For the seconds, on the road

We got married on 15^th Jan 2012. After a four day honeymoon in Goa where our family had joined us, we were both heading back to London to resume our jobs.

Our parents bid us farewell at the airport and said to each other, “Here they go, these two weirdoes tied for life to each other and the settled life. Thank God they married each other otherwise who else would marry them.”

Little did they know that by the end of the year 2012 the two weirdoes would return home in the middle of the night knocking on the doors to tell them that they had both quit their jobs, said goodbye to freezing London to travel the world and enjoy the coconut water in the sun for a little longer than a weekend.

“How long is this travel thing going to go on?”

–            An year… Maybe, two years.

“What! Two years.”

–          “No, No, certainly not two years, one year it is. For sure”

“Nothing doing, you come back here in two months and start working again.” we were told.

–          We simply nodded.

But in two months we were only getting started. Eight weeks went by in spending time with our families and enjoying yet another joint vacation on the Konkan coast in Maharasthra. We kick-started our time off with a 10 day silent meditation training where Vikram & I stayed in separate male and female quarters and were not allowed to meet. The experience was indeed unique not just because we didn’t see each other for 10 straight day but because we discovered the inner turmoil when all else outside was calm. It was my first meditation experience of any kind and the first check off our travel/experience list.

We next headed to our favourite place in the world, Auroville. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in a nature commune where strangers who became friends soon cheered for us as we cut a vegan banana cake. It was delicious and the day itself was special. Vikram found an expensive breakfast buffet in a faraway resort by the sea, took me to an isolated beach, then we took a long ride to a mangrove forest where we took a memorable boat ride around the unique ecosystem spotting snakes and birds.

Vikram had planned a lot. Just that there were a little bit too many glitches. The resort was expensive but the fact that it ate away on our travel budget gnawed on us more than we gnawed on the food. The beach we went to was beautiful however we were made to leave. The guard said it is a government beach. You can only take a boat to get here. “How did you get here?” the guard wondered. He made us leave. The ride to the mangrove forest was farther than we had imagined and in the South India mid-day heat. Besides

On second anniversary Vikram was trying to find something special as well. He went around looking for an expensive resort we could move to and find out an expensive restaurants with gourmet meal. But then the evening before the anniversary as we sat facing each other on the huge Arambol beach looking at each other and talking with gorgeous sunning dipping down the water and wondered”

“Which expensive meal, what kind of spa package, which sea facing resort, what kind of fine dining experience can make the last year we have spent together traveling to farthest corners and soaking them in more special than it really is. What can beat the fact that we have been walking along this beautiful beach watching the sunset day after day for two weeks. Two years ago, we could have only dreamt to quit our jobs and travel the world and today here we are and we can only thank each other and God for this life-changing opportunity. This is more special than any expensive gift package can ever be. But more than anything this sunset alone makes our wedding anniversary a special day for you & I and I can’t wait to see what our lives would be like when the next one arrives.”

Love

You & I

A note to the future: I wish my honey who made the last two years of my life very special, a very happy wedding anniversary and I wish at the next one we are in Ladakh doing the Chadar trek, something we have desired to do but haven’t been able to do given my flimsy my health condition.