I finished college and had saved up some internship money. What do I do with it? Buy a laptop, a smartphone or a bicycle. I chose solo backpacking.
One half of the money was fixed capital, I spent it on tickets, a good rucksack, a new mobile connection for travel and some accessories. The other half, was my working capital, my day-to-day expenses while traveling.
Lesson #1
You actually don’t need all the material trappings to be happy.
I intentionally chose to carry only the bare essentials. My only gadget was an old android phone with a basic 2megapixel camera and a good battery life. I chose not to carry my tablet & my DSLR camera. My logic was if I carried a DSLR camera, I would waste more time on capturing the perfect shot than actually enjoying the place.
My only clothes were 2 quick dry tees, 2 pairs of pants, some underwear, a shorts and a fleece jacket. I was staying at crowded dorm rooms with filthy toilets and traveling by public transport, shared taxis or hitch hiking.
But most importantly I was happier than ever before jumping from town to town and exploring new & newer places.
Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone was ringing at the back of my mind during the whole journey..
Lesson#2
You’ll learn to live in the moment.
One of my intrepid explorations brought me to Cherrapunji in Northeast India where I had to cross 3 steel rope bridges. These steel rope bridges are pretty exciting as only a few, half-inch thick, rusty & old steel ropes separate you from imminent death, from a 100 meter drop into rapids strewn with huge boulders.
After a long & tiring hike, I had to collect my wits to cross these bridges. As I walked along gingerly and reached the mid point, I stopped to admire the green beauty surrounding me. I also realized that I’m not just crossing a bare, thin rope bridge, but I’m also learning an important life lesson.
I was living in the moment! I was taking one step at a time and not thinking about what could go wrong. I had not a worry in the world and my mind was blank, expect for the urge to keep walking. It was a surreal experience.
People say you need to meditate for years to develop such acute sense of living in the moment, but here I was, crossing a steel rope bridge which is as far as it can get from meditation and I experience such a moment.
Lesson #3
You’ll have the confidence to face lives’ challenges, single-handedly.
I was on a solo hike to a village where the natives had constructed bridges across a river with the roots of the Indian Rubber tree, 200–500 years ago. The route involved hiking down a cemented mountain path for 45 minutes to reach my destination. I walked along in good spirits as this village was supposed to be one of the highlights of my trip.
After 30 minutes of climbing down, the mossy, cemented path ended and a primitive path snaked around the mountain. I walked along many rivulets of water flowing down the mountain to join the roaring river flowing in the valley. At times, the path became very narrow and steep and this was not what I had read in the reviews. Anyway, I trudged ahead to find a few rapid but small streams of water across the path. I crossed these with some caution and reached a path which was very extremely steep.
I crossed it with some difficulty but my high spirits pushed me ahead. On the path ahead, I could see a fallen tree which could be crossed pretty easily. Mid way through traversing the branches of the fallen tree, I see a huge mud cake covered with thousands of red ants. I panicked and jumped across to the other side of the path and in these couple of seconds, dozens of ants are all over me! I could feel them on my nape, my back, my legs and my chest. I throw my backpack aside and strip my tees. I could feel the sting on my neck. I quickly dust my tees and start dusting myself all over. It took me a few minutes to get rid of all the ants on my body and luckily I find only a couple of stings. May be these were not the army ants that kill preys 100 times its size.
I’ve been hiking and trekking steadily for 2 hours now to the village which could be reached in 45 minutes with a chilling realization that I’ve not encountered one living soul expect frogs, bugs & ants. At this time, I’m tired and hungry but decided to push ahead until I reached the roaring river. I could see an hint of the path on the other side of the river but the river is over a 100 meters of rocks & rapids.
I did not want to risk my life so I turned around & raced back, at double the speed, to where I had started, to civilization. I had lost hopes of visiting the village but to my surprise, I had taken the wrong route and found the right direction. After 3.5 hours of misadventure, I was mentally & physically drained. I refueled with a packet of biscuits & a bottle of water.
On retrospection, I feel that if I’m capable of coming out of a Survivor Man situation in one piece, then comparatively, life back home is cake walk! I’ll have the confidence to tackle any challenge life may throw at me, single handedly.
Lesson #4
You’ll appreciate & cherish your life more.
I was traveling through the lesser Himalayas in a shared 4x4 and it was raining very heavily. A truck driver on the road stopped us to warn about a landslide that had occurred a few kilometers ahead on the road. We waited for a while but decided to drive to the spot to see the actual damage.
A huge chunk of the mountain had fallen on the road, rising to a height of a meter and at the least 10 meters across, and the valley beyond. As we neared the spot, from a distance we could still see wet earth flowing like a river down the mountain with frequent showering of medium sized boulders. Noticing there were no casualties, we quickly turned back for our own safety. It was also apparent that the road would not be cleared soon.
As we drove back to find some shelter & food, our 4x4 came to a screeching halt over a bend of the mountainous road as a impromptu waterfall was cascading down the mountain, across the road and into the valley beyond, with a resounding roar. We had driven across this road only a quarter of an hour before and the small waterfall had converted itself into a mammoth & rapid stream of water in a matter of minutes. If we had tried to cross this torrent, we would have been swept down into the valley below.
There were 8 of us, crammed into the vehicle, including the driver and we could see the tension in everyone’s faces as we were stuck between a landslide and a torrent. This was at 5 in the evening and the darkness was setting in. Again we had to retreat a bit to find a safe part of the road where we could halt for a while.
We sat in the vehicle like this for about 3 hours waiting for the rain to stop, the waterfall to subside or the landslide to be cleared. At the same time, risking our lives to an unexpected landslide, right over our vehicle as the whole area was landslide prone. Fortunately, we were not alone and a few other vehicles had gone through the same ordeal. The landslide was cleared by the army in the wee hours of the morning.
Experiences like this will change your outlook towards life!
So I strongly urge you to pack your bags and leave right away!
