Thirsty Walkers on Earth!

For the past few days my mind is boggling me and keeps on telling me... What am I doing? Do I actually need to do what I am doing? Is it the life that I want?... Well I knew all the answers, but only if I could make myself understand what is possible and what’s not!

Recently, I have started watching a program on TV, run by Nat Geo, it’s called Roads Less Traveled. Yesterday’s episode was on Morocco and today it showed some of the most unknown regions of Laos, justifying the very name of the show. While keeping myself glued to whatever the host was doing, a sudden thought hit me hard. Why do they travel so much?

The host for the episode of Laos was Tony Wheeler, who is the founder of Lonely Planet. He is nearly 70 years of age and travelling the unknown courses of Laos with a bag on his back, sleeping in rough places, walking the hard roads, crossing streams, crawling through the caves and doing things, while I sit here to watch his activities with awed eyes. He even hurt his back at the beginning but then after 3 days he was in a kayak, crossing a river to reach a tribal area. The question hit me again; why a man leave all his comfort to be in a place that does not even have a civilized place to pooh!

There were many other travelers with their backpacks and maps trying to find their way out. But why in such a remote place, where you would hardly anything to see? Well the answer was right there… it was the thirst for travelling of course! It’s the urge to see something in nothing. May be they are bored with the monotony or seeing the same wall around you, with same faces and same talks.

There is a statement made by the protagonist of The Namesake, a book written by Jhumpa Lahiri;

"Do yourself a favor. Before it's too late, without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late."

Yes, there are some people on this earth who live by this statement and they are known as Travelers. They do not care about comfort because to them comfort is all about hard routes and challenging plans.

Hah! Have said enough….  I need to pack my pillow and blanket soon.. because I am thirsty too!!