Hard Terrain Soft People

“Life is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page”

I came across this quote somewhere while browsing on the internet and felt like very true. Each place you visit, leaves an impression on your mind, each experience you have changes you into a new person, each journey you undertake teaches you something different and gives you uncountable memories.

I have traveled a lot, and had a glimpse of many wonders of nature like vast oceans, cool and windy beaches, deep canyons, desert sands, green mountains to snow clad peaks of Himalayas, mesmerizing views of sunset and sunrise……But travel is not just viewing the attractions,attractions are just a part of it. Along with this you also get to learn about people, local cultures, traditions, taste of local cuisines, adjusting to new weather, chilling cold or scorching heat or heavy rains.

In my travel I have meet a lot of people and saw both good and bad faces of human nature, I have seen cab drivers charging exorbitant amounts from tourist by pretending destination is far, hotels trying to extract more money from tourist if you arrive without advance booking and try to book on the spot,people pretending to help you with loading  your luggage in bus or train without asking and then demand some unreasonable amount of money for the same, waiters who stand on your head to see if you keep any tip or not, people selling items at double price in tourist spot etc.

Along with this bad face, I have also seen the other side of the coin, I have seen some people who go out of their way to help other travelers.Sometime back I travelled to a hill station in Himachal Pradesh (Mountainous State in North India) ,this is the land of high Himalayan mountains on one side and deep valleys on other with narrow winding roads overall a very difficult terrain with extreme cold weather in winter.

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A post shared by Gautami Bhandare (@girl_bornto_travel)

 

One day I had to board a early morning bus to my next destination and bus stop was very near to my Hotel, early in the morning I just went to the bus stop to enquire about the bus, the conductor said the bus leaves in 10 mins, I told him I have to get my luggage from hotel, after knowing this he came with me to hotel and helped me to quickly carry my luggage to the bus so that I don’t miss it.  On another such journey after long bus ride when we finally reached near our destination, the conductor told us to get down little before the bus stand as we can get taxis to hotel easily from there, not only this he himself went and negotiated with taxi driver and asked him to shows us few good hotels so that we can select any one from them.

In this life when even close friends cheat each other for few bucks and we have to be on constant guard to save ourselves from people around us, such strangers show us a different face of world and make us believe humanity still exists.

This is what travelling is, it is not just sightseeing, but collection of all such experiences which  shows us both the ugly and beautiful face of human nature.Some things can only be learnt by experiencing it yourselves and not by reading or listening to others and for that you have to travel. As someone rightly said

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”

Look within yourself

Sometime back I had read a story on internet sharing it below with my readers

The proprietor of a coffee shop had been busy all day. Being Saturday, it was very crowded and the customers were just unending. He had been on his toes since morning.

Towards the evening he felt a splitting headache surfacing. As the clock ticked away, his headache worsened. Unable to bear it, he stepped out of the shop leaving his staff to look after the sales.

He walked across the street to the Chemist, to buy himself a painkiller to relieve his headache. He swallowed the pill and felt relieved. He knew that in a few minutes he would feel better.

As he strolled out of the shop, he casually asked the salesgirl, “Where is Mr Sharma (the Chemist)? He’s not at the cash counter today!” The girl replied, “Sir, Mr Sharma had a splitting headache and said he was going across to the coffee shop. He said a cup of hot coffee would relieve him of his headache.”

The man’s mouth went dry and he mumbled, “Oh! I see.”

*This is a typical case of looking outside ourselves for something that we have within us*.

How strange but true!

The chemist relieves his headache by drinking coffee and the coffee shop owner finds relief in a pain relieving pill!

A man hunts across the lengths and breadths of the universe to find peace.

Eventually he finds it in his heart and realizes that peace is really a state of mind.

Life of a ‘Pi’ – a bird story

Direct Dil se

Few days back, a couple of feral pigeons started sneaking in my window more frequently and sat in complete silence.

Earlier I ignored them for few days, later when I started noticing that, they are forever stationed at the window, I just tried to shoo them away, but they seemed to have become more adamant about staying at that very place.

I tried a few more times…and later on got busy with other stuff and completely forgot about the birds and their menace. 😦

In matter of week or a two I noticed that one of birds flew but other one always stayed back and sat quietly inside tree pot in the window. Just to make the bird leave that place.

I tried some techniques to scare it so as to make it will fly away.

I did succeed at it but to my surprise there was an “egg” lying…

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Women’s day special

Dream Notepad

As woman’s day is approaching here are some beautiful lines I had read somewhere….

A tribute to all my women readers……….

When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day
An angel came by and said: “Why spend so much time on that one?”
And the Lord answered: “Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her ?”
“She must be washable, but not made of plastic, have more than 200 moving parts which all must be replaceable and she must function on all kinds of food, she must be able to embrace several kids at the same time, give a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken hearth and she must do all this with only two hands”.
The angel was impressed.

“Just two hands….impossible!“

And this is the standard model?!

“Too much work for one day….wait…

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We are not where we want to be

Dream Notepad

Recently I had to make a big change in my life I had to move out of my comfort zone to take on a new experience which was a kind of rebirth to me. Below is a story I had read sometime back on facebook which served as an inspiration for me. So sharing it here for all my readers I hope it inspires you also …….

The Story of an EAGLE:

The Eagle has the longest life-span of its species. It can live upto 70 years.

…

But to reach this age, the eagle must make a very difficult decision!

In its 40th year, the eagle’s long and flexible Talons can no longer grab a prey which serves as food.

Its long and sharp beak becomes bent.
Its old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, stick to its chest and make it difficult to fly.

Then, the…

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Love

Dream Notepad

Today on the Valentine day as I am starting writing my blog what could be a better topic to start my first article than Love. When we think of valentine day all our thoughts come around one single thing that first and foremost thing you need to experience love is a partner, a dream partner, soulmate, a prince charming who will love you unconditionally with whom you can share all your thoughts who will always be there for you no matter what, with whom you can spend hours talking, long walks, candle light dinners, roses, chocolates, pastries and all things which make life beautiful.

No wonder all these things make life beautiful and everyone wants them at some point of time. Then what about the single people out there do they have to spend their days lonely wishing they could find their partner like all others?

Is it always necessary…

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Is it worth it?

Direct Dil se

It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls.

But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear.

So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow.

The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife’s slain body in his arms.

Excerpt From: Khaled Hosseini. “The Kite Runner.”

This story though a small one, has got a very strong message for each one of us. At some point of time, all of us run behind materialistic things or success and completely forget to live in the present moment.

Some us…

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Man with a phoenix touch…

Direct Dil se

Below are inspiring excerpts from the commencement speech by Steve Jobs, at Standord University on June 12, 2005.

Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life.

Best decisions I ever made

The first story is about connecting the dots. I ped out of Reed College after the first six months. Why? Well, it started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption.

She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, but my biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months…

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Collection of Quotes

 

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” –Seth Godin

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino

“One day your life will flash before your eyes make sure it’s worth watching” –Anyonomous

“When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.” – Norm Crosby

“Love doesn’t make the world go ’round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” – Franklin P. Jones

“Some people want it to happen,Some wish it could happen, Others make it happen” – Michael Jordan

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” – Ayn Rand

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become, what you believe – Oprah Winfrey