There are two phases in my life. My life prior to my first solo trip and the life after that.
I am a Hyderabadi and one & 1/2 years ago, in March 2017 I went on a solo trip to Kerala (also, Tamil Nadu).



I have planned this trip to give a try how far I can go out of my comfort zone. I went to Chennai by train and on day one, I got 3 friends who are from Kurnool on their trip to IIT Madras. We spent our time in Marina beach tasting all the varieties of fish that we can able to (spent on). I used City buses and Ola cabs(I got many phone numbers and Ola has got free rides) to travel from place to place.

3 friends Harsha, Vinay and Puneeth at Marina Beach Dakshin Chitra museum's collection Dakshin Chitra

The next day, I set out my journey to Ernakulam and reached Kochi by Share auto. While walking in the streets of Kochi, I came across Green bikes (Cycles on Rent). Delighted with excitement, I pedaled along all the streets of Kochi. The next day, I rented a motorbike and roamed all places nearby Kochi like Alleppey, Changanacherry, Kottayam, Marari, Kumarokam. While I am busy taking photos at Alleppey beach, a drunken soul interrupted me and only later I came to know that he is an ex-navy officer who lost his love somewhere around that waves. I went to Cherai beach the next day by traveling on a ferry, local bus and hitchhiking. There I got a friend by name Kuzhimon from whom I learned many things about Kerala and kariman fish. I concluded my Kochi trip with a nicely cooked Kariman fish with Kerala rice at Azhardullah restaurant (it is not a restaurant), Fort Kochi.

On my way to Ernakulam - Aluva, Kerala

With Prasad (next to me) and his friend (The drunken soul)

Alleppey houseboat

Green Bykes (Cycles on rent in Kochi)

Next morning I took a bus to reach Munnar. On the bus, I would have died out of boredom if I haven’t happened to meet Free soul (the name I have given to Cristiana). She is a traveler from California. She gave a good company in the bus and we had lunch together once we reached Munnar. I departed for my stay at Devikulam by renting a bike from Pruthvi. That ride is the most amazing one I ever had in my life. At 1500 m elevation where clouds compete with you side by side, Lockhart tea gardens giving you spectacular views, short span drizzles and cool breezes chilling your body, I felt the real meaning of heaven.

With Cristiana from California

At Munnar Rosegarden

After covering all the major (places to visit in Munnar) on the same bike, I headed towards Madurai on a bus the next day. This time on the bus, I met Sathish who is also a Civil Engineer from Madurai. He showed me all the places in Madurai(only temple) and explained the great history of Meenakshamma Temple. I tasted the Madurai's special JIL JIL Jigardanda and left for Mahabalipuram. Exploring Mahabalipuram would have been easier if I got green bikes here too. So, I assigned a lot of work to my legs and finally concluded my trip by visiting the Shore temple. Next day I took Parveen travels to reach Hyderabad from Chennai after doing a quick shopping at T-Nagar.

The awesome bike ride of my life

Italic: Unknowingly I used every single means of transport on my trip.
Bold: These are all the people who made my solo trip non-solo.

Go out on your solo trip. Leave baggage, chatter, comfortable hotel rooms, Air-conditioned cars, 5-star restaurants and walk the place meeting people, eating local foods, and sleeping on platforms. I bet you will meet a new person in yourself after returning.

View all photos here

We all travel a lot. In a car with our own people, in a bus along with fellow passengers and on a bike with our own flesh and bones. The first journey is a great opportunity to spend time with the people who are already something to us. The last one is an amazing ride with ourselves who is everything to us. In between these trips, there comes the bus and train journeys where we sit idling doing nothing travelling along with the people who are nothing to us at that moment. But, the latter is the voyage
where there is a chance of meeting people who may either remain strangers just as before or even become the best part of our lives. Here is one quote about bus journey by Chirag Tulsiani.

“Life is similar to a bus ride.The journey begins when we board the bus. We meet people along our way of which some are strangers, some friends and some strangers yet to be friends. There are stops at intervals and people board in.At times some of these people make their presence felt, leave an impact through their grace and beauty on us fellow passengers while on other occasions they remain indifferent.

But then it is important for some people to make an exit, to get down and walk the paths they were destined to because if people always made an entrance and never left either for the better or worse, then we would feel suffocated and confused like those people in the bus, the purpose of the journey would lose its essence and the journey altogether would neither be worthwhile nor smooth.”  -CHIRAG

Stop for a while wherever you are and concentrate on just the sounds surrounding you.
I have a habit of recording sound of surroundings on my phone at random places. From these audio's, I came to a realization that in the marathon of modern lifestyle, we are missing out amazing things happening just beside us. All we have to do is to shut down everything for few minutes and just listen to surroundings. Just experience the present without dwelling in the past or future. Listen to few of my recordings.





Recording 1 – Wildlands





Recording 2 - Wildlands interfered by Human activities (The sound of a plane)





Recording 3 - Office jargon





Recording 4 - Terrible traffic







So, next time when you are crossing a waterbody, observe the tiny little sounds created by water droplets. Appreciate the melodious singing of a blackbird when you are walking in the park. 

I wonder how much time a person is pouring into the bottomless mugs of YouTube and social media these days. The endless news feed of these apps says it all by itself.


A few months ago on one fine Wednesday evening, I gave my input query into youtube search bar which returned me 2-3 apt solution videos. The cruelest part here is the sidebar of suggested videos. Unknowingly, this small tweak of YouTube made me sit before my screen for almost 4 hours watching videos which I did not intend to.
And when it comes to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the situation is no less horrible. This is same in the case of browsing or downloading music, customizing our phone, choosing and editing profile photos, posting status or photos on socipedia, texting on WhatsApp or hike, etc.,

1. The YouTube Mania

The lost art of handwritten emotions

The stepped tank