Uttarakhand, a state in northern India crossed by the Himalayas, is known for its Hindu pilgrimage sites. Rishikesh, a major centre for yoga study (Yoga Capital of the World), was made famous by the Beatles’ 1968 visit. The city hosts the evening Ganga Aarti, a spiritual gathering on the sacred Ganges River. The state’s forested Jim Corbett National Park shelters Bengal tigers and other native wildlife. 

Rig Veda, the most ancient of the scriptures says, ‘there is no happiness for him who does not travel. The fortune of him who is sitting sits, it rises when he rises, it sleeps when he sleeps, it moves when he moves. Therefore, Wander!’

A major portion of human history has been created by travels – treatises and historical accounts are filled with stories of men who travelled to conquer, to convert, to trade, to plunder and most importantly to quench their curiosity. Every mountain and ocean stimulated human curiosity to see and know beyond the mundane. This unremitting beckoning upset their sleep and logic but invigorated their fancies. The obsession for the unknown was an indivisible element of those fancies  and humans, as always, have been known to live and die for them.

Now, in the changed circumstances of the 21st century people still travel mostly when they get tired of routine circumstances or to put it more starkly whenever they find spare time from their demanding and hectic routines. There could be scores of other motives as well. Whatever may the motivation be, it is a truth that every journey does detune and retune one’s intimate self. A whole lot ensues between embark and disembark. Some strings get tightened and some get loosened.

 

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