Hey A,
I’m sitting in the lounge, the premium one it says, and will soon make my way across the Indian ocean for a brand new experience! So it’s a postcard from ‘almost’ Mauritius!

When I think about Mauritius I don’t know what to expect. No, that’s a lie… I have some idea. Googlepedia, as your mum calls it, has told me a fair bit. That’s it’s blue… You know, the real deal blue, not an apology… Blue skies, blue seas. What the believers might call paradise… It looks pristine. All those wonderful pictures of clean dams, gentle waves, and yeah, those blue seas. But a quick search didn’t tell me anything else. Are there any old, heritage buildings, and those tiny lanes that mark the days when the pedestrian was king… Are there any of those? And what about the people? Yes, I like the beaches and seas, but I’d like to meet the locals… Share a cup of tea/coffee with them.. (What is their favorite drink?) And I want to meet workers who went to Mauritius from British India. How do they feel? What is India to them… A distant nightmare or a forgotten past? Do they clutch onto their supposed roots? I want to meet them, visit their homes, talk to them… Though this trip might not give me that chance!

And that thing about brand new experiences. Well, I’m a travel writer so yes, I’m selling the idea of travel. But lately I’ve been questioning it in ways… It’s also consumerism… The constant, unquenchable thirst for new… Getting bored of the old Like a toddler, and dropping it when anything new is in sight… Travel doesn’t, and shouldn’t mean you cross the seven seas for a new experience. It should mean you open your eyes, you learn more, absorb and why not in your own city, country, area… If I walk 100 metres from our house I well see things that change my landscape. 

I should see more of Mumbai. Take a week and just be a tourist… Because being a tourist, just calling yourself that, at times can change how you see your own city.  If travel is about perspectives, and changing them, why travel far when my home town can break so many prejudices I already carry. I should ‘travel’ once a month in my own city. And go to a new area, a new corner, rummage though another building, walk with another group of people… Plans, good to make, but tough to keep. Let’s see when I’m back.
And the other thing, I’m headed far away…. away away away… So I’ll miss you. Till I’m back, the bed is all yours to roll in. Enjoy the space. 

Merrily, b

P.s. Let me know if you want to see anything here. And keep my eye open for an ‘A’ experience!

P.p.s. Sania won yesterday!!! Watched it on the news now. 

P.p.p.s. Yeah the title of this piece is such a cliche. Maybe you should be in-charge of writing me better ones?