A wanderer's musings

I was twelve when I decided that my honeymoon destination will be Seychelles, after watching on television, a beauty pageant held there. I knew that the jungles of the Amazon was my ultimate destination, after I saw them through the Discovery and National Geographic Channels. And I knew that there was no place like Rome to experience the mastery of art and architecture.
Immersed in the city life of my homeland - India, I wanted to shut my eyes from the traffic, pollution, filth, and the burgeoning population that represented the country to me. I eagerly awaited the day when I could fly away to these exotic locations, the only places where I could find real beauty and be awed by it.
It wasn't until I visited the emerald isles of the Andaman Islands on the eastern coast of the subcontinent, that for the first time I opened my eyes to the raw resplendence of this untouched land. The temples of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, made purely of granite and dating back to the 8th Century AD left me incredibly stupefied at the architectural genius that is intrinsic to the history and culture of India. A deep love and respect for my native state Kerala was reborn as I traversed the dense forests of the Periyar, teeming with wild elephants, tigers, and the Nilgiri Tahr. That was just the beginning of a new-found wonderment at the unfathomable marvels I was yet to discover within my own country.
As a nation with a limitless diversity in geography that matches the diversity of its people and cultures, I began looking at India, not as a developing country with the second-largest population in the world; but as a magical land blessed with natural beauty and diversity, seldom found in other countries. From the monumental Himalayas, pristine beaches, luxurious backwaters of Kerala, the rustic Thar desert, thriving rainforests of the Western Ghats and the North-east, Kashmir - our very own paradise on Earth; I am thankful to have woken up in time to realise that the El dorado I sought across the seven seas, is in my own backyard.
If knowing French, Spanish or German was a boastful skill; I remembered that over 1,652 languages are spoken in India alone. I thought I'd have to go to Egypt to satiate the history-buff in me; but I am yet to visit the remains of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro - one of the oldest civilizations in the world.
I now make plans to visit the next remote hamlet in Orissa; and bite into one of the hottest chillies in the world in Nagaland. For now, Rome can wait.