Wanderlust

“Travel is not reward for working, it’s education for living!”

The green fiat car came to a screeching halt as an elephant stood right in front of it with its front legs up in the air ready to crush the car. The Man of the house, the pregnant lady of the house (with the soon to be born son) and their 3.5-year-old daughter were in utter shock. The man was trying to save his family when in the blink of an eye villagers from nearby ran to catch hold of this wild Elephant who was set lose by mistake. The family lived to tell the tale.

This was just the beginning of the education for living for the little girl (the daughter) who my dear friends, is the protagonist of this story. From this incident, she learnt how important it is to be alive.

The little girl took her first ever flight when she was less than a month old in the year 1986 when flying was not a necessity but luxury in India. Her first Road travel was when she was just about 3 months old from a City which was at that time called Bangalore and she visited 2 cities Mangalore and Mysore in that trip. As she grew older, travelling became a part of her life as her father used to travel every 20 days a month for work and whenever her Mother got an opportunity, the brave lady would take the little girl and her younger brother along.

After the Elephant incident, all their travels were pretty much smooth sailing until the little girl turned 5 years old. The family decided to visit a ‘Private Tea Estate’ which was based in the hills of Tamil Nadu. The man of the house was heroically driving the green fiat through the small zig zag road of the hill. The road was so small that only a car could pass at a time. Manoeuvring the fiat through this road was a heroic task. As fate would have it, the car suddenly got stuck in a mud puddle and all the efforts put in by the man of the house to get the car out of the puddle went in vain. Luckily there were some construction workers close by who volunteered to help the family. The workers graciously used all their might to lift the car and got it out of the puddle. The little girl and her brother were in the car when it was lifted and the little girl thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of her being lifted in the air in a car. As the car touched the road, the man and woman of the house realised that the Petrol tank was punctured. We have a word called ‘jugaad’ in India which has been listed in the oxford dictionary as ‘A flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way’. Now the man and woman of the house were so determined to continue the trip that they came up with a Jugaad wherein they rubbed soap on the hole of the tank and used a glue-like thing called mseal to cover the hole and continued their adventure.

This incident taught the little girl that there is always a solution for everything and all you need to do is have a positive attitude and enjoy the moment. The little girl now was elated as she had two stories to narrate to her friends. She started looking forward to travelling and of course the next ‘mishap’ or ‘accident’ that would come their way.

The next mishap was not very far along. The girl was about 6.5 years old when the family travelled to a place called Madhumalai. Madhumalai had a wild life sanctuary, ‘home for all the wild animals’. I know all of you can think of a mishap that can occur when the family takes the green fiat amidst the wild animals. But hang on let us witness what the little girl witnessed! This time the family of four had a guide along with them who was very nicely elaborating details of the jungle and animals as they drove towards the exit gate of the sanctuary. On the way out, the family met their old nemesis “An Elephant” and this time the Elephant was a mother with her baby next to her. Now it is a bit hazy why, but the man of the house gently honked and the Mother elephant got worried and wanted to protect her child. She started chasing the green fiat. The man of the house quickly stepped on the accelerator and started speeding towards the exist to save his family and the guide who helped by giving directions. As the family crossed the exist gate the axil of the car broke right outside the gate and the car came to a halt. Everyone in the car were saved by a few seconds. The elephant alas had no way to get outside the gate.

From this incident, the little girl realised that human as well as animal parents love their children and can do anything to protect them. As she grew older, she started appreciating her parents more and more.

Dear readers, the little girl in this story is the narrator of the story which is me!  And as you must have guessed by now, this story was the beginning of my WANDERLUST which means ‘a strong desire to travel’. This story was also a beginning of my education for living!

I would like to end this blog by saying that travelling can be a powerful means of education for you as well as your children! As long as you live do keep travelling!