The Fluid Trip -Wayanad, Kerala (4-5 sept’16)

(Disclaimer: This post doesn’t aim to provide you with an itinerary of Wayanad. This is vis-à-vis the flexibility of the trip and philosophical thoughts I jotted down sitting in a field of coconut trees)

I have always been partial to the idea of trekking, hiking, doing adventure sports or exploring while I am on a trip but because of a recent leg injury and laziness hanging on my shoulders, I decided to go for a ‘do-nothing’ road trip to Wayanad. Travelling, especially road trips with a minimal plan, zero expectations and lots of beautiful songs and melodies sound like a solution to the task-based existence of our lives. Because how can you expect your creative side, your carefree attitude, your crazy ideas to exist when there are deadlines, project dates, and appraisal worries breathing down your neck? 

Customarily we go on trips with our ‘seeker’ mode turned on. We are frequently peeking out of the window to spot deer, elephant or bison while we pass through the wildlife sanctuary, gazing out for best views, or building an appetite for every famous eating place. This time I didn’t make a plan for cultural entanglement, adventure activities, mind-expanding experiences or any other distractions. I didn’t divide the ‘Things to do in Wayanad’ page into two sections (it would have been one for each day). I lulled my mind to not research for places to eat or must visit pit stops on the way to Wayanad. That way I didn’t commit to one possibility and thus didn’t collapse all the other possibilities that I never even knew about. 

So many communications, sights and smells will compete for your attention but you can be effortless and let things happen naturally rather than going after them. Leave behind the state of mind that desires anything. 

Don’t be under pressure to answer questions (pertaining to the spots you visited, places you ate at or the number of pictures you clicked) herald at you when you show up in the office next day. People would play ‘i-pity-for-you’ or ‘oh-your-trip-was-waste’ games with your mind and you can shut up, smile and roll your eyes that silently tell -*bwah*. You don’t have to respond to the pressure of shouting out ‘been there and done that’ statement.

Me and my friends, we rode through lanes without much direction, walked as far as we could into the forest, stopped at random tea shops near marigold fields, laughed, and banned words like ‘too late, too early, come on fast, checklist’ for the duration of this trip.

My notable memory was from when I sat in the front seat of the car. I pulled the window down, let my hair loose, put my chin up, inhaled deeply and exhaled while I closed my eyes and let the cool breeze pass through my hair.

It was a road trip which made me say ‘I am alive and I shall be sane’, 

Our homestay in Wayanad

Picturesque! 

Wandering through the woods

On the way!

To The Doubtful Dreamers

We all have dreams. We decide their beginning; we decide their ending – better or worse. But why is it that whatever happens in between is left on situations, other people or the world to decide. Why can we not stop questioning our confidence to materialize our ideas or pursue our passion and start questioning what we can do or change to be closer to achieving our dreams?

We get so busy in our lives- struggling, meeting people’s expectations, drinking gallons of coffee on weekdays and pints of beer on weekends that we fail to realize that having a mind that can incubate an idea is something we need to pay attention to. Our mind has something that makes our body language positive, our voice sounds confident and our visions more clear.

You are going to fail but not expire, burn, or melt or die. You may have little or no money on some days but keep showing up. You will fail, learn, apologize, improvise, be up at 2 am in the night, not come home for 3 and half days, try to squeeze things into your calendar but you will not die. Nothing will kill you except the death of your dreams. Chase your dreams until you get so engrossed that one day while going out you have two different shoes in your feet, your t-shirt has a hole near the collar or the hair in your armpit is about to develop into an ecosystem in itself that you don’t care and it all seems superficial. Be that kind of crazy about it.

There is a war raging inside you, and its demons won't be silenced until you tackle the fact that you are addicted to converting draft to manuscript, design into development and practice to performance. To run away from this war, many times we drown ourselves in addictions or escapism but dreams don't have a half-life, they always stay young and make our eyes illuminate when we talk about them. Do not give a placebo to your dreams. Don't ask them to shut up and get lost because you are happy and ‘feel’ stable with your beautiful house, a job that helps you pay EMI, and expensive shoes that you could afford last week. This lifestyle might be transient but your ideas are not.



Strike a balance. Take the family in confidence and show them how your eyes shine a little brighter when you talk about your dream. Have a plan B for bad weather days. Whenever you have moments of clarity, write them down, record them and read or listen when you feel doubtful. Well, there are a lot of bullet points out there to help you manage better but one golden rule that I like to stick to is- break down the elephant. Break down things into parts which are comprehensible in one glance. Break down the tasks, the routine, the plan, and the finances and anything that bothers you. No more dealing with the elephants. It is easier dealing with cats and dogs (smaller tasks). Oh, analogy got a little bit too far here... No apologies but, I am just following my dream where I see myself writing what I like.

Getting back to the point, you might have to take a little rain check from the normal routine, going to pubs, socializing, sleeping at the right time but would it not pump your heart with happy blood and your brain with peace when you would see your creation getting transformed from intangible thoughts to something tangible.

And last of all; don’t try to climb to people's expectations of you. Don't be confined in the idea of 'nice' that this society has fed us-a ‘nice’ (to be read as big fat) wedding, a ‘nice’ car, a ‘nice’ patio. Nice almost sounds like an assault on your dreams when you alter your plans so that you can acquire these things instead of nurturing your ideas.

Still not convinced? Well, let me disappoint you then -your ideas and dreams were just a momentary high in the timeline of your whole life and now your hangover is over and you are ready to go to the office tomorrow. Yeah, go back to diplomatic mails. Shoo!

I have a philosophy I like to call ‘Fishing in the sixties’ which is something I recall whenever in doubt. I will tell you sometime later about it.