As I move on

December 24, 2008 (a few days before I moved to Mumbai, leaving so much behind...)

As the strange beckoning of the unknown makes my soul restless once again, as wanderlust pulls me out of my moss-grown comfort and sends me packing, as my last days of stay within the comfort of 'a sleepy hometown' draws to an end, I look back once again through the multitudinous memories of the past few years. How had it been to remain firmly rooted for so long (rare indeed, considering the times in which we live)?

During the last five years, on an average, I'd spent about fifteen odd days every month travelling. The arrangement, on a whole served me well. While enjoying the stability of staying at home, the constant traveling kept my restless wanderlust at check, ensuring my 'rolling stone' status, with my mental window always open to the outside world. My travels had taken me through the laid-back beach town of Alibagh (the unforgettable monsoon) to the fast and happening KL, the lush green tea gardens of Assam and Dooars to the desert countries of the Middle-East, the small industrial towns like Rourkela to the nostalgic and surprisingly cosmopolitan Dhaka.

Now, as my five years of ‘staying at home’ is coming to a close, I have a feeling that the warmth and camaraderie of my colleagues and the wonderful memories associated with these travels (as my picture albums will vouch) will remain as my most significant professional 'takeaways'. As I retrospect through these bylanes of memories, my mind is getting filled with the endless tapestry of faces, landscapes, and anecdotes associated with these travels, reminding me once again of the inexhaustible possibilities and richness of the human life.

However, the pictures in my albums will only tell half the story. The pictures will ramble (like tell-tale) about everything that can be captured with a camera. Yet, there’ll still remain many an image which the camera could not capture, images which even reminiscences will not be able to recreate. These are pictures which make travel worthwhile. It's in search for these pictures that I'm packing my bags once again. Being brought up on tales of travel and adventure, I'm always weary of gathering moss. And as I'm once again leaving behind all comfort and getting ready to roll-on, I remember those inspiring (and challenging?) words of Dylan – 'How does it feel...?'

I wish I could tell.