it is wrong not to be practical. Say if everything falls in place
and the wish comes true, we will have another set of list either linked to that
wish or a new list of wish which we wish to again happen naturally.
All of us do have a wish that we wish to have around us, a
wish for our dreams to come true, a wish to be with someone, a wish to travel
somewhere, a wish to read some book, a wish to learn some dance, a wish to cook
some dish and the list never ends. As a kid, I remember the superstitions we
believed that the wish would come true when you pray while a group of cranes
flying, praying while you see a shooting star, or blowing a dandelion to make
the wish come true. Wish all these
happened in real! If it did, nothing would be hard right? If it isn’t hard, we
wouldn’t know the value of the wish that came true.
If we need our wish to come true, we will have put efforts
to get it done, we will have to make things work, we will have to put things in
place, we will have to set time for it, we will have to create happy endings.
All that we need is a little courage, that extra step that we need to take; we
need to take the leap of faith, we need to come out of the comfort zone. We are
just like the air in bubble wrap, to set ourselves free we need to be torn
apart!
How I wish it happened the way I thought! Everything was
just falling in place like I ought, I was about to smile and wake up that the
wish came true; hell I realized that it was just not true! I have just been
dreaming all day and night, wondering if the nature would shower some light. Wish
that is deep inside locked in a cage; it will come out one day with rage. Going
through all the pain behind the bars, it will be all twinkling like stars.
And
for sure enough even waiting will end…if you can just wait long enough.-William
Faulkner
While I was looking for a place to shoot after a very long
break, it was totally worth the wait. Found this place close to my office, with
an empty ploughed land, few coconut trees, tractor, pile of limestone powder,
scrapped filled in room, and the highlight was the rusted cycle lying down with
weed grown around it! And a really sweet
dog which guarded us from the stray dogs, an old couple who were helpful and
let us shoot there.
It so happens most of the time when you are stuck on the
side of the road where there is more traffic and the other side looks all free;
when you are in a restaurant waiting for a table, everyone who has a table
seems more happier; when you are waiting in a queue in bank for really long,
the queue next to you seems like moving faster. When we know that we still have to take the
same road that we have been stuck in, when we know we need to wait for the
table, when we know we have no choice other than waiting in queue; we still
look at the other side.
May be the empty road on the other side is waiting for
vehicles to pass by, may be the people on the table would be sad thinking about
finishing their delicious meal, may be the manager who is handling the queue on
the other side has diarrhea and need to close the entire counter! When we look
the other side, it always looks nicer as we are not on that “other side”.
It’s mostly the wait that kills us as we are too much in a
hurry to reach the destiny or we are busy looking the other side. While we
forget most of the time that the wait or the journey will be worth it once we
reach the destiny, rather than looking the other side; cherishing our journey
would give more happiness. While we are waiting for something or someone the
wait would really seem very longer, if the wait is worth it so will be that
something or someone.
Journey towards what you want seems longer, when it gets
closer your heart beats faster. The joy that you feel when you get what
you want, it is worth the wait which almost you didn’t want!
Dungarees, Bracelet, Two Finger Ring: Mumbai Streets, Shoes: Bata, Crop Top: Koovs, Neck Chain: Church Street, Lipstick: Lakme
There is no end to
grief and there is no end to love!-Bono
So Marriage!
Rings a bell? Hell yeah, why wouldn’t it ring! There are lots of devotees who keep
ringing this in my head; it feels like my head is stuck in one of those huge
bells. My parents ring it, some of my close relatives ring it, some far off
uncle and aunt ring it and of course few friends as well! At some point they
do get tired and I get a chance to finally remove my head out. My ears would be
bleeding, brain would have blocked, entire body from head to toe would be numb
and only beep noise that keeps ringing around my head is “Marriage”!
Would be sitting in a corner hugging my legs tight with my
bleeding ears thinking, currently why has marriage almost become a need, why do
I have to be married like everybody else, why can’t I live alone happily with
my dance classes, travel plans, eating & sleeping the way I want. Digging
on the reasons why everyone else want me to get married doesn’t matter,
thinking on why I do not want to get married is what matters. When everyone
says to do something is when I feel like not doing, to test what happens if I
don’t get married.
Over a conversation with my friend Nikhita discussing about
marriage, who is always on her wheels to get me hooked with some guy, she
doesn’t even mind if I get hooked with a guy who likes her! I told her Marriage
is logical but Love is not. Love is Instinctive, Marriage is Planned. Marriage
is directly proportional to love, you need to love someone to get married or
get married and love someone. Like every other girl/boy who do not want to get
married and still keeps thinking somewhere in the corner of the mind, maybe we
can if we find that “right” person at the right time we can consider to get married,
yes Iam one of them too.
