Vedchi- A nook and crannie for philanthrophy

The 26th of January, 2008 was indeed a very special and different one. I saw life on the other side. I realized how much advantage we take of what we've got. I saw the lucky and yet unlucky. I saw philanthropy first hand and now hold to believe that philanthropy rocks. For traveling does not only mean different food, hotel room, sight seeing but also means something different.

Vedchi is a little village near Surat, Gujarat. The village is just like any ordinary village but with a jewel inside. This jewel has helped many women and children. A group of people living in harmony in a Gandhi Ashram. So many people have been given hope. This ashram provides education to children, employment to women, a home to orphans and lots of bliss. So the 26th of January, 2008 wasn't the ordinary republic day but was so different and it showed me how strong India really was and it is indeed strong, for people living in harmony in the best thing and can fight the odds.

Oops, I've been bitten by the bug!

There's this urge I've been having. I've been bitten by the bug. The travel bug as my dad calls it. I want to go for monsoon treks, long journeys, new places, these little towns never heard of,I want to see new places, feel the queerness of the transit from one place to the other, eat the gastronomical treats that each place has in store for me, I just want to leave my nest.

There is no worse time to be bitten by the bug. I mean I'm giving my tenth board exam in approximately one hundred and ten days. But, even now if I was giving the choice of a holiday I would not go because there's no point traveling with a stressed mind and a gallon of work to strike you when you're back home. But, journeys await me as I await them so I'll work my ass off now and then journeys and I shall embrace each other.

Clikati, clack, I love train journeys!

It's been a long time since I've traveled. I love traveling. I believe it always broadens your perspective ( hmmm, an explanation for my currently narrow perspective). If I speak about travel I'm talking train journeys, second class. I think I get the love for trains from my dad.

There are a lot of problems like a bad loo, vender's trying to sell you something at some odd hour ( chai lelo, chai, I miss that), hijra's ( trans gender), beggars, lack of cleanliness, noise, sitting consistently can make your ass numb and so on so far. But nothing can replace a true second class journey for me.

There is a certain beauty to a second class journey for me. You can literally see the landscape changing. India is so diverse,therefore in a country like this you ought to travel second class. The cold wind on your face, the smell of friction between the wheels of the train and track, the sound of the train and so many things. There are so many things about a second class train journey or for that matter any train journey which an individual should experience.

I have many memories attached to a train journey. I'm nostalgic! But even if the body doesn't travel, the mind consistently travels. Ah, now that's some consolation for this claustrophobia.