My Durgapur Travel Diary
Traveling to places while in NIT Durgapur has probably produced more stories to narrate than any other activity here....not moving around the campus, but in general, going places with friends for Quizzes, Fests....and there have been so many of them in my final year itself......Calcutta Trips (which includes loitering around Park Street for hours), Trip to Allahabad, to Spring Fest, the Legendary Gangtok Trip....and I got amazing stories from all of them. I wanted to scribble about it in a different way…..right from the Origin or the Idea of the trips, to the aftermath..but the latter is invariably empty pockets, sore bumps and some great memories...
The Idea of Traveling
When you have been planning something for ages with great fervor and heart, you want that thing to be done in the most spectacular way but every time there is an opportunity to follow it up there is some trouble and the plan becomes history, only to reappear once again from the dead for a brief period of enthusiastic conversation to get buried once again. This is exactly what happens when you plan trips with friends. Its just that the planning and hype over something creates so much of doubt about its actual existence, that we are eventually forced to give up all that...and back our spontaneity to take decisions. That has been always been the motto in life...you make your choices based on nothing and then see what is in store for you next, and i crave for that stuff...among the number of trips this year, some were planned but it never took long to put that plan in the trash and then enjoy the thrills of uncertainty.
I personally have never traveled with a plan, at least while traveling for my quizzing trips there has never been a plan, we never had our bags packed, we were never sure if we had the right amount of cash, not even about the most relevant of questions 'whether we are going at all?', and the questions about the tour itinerary, even if they are raised by mistake, are brushed off with the most slothful of remarks...
"Arre wo sab chod, baad me dekhlenge"But the best of trips are actually unplanned, the feeling of incertitude and the excitement of not knowing what is going to happen next is what can make a simple journey a real exciting one. I have traveled so many times along with Nagpal(faithful friend and Quiz pal) for quizzes and before each one of them started we slept late, completely unsure about what is going to happen tomorrow, and in the morning if one of us wakes up there was the 'moment of truth' when he yells out "Oye jaana hai kya?" , first we stare around the room, scratching our heads then we do our calculation to see whether it is humanly possible to make it to our destination, a few more glances at each other and we know we are going, even if it takes a superhuman effort to even reach there forget performing in the Quizzes, ..and against all the odds we have always made it to the quizzes just on time. These things might look very ordinary, but they always made us crave for more such trips.
The experience of being completely unsure about the next moment is something that I will definitely miss when I finish my college. These days, I always know what’s going to happen next...the same thing that happened yesterday...goof around, gossip, sleep, sleep, lather, rinse, repeat. It’s enough to make someone die of exhaustion. Going around places actually kept me motivated...when you are short on real life challenges(even if there are some, I am not doing anything about them), such things help to keep life on the move and exciting, as the best escape from our usual sick routine...i am glad i have always tried to get out of the routine...
