"Where all have you been to?"
A question that we ask or have been asked almost every time we meet a stranger. It makes for some interesting conversations, as everybody has a story to tell of the one time they were nearly lost or the one time they nearly drowned. But, this question necessitates a fundamental assumption, that we need to travel to have stories to share.
To travel to remote hinterlands is to explore nature at its finest is what a friend of mine says. The untouched scenic beauty of a place that humans have yet to get their hands on appeals to the mind of every traveller The stories a place reveals to a chosen few people captures our imagination unlike an unremarkable walk down a narrow alleyway in a city. A walk down a narrow alleyway is normal, its run-of-the-mill, unimpressive but the story of how it was built? That is not. Mankind is as much a part of nature as a tree, and our cities are little more than oversized anthills and yet while we are fascinated by a bird building a nest, we find our human nests no more interesting than a leaf on the ground.
A walk down a road in the city is a tale worth telling as every person and every building we see has a story to tell, if we only take the time to seek them out. The person sitting beside us at the bus stop brooding over something, could very well have a story that moves our hearts. To seek out travelling as the only way to reconnect with nature is a modern day construct. A solitary walk through the markets at night or a bus ride with no destination are just as provoking as a trek through the mountains. Hours spent hypnotized by traffic movement at an intersection is no different from the time spent staring at the waves. The stories of people who have spent years in making a place their home are interesting everywhere.
The culture of a place is several layers deep, and while travelling lets you explore several cultures, we need time to dig deep and peel off the superficial layers and see what hides underneath. 4 years spent staying in a 300 sq. yard campus, it still catches me off guard at how the place can still throw me a curve ball every now and then.
While I don't deny that travelling is an amazing experience, and everyone should take the time out to travel whenever they possibly can, it is just as necessary to steep yourself in the culture of a single place,even if it is at the heart of a city. At times when you don't have the means to travel, stories can rise from the very ground you stand on, all it takes is a walk through the narrow alleyways.
