My TEDx Talk and the Camera Glitch
I had the fortune to speak at one of the TEDx events organized by the Hindu College in New Delhi on the 16th Oct 2015. I gave a crisp 12-minute talk about “Travelling.” Unfortunately, only a tiny part of the video could be recorded due to a technical glitch. I was approached by an attendee a few days ago asking if I could share the link to the talk. So I decided to share the transcript of the talk.
A very famous traveler named — Ibn Battuta once said
Travelling — It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller
In the last more than 10 years of my full-time traveling, I have been left speechless not just once but many times. Sometimes it was the majestic beauty of the view I was standing in front of. Sometimes, it was the benevolence of people that I encountered, and at other times it was the epiphanies that I had during my sojourns.
Most dictionaries define the word ‘Travel’ as ‘going from one place to another.’
That’s pretty much what I did back in my corporate days. I remember once I went to Manali (A hill station in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India) with my colleague, and the first thing he did after checking into a hotel was switch on the AC, get into a blanket, order some pakoras (famous Indian snacks) and turn on the TV.
I was like, man — we could also do this back in Delhi! What the hell did we come to Manali for?
I guess that’s what most of us do. We change our geographical coordinates but do the same things we usually do back home.
But is traveling only about going from one place to another?
Let’s go a little deeper into the origins of the word.
It is believed to be derived from an old French word ‘Travail’ which means a “Painful or a Laborious effort”.
Sure enough, traveling was painful in older times, and up until a few hundred years ago, traveling was almost a synonym for being tormented.
Thankfully it doesn’t have to be laborious anymore since today we have the means and technology to transport ourselves to most places in the world, but that being said, traveling still ought to be challenging because if it doesn’t CHANGE you in any way. It’s not traveling at all.
This brings us to our question for today.
What I have learned after giving up corporate life to pursue my dream is that traveling is about expanding our horizons. It is about experiencing life firsthand and accepting the diversity of life.
We all are unique representations of all that exists. Look at the word “Universe,” for instance. ‘Uni’ means ‘One,’ and ‘Verse’ means ‘Song.’
We all have a unique song within us, but our life doesn’t seem to be in harmony with it. The only way to find that resonance is by connecting with who we indeed are. And in the genuine sense, that is what traveling can offer us.
It’s been a little over ten years since I lived out of a backpack. I have done about 6 countries and approximately lived and crossed through some 200 towns and 3000 villages in India.
Although there are countless stories I can share with you today, however, I will tell you this one instance where I met this woman at a small village in the hills of Uttarakhand (A Himalayan state in India). She was pounding wheat to separate the chaff from the grains.
She said that the brain of the child is like this crop. If you pound too hard, you will destroy it; if you don’t, it will become delusional. This is how our education system must be, is what she said.
It would be unimaginable for most of us to hear something of profundity from a woman living in a village.
What I earned and learned during my traveling years is something that no amount of money can buy, and if I had to summarise the wisdom of my escapades. I have to say that everybody grows old, but not everybody grows up, which means we can’t defy aging (at least for now), but we can definitely age gracefully. Here AGE signifies –
Acceptance: They say ‘Enlightenment’ isn’t about ‘Self-improvement’ but ‘Self-acceptance.’ We’re constantly fighting with the idea of who we are and trying to match up with the ideals we’ve created in society. When you travel, you slowly come to terms with who you really are.
Gratitude: It is not the happy people who are thankful. It is thankful who are happy. Traveling makes us appreciate life. No matter what happens, there will always be something to be grateful for.
Exposure: Our dreams' audacity depends on our exposure level. Traveling raises our awareness which in turn elevates our aspirations. Greater our exposure, the bigger the dreams.
In my quest to understand the value of traveling, I realized that —
Travelling is not just about finding what is out there but to REDISCOVER what is already WITHIN you.
It took a boy named ‘Siddhartha’ to travel through the wilderness to become ‘Gautama the Buddha.’
It took a man named ‘Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to travel all the way to South Africa only to realize his purpose, and he returned home to become the father of this nation.
As much as this is true that the storehouse of WISDOM lies in here, but the KEY to unlock it is out there.
And to everyone who is listening to me today. I say to you —
Step out of your known pastures and leap into the UNKNOWN because you never know, you might just find your SELF out there.
