Even though I am born and brought up in a small town in
India, I did not realize the importance of a few things in life until I started
traveling. When I went for my first trip to Haridwar, I did not like the
crowded Har ki Paudi, where thousands
of people were taking baths at the banks of river Ganga. However, I happened to
visit the same holy Indian city again, but we went to a different ghaat that time, and I realized what
they call offbeat travel. At that secluded ghat
or the riverbank, we could take bath in peace in the pleasantly cold water
of the river, sit there for as long as we wanted, and then return to the famous
Har ki Paudi to witness the Ganga Aarti. Just because everyone goes
to the same tourist place in a famous city does not mean that I also have to do
the same.
In the recent times, I keep hearing about offbeat travel,
which tells people to go to lesser known places. I smile at such articles when
I remember that second visit to Haridwar. While traveling to different cities
in India, I try to stay away from things and places that attract a majority of
tourists. This is how I am able to explore a lot more about every city. I had
heard a lot about Kasol, for example, but I found the place very disappointing
as I reached there. It might have been a smoker’s heaven a few years ago, but
the place is highly commercialized now. On the other hand, rather than wasting
my time in the markets and cafés of Kasol, we hiked ahead to Tosh, where we
found the peaceful environment we were looking for.
The same thing happened with my visit to Neemrana this year.
When I was looking for hotels in Neemrana, the rooms in the fort palace were
skyrocketing, and were certainly not worth the price. So I researched ahead and
looked for accommodations nearby because I could not spend more than a night on
that vacation. I finally found a hill fort palace in Alwar, the price of which
was decent, and I enjoyed my outing with my wife to the core. It was worth
spending every penny on that trip because Alwar is a place that does not
attract thousands of tourists. Hence, it is not too expensive, still untouched,
and people are really humble and nice. What else would you ask for in a weekend
getaway when I could quickly rent a car without driver, reach my destination within four hours, and return the next
day to Delhi.
Indian villages and small towns have always been my priority
when it comes to vacationing. When I got a chance to visit Ujjain, I could not
control my curiosity. This ancient city had been on my list of places to visit
since a long time. So I prepared a list of the temples I could visit in my two
days of stay in Ujjain, took recommendations from a neighborhood friend, and
just set off on my road trip to the religious city in Madhya Pradesh. The Ram Mandir ghaat happened to be my
favorite place among all mandirs.
The thumb rule of traveling for me is to select untouched
places where not many people would want to go. Even if I find a few tourists at
such places, they are like-minded people with whom I can discuss the topics of
same interest. Once I am done exploring India, I will move ahead to foreign
destinations.
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