First solo trip and all that

"But why are you going alone?"

"Arre, but how will you go alone?"

"You know what they keep reporting in the papers. You still want to go?"

I had made up mind to take a vacation alone - partly for lack of company on the exact dates I was going, and partly because "solo trip" sounded very exciting. But after being assaulted by all these questions, I was in two minds. The bus was at 7 in the evening, and I could still change my mind and save half the bus ticket cost (the rest would be cancellation charge).

Beautiful colors. Yum.

My sensible friend who's used to my indecisiveness was telling me, "Toss a coin. When the coin is in the air, you'll know what side you want."

At that point, I knew that if I tossed a coin, I would not want to go. But then there's something about doing things that you don't want to do - things that you're afraid of doing. So I took the plunge, and found myself in a rather tatty sleeper bus, on my way to Hampi.

First solo trip and all that.

It helped that my phone had less than half its battery left, and the charging port in the bus wasn't working either. There wasn't enough light to read something on the Kindle. So what do you do? You enjoy a trip, that's what.

About half an hour after we left the city, there was a signboard that said ‘Ghat starts’. I liked the sound of that. Now, I'm normally terrified of road travel. Even more so when the area is hilly. When I was little, a two hour bus ride from Panvel to Borivli would end up with me pale and vigorously vomiting. This time, though, I knew I'd be fine. It was as if my body knew that throwing tantrums would be too unkind to a solo traveler, so let's-just-adjust-and-keep-it-down. 

I reached Hampi the next day and found it to be a small, lively place full of possibilities for exploration.

One big upside with solo trips is that there's no pressure to tick off items from the "checklist". Every tourist destination has a checklist of some must-visit places. And when you’re traveling with family, you end up trying to cover as many “spots” as you can. Perhaps with friends, you can still go off the beaten path.

But what if you don’t like the beaten path? What if you just want to go back to the place you went just an hour ago? That's what I did. I found myself sitting at the riverside for an hour making crappy drawings, and the then the next fifteen minutes following a snake up the ghat’s steps.

Does it look like a riverside? Just a little bit?

Free time scares us. We're always trying to "accomplish" something in whatever free time we get. Watch a movie, or a YouTube video, or read a book, or chat on WhatsApp. Sitting around and doing nothing always feels like a waste of time. I think being alone helped me do nothing.

This was a solo trip, but not once did I feel lonely. In fact, "I'm traveling alone" became a guaranteed conversation starter. No matter who it was, everyone had some or the other reaction to this. A group women tourists thought I was brave. The locals were puzzled, but not astonished. The locals in Hampi were pretty chatty, so I was never short of entertaining stories. The one that amazed me the most was a local guide telling me that he had a Spanish wife in Chennai!

"She keep telling me, let's settle in Spain. I tell her no, go back. She keep following me. I can't leave my Indian wife. If she find it, she killing me.", he said, grinning. "That is life. What to do? "

I don't take great selfies. So.

Of course, solo trip means that you won't always have company. That's half the point of it, anyway. So I had my share of being in places with not a soul around. There were a couple of times when my pulse quickened at the sight of men approaching on bikes, but their stares were inquisitive rather than lecherous.

I think the sight of a lone (Indian) female tourist in our country is still a rarity. Dear ladies, please make this phenomenon less rare!

P.S. - It's not that big a deal. Seriously.