‘To Die is the the biggest adventure and the longest Vacation’ -Sid

What if you were given a chance to go out on a holiday without any back logs of work in the back of your mind (and not bars holdin you back…be it your financial statement from your beloved bank or your BOSS, not the one at home but the one sitting near your cubicle at your workspace). Which would that place be?

Did you know that a person’s nature can be predicted by the choice of his/her (from next time I’m just gonna use ‘his’ for the personal pronouns so please don’t take me for a sexist or a chauvinist) vacation location.

1) People who love adventurous escapades prefer going to rocky locations where they can trek, camp, go on safaris or do some rock climbing. Some who are a lil more audacious go for mountain trekking on their MTBs or water rafting and bungie jumping.

(you might wonder why in the world I’m numbering these…or are you too lazy to figure out that I just numbered my last point….anyways)

2) People who prefer relaxing during their holidays and are calm by nature (or are OLD…no offence to Projit, Abhishek Agarwal, Rajni Ranjan or Ashish Srivastav and Abdul Kalam) prefer hill stations or places with scenic beauty. They like admiring the beauties of mother nature and the greeneries. This kind of view relaxes the eye (and is light on the purses ‘coz there is no charge on viewing a snow capped mountain or a patch of pine trees). Such kind of people just wanna take a break from the rat race and want to break away from the binds of life or want a romantic but cheap hideout.

3) The other category of people are the ones who like to have fun. Adventurous, but a little less adventurous than the 1st kind and a lot more adventurous than the 2nd kind. (wow….my numbering proved useful…). They like going to beaches, enjoy adventure parks, and love discovering the old and hidden caves and temples. Infact, I tried doin this once when I was young and thought I’d actually found one such hidden cave that wasn’t yet discovered but suddenly this thought just evaporated when I saw “Ashish LuVs Pooja” scribbled on the cave wall with a wax crayon (damn you Ashish…I could have been in the papers…”Young kid discovers a Mesopotamian cave” or “A young prodigy finally finds the remains of the HIDDEN CITY….THE ATLANTIS”). Such people are energetic and fun loving and are also wise….wise enough not to jeopardize the lives of their friends and family to some high tide white waters (Not that the 1st category of people are foolish but they generally don’t travel with family to their escapades)

4) The next category of people are the ones who love being suave and sophisticated and have deeper pockets ofcourse (no I’m not talking about people who wear cargo pants with lots of pockets but people who have no problems spending huge sums on vacations). Such people travel to exotic locations. Locations like Greece, Egypt, etc. Some who can afford love going out on sea on their own yacht (even if though don’t know how to sail a boat).

5) The final category is that of ummm…umm..how do I say this…people in search of spirituality and want to be near God ‘coz very soon they will be going to HIM (please stop making a face….referring to God as Him is not sexism)(last sentence is a polite way of saying the harsh word….OLD….again no offence to you Projit nor to you Abhishek, Rajni and Ashish Srivastav). They like to go visiting temples and shrines (I call it ‘Teerth Yatra’ even if it’s just a vacation) and ask for forgiveness for all the sins they committed during their lives. (oh c’mon is it that easy to just commit a sin and wash it in the Holy Ganges…I don’t think so…anyways, no harm in trying your luck…sure go ahead try your luck washing your sins).

So which category do you fall in? Which place would it be? A dip in the holy ganges? A week in Athens? Day n Night on the beaches of Goa? 3 day and 2 Night stay at Manali? Or a sweaty but thrilling trekking cum camping trip in Ladakh?

I’ve traveled to nearly 20 states in India but still feel that I haven’t even started exploring India. Just in this year of 2009 I’ve visited 10 states (courtsey to Katwaria Sarai and dad). The locations still on my hit-list include Daman & Diu, Andaman & Nicobar, Rishikesh (no not for the shrines obviously) & Greece (ya ya you read that write…it’s GREECE).

But remember...Living your dreams is the biggest adventure you can take...everything else is just a compromise on your vacation list.

Yours truly,
Siddhant (aka xANDER)