When I am on long journeys, I usually make sure to carry a guide book. They are of great help when looking for accommodation and directions. Those who carry heavy backpack weighing 15 kilos and need to look for a place to stay on arrival know how much a pain it is, and how guidebooks simplify the process by a great deal. There are many more uses that make a guidebook an important necessity for me, but let’s not get into details of all that.
The problem that I had, was that all these books are too heavy and add a great deal to the already painful weight. My lonely-planet probably weighs a kilo, and it is a significant addition. The first time I embarked on a long journey with the book, I pondered a bit on this burden. I kept thinking for a while; the book has information on entire India but I was going to only a few places, and was to use just 10% of the book. So I decided to tear out and take with me only the necessary pages. For someone who loves books, it was like a painful thing to do, but it was a great way of cutting of some extra weight.
Torn pages of LP
Now each time I am getting out on a long trip, I spend a good 15 minutes pulling out pages from LP(it is tough to get those pages out without any damage to those pages and to the book), and then rebinding those pages with paper clips!
After completing the North-East trip story, I was thinking about starting writing on Himachal trip, but thought will deviate a bit from the usual routine of posting trip reports one after other and have some change here. So next few weeks on India Travel Blog will be about things related to travel that I found interesting, or some trivia, or stuff that attracted me during my many journeys, and things of such kind. Right now, I can’t really think of what to write, but hopefully some ideas will surface in the coming days. In the meanwhile, if there is something you can think of, or something you want me to write about, do drop me a comment.
Backpacking, adventure travel, sightseeing, leisure travel, driving trips are all sorts of things you can see on India Travel Blog. A spiritual journey is another addition.
I have made many such journeys, some half spiritual and some completely. My trips to Rishikesh and Varanasi did have a spiritual angle to it but not entirely; seeing the places was the main agenda. But once in a while, I escape from the everyday world and spend a few days in a spiritual retreat, meditating and looking inwards.
I spent the last five days at the Art of Living center in Bangalore and have just returned back refreshed. The changes that come after five days of grind and torture are amazing. After all these days of sitting almost entire day with legs folded and pain all over the body, trying hard to follow strange instructions and trying harder not to break off in the middle and runaway, life suddenly looks a lot more better than it was five days ago. There is new energy and enthusiasm, a will to go for anything, a never fading smile and happiness oozing from every part of the body.
Meditation hall and amphitheater at the Art of Living Center, Bangalore
The intricacies and details of things spiritual are beyond my comprehension and I would rather not get into details of all the things we did on these five days and what we felt every day. Often it all looked strange and we wonder what is going on. It is not exactly pleasant when you are there, and sitting on the floor for long hours can be a pain. Some yoga exercises feel like no less than a torture and it is not surprising if you feel like running away at the end of your first day itself. But those who manage to hold on and complete(every one did) seem to find a new vigor in life and appear full of happiness and smiling all the time.
End of five days, I feel sufficiently energized that I am already thinking when should I consider another such meditation retreat!