Every journey opens ones eyes a little more.

Memory is fickle. It fades easily making us forget the countless experiences we have. Those experiences which made us into the person we are today. Not this memory though. This memory sticks in my mind like a flashbulb moment to the degree that if I close my eyes, I can feel the wind whipping my cold frozen nose as I hurriedly try to adjust the luggage I’m holding before my fingers freeze and as my eyes adjust to the sheer brilliance of white all around me. It was the day I landed in Saariselka, Northern Finland in pursuit of the Aurora Borealis.
Three things you notice when you come to India, to where I belong, are: the colours, the sounds and normally the least favourite, the smells. On that day, I experienced a complete antithesis of everything I had ever known. I looked up from the airport to see that I had underestimated the colour white before. Being an Indian, I was used to all sorts of colours. On buildings, streets, cars, clothes and even painted animals. Bright colours, dull colours, ridiculously mismatched colours but never white. It was present here; all around me in numerous hues making me feel that I was back in the times of black and white but unusually colourful at the same time. The other thing I will never forget is the complete lack of sound. It was surreal to not hear honks, drones of a crowd talking, animal sounds and my ears started ringing in an attempt to adjust to absolute beautiful silence. I’d mention the smells here except that my nose was actually going blue and blocked frozen!
We spent the day getting amused looks as we trekked through the snow struggling with our heavy boots. There was no lack of new experiences and what struck me most was how friendly people were on whom I tried my half learnt Finnish while they tried their English on me. Sitting beside a frozen lake with only my husband for companionship, only the snow lighting up the forest around us and only a bottle of Jägermeister to keep us warm, I truly experienced the magic of travelling in the form of an unforgettable day. Even the non-appearance of the Aurora could not make me feel one negative emotion that day.