Series : There is an experience apart from an opinion - 1

An experience and an opinion about the place and the people are the 2 things which I always gain in each trip. When I turn back and see my blog posts, all I see is I have shared my opinion about the place, the route, the best time to visit etc. But what I have missed is recording my experiences. If not for anyone else, for me these experiences mean a lot and I wish I do not forget any of those. But, life keeps on adding more to the stack that we tend to forget, a few simple yet important ones. But, those special ones can be recorded somewhere and when you read them again, all those scenes flash in front of your eyes as though you are reliving the moments. 

During college days, me and a couple of my friends sitting in last bench used to discuss about going for a trip and I still remember when one of our lecturer just told the word Egypt, we started saying ourselves "Namo Egypt poyiyaa" in tulu meaning "Let's go to Egypt man". But, it was more of a fun for the moment and not really a serious one. But today if I think of any place and decide to go, I start longing for that day every minute. A lot of places are in my bucket and these haunt me everyday. The only major trips we covered during college days were overnight decided Mandalpatti bike ride and Kumaraparvatha Trek. Rest were class trips etc.

A job changed my life and that too when I got posted in Bangalore and most of my friends got in Mangalore, things changed. I used to travel every Saturday and Sunday as if it will be my last weekend of life. Hundreds of reasons joined together to make me get addicted to travelling. I would make a couple of calls to a few friends in Bangalore, and if none were free on that weekend or if they felt lazy to join for the trek on a row, it was me and my backpack travelling to the next place in the bucket list. 

A lot of treks, a lot of places of Bangalore were covered and by then it had become my habit to pick the bag and move somewhere every week. 

In this course, I have met a lot of people in different places whom I may never meet again in life. But those people have given quite a few good memories to me. Some annoying ones, some making me feel uncomfortable, some funny, some making me feel great about them and some people just not making me feel anything but were present for a couple of minutes in life. A couple of next posts dedicated to my experience as a traveler in different places with different people.
When I simply turn back and try listing such people, the first one who comes to my mind is the drunken guide we went with in elephant prone Raagalli Betta and the next is the dad who climbed Madhugiri with his 2 kids aged 9 and 4 with kids wearing no shoes or chappal! A lot of interaction with such people and cant simply stop the list with just 2 people in it. More about these people and more of them in coming posts.

The guide (The One in blue shirt :P ) who 'guided us' in elephant prone Raagalli Betta

And this is how he looks when he is drunk. :P But he was in his senses :)