TABLE FOR ONE
Traveling is fun and you get to know a multitude of culture, people across the globe. Still, in India, solo travel is not much encouraged and particularly, a woman going on a solo travel is a BIG NO!
You bet things have changed and people have started becoming more accepting of women putting across their choices and decisions in a way never done before. This gives us immense pleasure because this is what exactly makes every woman a Wonder woman for us. Woman taking a stand, putting forth their choices, women supporting each other and not pulling down.
Taking of solo travel, how many women actually take the plunge? Does not the patriarchy stop them and force them to crawl back into their den? How is it like being a solo traveler in India where the concept is slowly strengthening its roots?
Neha Bindal, a young woman all of 29 dares to break the myths. She traveled solo abroad 4 years back for the first time and made sure that was not the last! She has recently authored a book called “Table for one” that beautifully merges her travel experience into a romance story she had in her mind. The book also talks about the pressure created by Indian parents, myths surrounding solo travel in India and how it shapes you as an individual.
“The decision of travelling solo for me came out with a place of pain. It happened at the time when I felt meaningless about everything in life, nothing would make me happy and nothing was making sense. I just wanted to be on my own and run away to a place which didn’t have any element of my current life. This trip changed my perception about life for good. I realized that the world is too big and life is too short to be unhappy. I actually felt like a wonder woman capable of doing anything.”
Documenting my chat with Neha in the following 10 points where she tells us what exactly conspires when you plan to travel solo and why this should be the single point agenda of every girl who wishes to explore life on her own.
Ten Things That Happen in India when you go on a solo trip
India is a melting pot of a diverse variety of cultures, language and religions with each region having its own unique culture. You have to tour the length and breadth of India at least once in a lifetime to experience the cultural diversity. I have listed 10 things that ought to happen to you when you set off to a solo expedition.
1. You will realize and be ever more conscious of the varied ways, ideals and beliefs of the Indians. People – You will stumble across people belonging to different religions, regions, backgrounds and you’ll learn to appreciate the multitude of people in the country.
2. You learn to be independent and find yourself getting socially acceptable. If you are travelling to India, you need to do a lot of talking to get around. The need to communicate ends up letting you have such interesting conversations with people that will eventually end up in enjoying a close proximity with. Adapt yourself to the conditions for best results.
3. You also grow more conscious and alert to potential pick pocketing and other small thefts that pose a potential threat to your life. You learn to carry your own luggage instead of tugging behind a coolie.
4. You learn to value your financial security and stability – Let’s accept it: India though a beautiful country, is a developing nation. And you’re therefore bound to see poverty and squalor strewn around you in the faces and bodies of people all around you at public places. You end up realising the pains of being poor simultaneously learning to prize your own financial condition and not to take your own resources for granted.
5. You stumble across food and even more food everywhere! From stalls and roadside vendors to fancy dhabas and restaurants serving lip smacking desi regional cuisines, you can’t help but relish them all. You finally realise what a big treasure trove of gold the Indian Cuisine holds in it!
6. If you’re a woman, you learn to grow more resilient, fearless and independent, with each stride you take while travelling solo in a country where patriarchy still reigns. You bust all the myths and inhibitions on your way.
7. You end up making amazing bonds with people from various communities, languages and regions and finally get to experience ‘Unity in Diversity’ up close.
8. You learn to bargain. Yes, you read it right. You get the professional experience of haggling and bargaining for everything you do to get around while travelling. After all, we Indians have it in our blood, isn’t it?
9. You learn to respect everybody’s individuality and their backgrounds – Travelling solo equips you with the ability to discern and observe your surroundings. If not, it at least teaches you the beauty of coexistence and mutual respect for our own selves and ways of living.
10. You nurture the skill of adjusting, adapting and acclimatising – The roughs and the smooths while travelling in India, its various regions, peoples, cultures, traditions, taboos and customs definitely end up giving you firsthand knowledge on how to simply exist without causing trouble!
Check out Neha’s book ‘Table for one’ on Amazon.
EKTA SHAH
Freelance Content Writer/Blogger
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