I have been blessed with some real gems in my life. I'm cutting the philosophies short to give real examples from my life.
Friends who have motivated me to pursue my passion in travel:
Pankaj - a biker and a pure hippie at heart with the most ordinary looks (wears studious spectacles, wears normal t-shirts and no-torn denims, no piercing, no visible tattoo, no show-off on his bike, and talks complete sense). He was one of the first few friends I’d made in Pune. I was desperate to travel and try out the adventures around Pune. When he talked to me about all his bike trips and biking groups, I expressed my interest in traveling with him as no other friend was interesting in any such activity but the weekend parties. He told me clearly that bikers generally don’t like taking pillions and if I'm keen on traveling, nothing should stop me and I should just go ahead. I found a lot of sense in his words, and then was born a solo traveler.
(He might not even know that I owe my solo travels to him).
Friends who have motivated me to pursue my passion in travel:
Pankaj - a biker and a pure hippie at heart with the most ordinary looks (wears studious spectacles, wears normal t-shirts and no-torn denims, no piercing, no visible tattoo, no show-off on his bike, and talks complete sense). He was one of the first few friends I’d made in Pune. I was desperate to travel and try out the adventures around Pune. When he talked to me about all his bike trips and biking groups, I expressed my interest in traveling with him as no other friend was interesting in any such activity but the weekend parties. He told me clearly that bikers generally don’t like taking pillions and if I'm keen on traveling, nothing should stop me and I should just go ahead. I found a lot of sense in his words, and then was born a solo traveler.
(He might not even know that I owe my solo travels to him).
Sagar - a chilled out, adventurous traveler, who would never say no. I had met him on one of the treks in the Sahyadris. We got along with our crazy travel ideas and thought we could do few trips together which we eventually did until he got busy with his family business. The best part about him was that though he had to stop traveling, he would keep giving me new ideas for my adventures, and would encourage me to take them up on my own. I would keep him updated with all my travel itineraries and local contacts and would ask him to check on me periodically on my solo travels. He performed his duties towards me religiously. He was the first person I would call if I was stuck with any misadventures on my travels.
Somya - we shared a flat in Pune for a couple of years. While I was the north-pole, she was the south-pole. She would wake up at 4am to meditate when I would disturb her with the sound of my heels while heading back from some party. She would spend all the after-office hours at home, while I was never found at home. But, whenever we caught up, we’ll connect over deep spiritual conversations. We both accepted each other with very open minds. I would narrate all my crazy travel stories to her first hand, and she made me realise that my stories and narrations were really interesting and I should find a way to start sharing them with others. She got married and shifted to the US, she would still make sure to wake me up for my early morning flights by calling me from the states. She would keep strategising on how could I work towards my passions. She supported me in all possible ways she could.
Dhiraj - he was my classmate during my engineering. While most students in my college were sincere and studious, I was seen as someone who was outrageously outgoing. After getting exposed to cosmopolitan culture in Bangalore, Dhiraj comes to me and says - "You always knew how to live and enjoy your life. We were all stupid and most of us are still stupid. Continue being what you have always been, be as wild as you want. If you need any help, I'm just a call away."
Bhavani - my Senior Account Manager in IBM. He pulled me into a project which had odd-working hours to overlap with US timings. I was very upset about it and I tried to protest. He assured me that he would try to help me in all possible ways, if I tell him why I’m not comfortable with those timings. I then opened up my cards of passions to him. He probably had a word with my reporting manager - Rahul (the only manager in my life whom I’ve respected so much). Rahul and me had unsaid high regard for each other. I would never give him chance to question me about my responsibilities and deliverables, and in turn, he wouldn’t question my leaves! It was out of my respect for him that I never said no to him if he wanted me to work on weekends. Rahul and Bhavani, indirectly helped me a lot for my travels by not questioning my leaves and getting my trekking and badminton achievements published in company’s newsletters.
Kevin: the best sound recordist of India, who freelances and works only 100 days a year. I had met him during one of my treks in Sahyadris and I was totally jealous of him! I was inspired by him as he is the first ever guy I met who was following his passion and working 100/365 days. He knew that I could follow my heart too, and counselled me at regular intervals on how I could pursue it. A year before I planned to quit my job, he had asked me 2 questions - "Do you have enough money to survive for a year without salary? Can you get back to IT job after a year?" and I never knew I was so much influenced by this, until I took the bold step.
