On Becoming Stronger

I hate to travel alone. Every flight is difficult since it always involves some kind of climbing which I’m unable to do and need to take assistance from strangers. But yeah, each experience makes me a stronger, wiser person.

Not just because of the embarrassing situations I face, but the kind of people I meet. A couple of years ago, on a two seater Shatabdi, I had an opportunity to sit with a mentally retarded girl. For 6 hours, the 8-year old girl was listening to music and swayed her head like a true connoisseur. Whenever she ate or drank anything, little droplets fell from the left corner of her lip. She used a hanky with every bite she took. Her mother and aunt were on the opposite seat and I wondered how the mother felt bringing her up. Whenever I helped the girl with something, she would give me the cutest smile, a smile I would remember for life.

Once a young German lady of 30 helped me climb a bus. And then she smiled and said very casually, “Oh, everyone has problems. I have breast cancer and I’m on a mission to travel the world before I die”.

All low cost flights from the Middle East are abuzz with labourers. Last time a small time electrician sat next to me. He kept smiling, wanting to start a conversation. But I gave him little response. When the flight was hovering around the airport just before landing, he started talking. I gave him some gyaan saying you get such a low salary in Middle East at the high cost of staying away from your family, why don’t you quit? He said for a couple of thousand rupees more, it was all worth it. There was a self pride attached in working in a foreign land which he could no more give up in front of his family and friends back home.

Sometimes when I take help, little droplets fill my eyes and I try to hide them from kind strangers. And then I see people going through struggles which are enormous in comparison to mine. I told you, every journey makes me a stronger and wiser person. That’s why, even though I start fretting the bus ride a month before the travel, I look forward to an interesting journey. I hope all your journeys have been worth the pain as well.