Travelling is my destiny. I didn’t choose to, but now I love to.
I love writing and he loves photography, and we both love traveling.
Let me sum up about the blog in a sentence – This blog is coming together of our passions. And the reason why we travel a lot, explore new places and have developed a keen observation sense is because of his job – ARMY. In armed service you can’t stick to a place beyond 2 years, sometimes even less than that.
When I got married to him, I had no idea how this was gonna work – changing places so frequently. I had stayed all my life in one place and my parents did the same, we knew each and every road, every person in the vicinity, even their past, present and future stories. But then I realized that this was a blessing in disguise. When you know you are not going to stay in that place more than a few years then you feel like exploring and exploring every bit of it.
Sometimes, exploring is the need, because you are new and have to live for 2 years, You must discover the best restaurants, the best places to hang out, even a good tailor, a cheap grocery shop. And, the best part of doing this drill is that while you are gathering basic information, you also make friends and get insider’s tips. Like when I was in Chennai and was desperately looking a for a good tailor who would stitch suits north Indian style, I bumped into these two women in a cloth store and because they were talking in Bengali, I couldn’t resist and hesitantly asked ” Hi, I am new to this place. Can you help me find a good tailor” and since then there was no looking back.
Let me start with a list of places I have already been to in India – and seen them inside-out. For I see the places not as a tourist on a short vacation but I stay in those places for good 2 years. My strategy is simple – my husband is in Army, so I tag along with him where ever he is posted, make sure that we visit all the nearby places and just enjoy life as it comes.
So, for your good and mine, let me just recall and list down the places I have already been in India. Now this list has a mix of places where we went owing to his posting, places we explored around, places we just went because we wanted to go, and trust me each place that we went has a story to say Sometimes, it would be long discussions on where we would go next, confusions and debates. Sometimes, trips were just a quick escape from life stress and quite a few times event gifts ( he forgets my birthday and compensates by driving me around or a trip as festival gift , anniversary gift). Many a time it would be his office trip and I would coyly tag along.
See, I got drifted now back to the list (this is in no particular order..I don’t take almonds in the morning so give me some concession).
Destinations in India I have visited:
- Pasighat
- Tinshukhia
- Dibrugarh
- Jorhat
- Itanagar
- Jammu
- Lucknow (my hometown)
- Indore (MHOW)
- Delhi (my first love)
- Chennai
- Pondichery
- Tranquebar
- Chail
- Chandigarh
- Srinagar
- Goa
- Jaisalmer
- Jodhpur
- Bikaner
- Jaipur
- Vaishno Devi
- Guwahati
- Kaziranga
- Kufri
- Kalka
- Kasuli
- Gangotri
- Puri
- Chilka
- Rishikesh
- Haridwar
- Kolkata (my bong connection)
- Goa (completely as a tourist)
- Macleodganj
- Yole
- Cherapunji
- Masmai Caves
- Shillong
- Almora
- Mumbai
- Agra
- Mathura
- Vrindavan
- Uttarakashi
- Auroville
- Lansdowne
- Imphal (Manipur)
- Shirdi
I am sure there are a few more places, off-beat ones, but I don’t seem to recall now. This list will be updated regularly.
Well, that is how we fauji’s live life.
Feel free to share your stories, write as a guest blogger and connect with me on:
Twitter: @writergitanjali
Facebook Page: Travel By Karma
Email: banerjee.gitanjali@gmail.com