Different reactions my friends gave when I shared the idea about quitting my job:
Pankaj: Yeah, go ahead and try it out, no harm in that. Keep experimenting and I’ll live my life through your eyes. (He had quit his job, gotten married and taken up his family business by then. He still blames me for not trying enough to stop him from getting married and persuade him towards his passions :) )
Sagar: DON’T do that. I’ve done it once and I don’t want you to suffer. (He had quit his job, taken a break and had to eventually accept his family business which he was then reluctant to)
Somya: (Applied all her business analysis that she had learnt in MBA as she didn’t get a chance to apply them in Infosys, interrogated me for 45 mins on Skype from the states) Ok, I think you can take this risk and if plan A doesn’t work, this can be your plan B and this could be the plan C.
Dhiraj: Lets meet and raise a toast to that, you have said a very big thing
Bhavani: All the best, I’m sure you will do well. I wish I could be like you. Proud of you! (He wasn’t my manager anymore, thankfully, else I wouldn't have found the need to quit)
Kevin: I’m so happy for you, it’s finally happening!
Bikash: Just because you are saying it, I am convinced. Had it been any other person, I would have given him one tight slap and asked him to continue with his work
Rinkal: I have always known you as a wild and adventurous girl, I know nothing can stop you from chasing your dreams.
Rinkal’s husband (Project Manager in IT whom I was meeting for the first time): What?!!! You want to quit your job? Without any backup plan? With all this years that you’ve invested in IT and when you are at the peak of your career? What if you don’t get the same salary / position later? What/How/Why???
Rinkal: I’ve known her for years, don’t worry, she has immense potential.
Amrita: How can you quit your IT job when you have degree in Computer Engineering? What if you don’t find another job in IT again? What qualifications do you have to get hired by travel companies / startups? It is a very bold step!
Jyothi: Try it out, you are anyways the adventurous one. IT job is for us who don’t have any passions and are happy with regular routines. You are a misfit to this industry anyways.
How my friends supported me when I wasn’t earning:
My closest buddies in different cities had opened up their arms and doors for me. Whenever me or my car needed a home in the cities, they went out of their way to help me with that. They also made sure that I don’t take up the bills when we went out for dinners.
Harpreet, Pratik, Bharti, Dhiraj, Jyothi, Somya, Amrita, Kiran, Sagar - I can't thank you guys enough! I love you all till the moon and back.
Bharti traveled all the way to meet me at Tirthan Valley. She also helped me materialise on my idea of personalising trips for interested travellers by getting me started with her own group of friends.
I received numerous messages from my school friends and college friends to help me in various ways - some kept their eyes wide open for any opportunity they thought I might be inclined towards, some kept scratching their brains to suggest me business ideas, some of the closest ones made me comfortable to ask for financial help if I ever needed it. They would call me once a while to check if I was doing ok.
Khyati, Anand, Dipak, Jaydeep, Nehal, Abhijeet, Dhiraj, Shanky, Aalap, are you listening?
My trekking buddies - Ninad, Suryaveer, Vivek, Pamposh and Raju (the trek leader and co-owner of Grand Adventures) contributed to sponsoring my expeditions with them to Kalindi Khal and Garuda Peak, only because these were too expensive for me to take up without my regular income. Do I need to mention how much I love them?!
Motivation from my mentors:
There are very few people I've known in my life whom I really listen to, for my immense respect for them. Gradually motivational messages started flowing in from them too. The limited set of people whom I’ve been inspired by, started telling me how I have inspired them and how much they appreciate and want to live the way I do. Few of them even offered help for investment if I wanted to start up something of my own.
Receiving messages from my school teachers (Chhaya Ma’am, Viral Sir) and mentors (Anupam, Biswaroop Sir, Yakub Sir, Deepak Sir, Darshita, Milan) meant I was doing something right.
Love from all over:
I was already getting quite a lot of messages from the long lost friends, classmates and colleagues that I was inspiring them in some way. The count of these messages doubled after I quit my job and moved to Himalayas.
My readers and followers (whom I’ve never met) showered love from all over.
Each time I read their comments on how I was inspiring them, I felt good about blogging and making my voice reach out to them. What touched me the most were those countless messages from unknown girls thanking me for motivating them to embark on their solo journeys. They felt more courageous on breaking the myths around female solo travels.
Knowingly / unknowingly each one has played a great role in keeping me motivated during my hard times. Most of you might not know how much you have encouraged me to continue with what I am doing.
I look forward to that continued support with all thankfulness.
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