Of seasonal fruit, trains, and people - My travel tales.

‘Here’ is where my heart, mind and soul are today. Emotionally and mentally. Wanderlust, freethinker, independent, and happy.
How I got here is this.
For all the wishing and dreaming of being an adult, finally being one is not at all what it’s cracked up to be. I got married. I got divorced too. I didn’t deal well with it. So I packed up and left the country, to where my budget allowed me to go. Sri Lanka. I travelled for a month.
I was never the type to go traveling by myself. But it was a point in my life when I just felt if I didn’t do it now I never would. But as it turned out, I loved the feeling of being independent. I loved striking up conversations on buses and trains, meeting people. I loved being free. I stuck my head outside of a moving train one time, like they do in Hindi films. I felt the wind against my face. The trees whizzed by and the winds that were lapping my face were speaking to me. The winds spoke of change. I listened. My moment of deep soul searching ended abruptly when a large bellied man behind me pulled me back into the train with an angry look on his face. ‘Silly girl what nonsense is this, putting your head out the moving train!’ He barked. I smiled sheepishly. The rest of the ride to my destination was uneventful.
At the market areas, streets were noisy: loud bargaining, dogs barking. Women in beautiful, bright colored sari’s furiously wiping sweat from the brows, as the sun shone mercilessly overhead. Chewing betel and spitting bright red on the side walk.
It was the season of fruit; it was the season of harvest, growing, and selling. Every road I traveled I saw colorful fruits laid out in reds, oranges and yellows. Young boys and girls creating noise to attract tourist to their carts, some which were strategically built under the magnificent shade of a proud a mango tree. I saw children happily running home from school. Girls in pigtails, hair ribbons and in uniforms running on the traffic free little roads, dashing in and out of small hut like houses. Hiding from my camera, making faces and running off. I swam in the southern beaches. I loved how my hair smelled of salt. The ocean did wonders for me. Being an island girl myself, the ocean and the beach are the best things I consider part of my everyday life in Maldives.
Happiness in small doses is what I would call it. A blessing in disguise - because I found my calling, my passion: Traveling, Exploring and Discovering.
‘Here’ is where I am today.