My Idea of Intimate Travel at New Places

When it comes to closely traveling at places, I need to make sure that I do it as I like it. There are countless places in India that require the attention of Indians, who are more focused towards foreign destinations these days. It pains my heart to see that my friends do not value their own country, which is so beautiful and vast that it may take an entire lifetime to explore it. Even if I dedicate my entire life to just travel to one city, town, or village at a time, I won’t be able to cover the entire India.

My idea of traveling diligently to a new place is to go for a walk and talk to the locals. The airplanes can take you to the farthest corners of the world, but they cannot take you to the brightest or darkest corners of a town. I have been to the small streets of Paris, New York, and New Delhi. Everything that I had seen on TV seemed to fade away when I talked to the locals of these places. They tell a lot of insider stories about their native place that never finds mention in books and journals.

When I was in Udaipur, I would hate to walk in the polluted alleys, but I still went for it. Firstly, the roads in Udaipur are not spacious enough for a car to drive smoothly. Second, they streets are already so polluted that I did not feel like contributing more to it, so I did not hire a scooter for traveling. Thirdly, the city is not too big and the markets are adjacent to each other. I could easily walk or hire an auto-rickshaw whenever I did not feel like walking.

Last year, I was in Kolkata where the boat rides are quite famous. Although the city is not too clean, it is still great to know it from a lesser distance. I also hired Self-Drive Cars in Kolkata to drive off to farther places, but my two feet served the purpose most of the times. It also lets me decide my own pace when I am walking. I don’t like to move quickly because it makes me miss the most beautiful things of a town. Walking, on the other hand, is a beautiful form of slow travel. I get to see things, places, and people closely without disturbing their lives.

There was an instance in Delhi when I went for morning walk and I did not carry any money. I boarded a bus and asked the conductor if I could ride without paying. Surprisingly, he agreed as I was visibly tired of walking a lot.

The best part about strolling is that I get to save money, even if they are a few bucks. I, being a typical Indian, love to save a single penny, even if that means I spend hundreds of bucks later on an expensive pizza. That’s funny, I know, but I cannot help it.