Again, the question arises! Who is the “right” person, what
If I am right and my other half is also right! Wouldn’t that be too boring, I think
I need the “wrong” person whom I can fight with by finding each other’s flaws. I
need someone whom I can feel that I can spend my whole life with even with
those silly fights, I need someone who will not let me go out of his sight even
when I am mad at him, I need someone who I can make smile when he is mad at me.
I am not a petrichor; I don’t expect to be loved by everyone, may be just by someone,
that wrong someone.
In the end, I would just think it’s just one short life.
What can go wrong so much that you need to over think so much about marriage.
Just go grab that guy/girl who is driving you crazy, kiss and burn some
calories. Fall in love again when they come closer; take revenge on the harsh
thoughts that was all running in your end. Say that you can be in love too!
Dress: Zara, Earring: Soul Sante, Armlet: Street store from Goa, Boots: From a really sweet old couple in Mumbai.
Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying! – The Shawshank
Redemption
Years ago I welcomed an invisible guest; there were lot of
changes in my life after that creature came in. I do not know how to describe it
as it did not have any features. I started living my life with it, in and out. It would tickle me, I would cry; It would
feed me, I would be hungrier; It would dance with me, I would lose balance. The
more I cry, lose appetite and lose balance the features of that creature became
clearer, I started seeing it being happier and healthier than me. I was always
surrounded by negative thoughts; this went on for few months. Around the same
time, I had lost all the precious people around me, some left me because they
didn’t have a choice and some left me because their priorities changed. I
needed someone to be around me to comfort me and it comfort me so well that
crying became a habit, not eating food became a routine and dancing was more
tiring.
I reached a phase where I couldn’t live without it; it took
me few months to realize that I had started to hate myself, I was pushing
myself towards a black hole. I did realize it was time for me to get rid of it,
If not I knew it would eat me up slowly but how! It was so close and was there
with me when there was no one or did it come because I thought there was no one
with me and forced myself to stay with it. It is just a never ending story if
you keep finding ways wondering why you got into a problem; if you keep
worrying about a problem you will never find a solution.
I started looking for solutions, I found many but nothing
was so strong that I could use to get rid of it. It was high time to start
facing it directly; I faced it and smiled, started eating with it and danced
along. The more I smiled and started hanging out with it, it seemed to
disappear slowly. It seems, once in a while right in the middle of nowhere,
Love gives us a fairy tale. I saw someone who shed light in the black hole that
I was in and showed me a way towards happiness. I realized that I have
forgotten to smile, I have forgotten to eat which I always loved and I have
forgotten to dance when I wanted to be a dancer always.
It still keeps visiting me once in a while, I do cry, lose
appetite sometimes but it is not a routine anymore, I have only grown stronger.
If it wouldn’t have come to my life, maybe I wouldn’t be this stronger. Well I
forgot to introduce you all to it, it is “Depression”! If you cannot see it, I
pray that you never should. If you can see it, its time you wake up and smile
over it. Everybody goes through this phase in their life at least once or many a
times. It is very difficult to realize what’s happening, it does take some time
but, onlyYou will be able to
understand what is happening and find a solution.
As per WHO, globally more than 350 million people die of
depression. There can be many reasons for depression and sometimes there might
not be any reason too. It might be this scary or might not be too, If at all
you feel any changes in your behavior or habits, please start realizing that
it shouldn’t affect you. Remember there is always a solution to the problem;
creating problem to your own self may not be a solution to the problem. There
are times where I have just lied down on bed for days, staring at the ceiling
fan and wondering why does this happen only to me but I did realize it happens
to everyone. You just should know when to wake up and switch on the fan, get
some air and breathe!
People give ideas to divert mind, go on a solo trip, make
new friends, start flirting, start dating, start a new hobby and so on. Well
it’s just easy to give ideas than experience it, because this creature will not
leave you wherever you go, it will haunt you if you don’t get rid of it by
yourself. You just got to find that someone, that someone can be a person, a
thing, an animal, a fantasy, a dream or a doctor too who can help you get rid
of it. It is just there, you just need to find it. My mom use to always tell,
you can win anything/anyone over a smile. Hatred is not an answer for Hatred,
smile it away. If any of you know anyone who is suffering from depression, if
you do not know how to handle it please have them talk to me.
Dress: Show Off, On Neck: Hair Band, Ear Ring: A gift.
Yours Consciously Sneha 