Travelling
That was one of the extra-curricular activities/hobbies on my resume a few months ago. I have since removed it because I’ve always thought it to be a very cliched hobby to have. I’ve replaced it with other seemingly more niche hobbies (but that hasn’t made much difference to my career).
But the thing is that a hobby is a hobby. If you have that travel bug inside you then no matter what you’re likely to go places, or at least dream about going places. In the last four months, I’ve traveled considerably. I’ve been to a few places known, and a few unknown. So the travel bug is definitely active within me. But compared to me there are travellers who have explored the length and width of the globe and it is for them I wrote this post.
Recently I saw a video on Youtube about this guy who has travelled all around the world. The unique thing about his travels is that he performs this funny yet infectious dance every where he goes. Probably you might have heard of him, his name is Matt Harding, and the video is aptly titled Where the hell is Matt? He has also appeared in a Visa ad doing the same dance. His profile even has a cheekily named video Where the hell is Matt’s girlfriend [then?!] I found out about this video through another wonderful video made by final year students of IIT Madras. The video has the same theme, with students doing that funny dance in front of all the major landmarks in IIT Madras (Funny how could they forget Gajendra Circle of all places!) It won the best video award for Adieu 2009 (which is the farewell program for the final year batches). The interesting thing is that this video is an excellent example of a viral campaign, where Matt explains that his original video is a hoax. People lined up to see this confession, and then Matt releases another video saying that the hoax was actually a hoax! Some amazing stuff there.
There is this another guy Michael Hughes who gets souveniers from each of the places he visits and superimposes them in the pictures he takes. Take a look at his amazing gallery on Flickr.
I have travelled quite insignificantly compared to these fellows. Yet I plan to do so extensively in the future. After all this blog is all about a never ending search. Although I still haven’t uploaded my collection of Patel shots but someday there will be quite a few of them from my side. Till then I keep getting inspired from travellers like them.
PS -I have no idea where to fit the following paragraph. So it stays quietly in the postscript.
On one hand we Indians love to travel. Yet it seems that we Indians haven’t yet perfected the art of travel. For us, travel means planning the trip from start to end right up to the breakfast, lunch and dinner we’re going to have each day. Each person has a dedicated suitcase in which clothes are stuffed, with a couple extra thrown in just in case. We pack our own food, which includes everything ranging from rotis, theplas, pickles, fruits, biscuits and a huge watter bottle. On the other hand, I’ve seen foreign citizens in India carrying nothing but a backpack on their shoulders. Nothing in their trip is planned. Even the exchange students here in IIT take an impromptu trip during the weekends by hiring a bike and taking off. Guess the motto of the Indian traveller is Be prepared.
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