Within My Universe - Leslin's Blog Journey

Being stuck in the midst of this global pandemic for well over half a year now, I can't help but go back in time and reminisce on the happy moments of what feels like the good old days, when life was so much better, simpler actually, and we had the freedom to go out and about, do as we please (well, at least sometimes and some of us, anyway), and most importantly, go on trips and travel.  Sadly, this feels like a far-fetched luxury we humans can't afford to have at this point. Lost in these thoughts, I found myself browsing through my phone gallery earlier today, going through pictures of good times and fond memories of last year, and I happened to find pictures of my trip to Goa, in December 2019, a few weeks before Christmas. Goa has always been one of my favourite tourist destinations, but for some reason, it's always been the one destination that has always eluded me.  Every trip planned to Goa seemed to get cancelled at the very last minute. Every single time. Cliche...

I am in the bus on my way to God's own country, Kerala, as I pen this down. It's 1:00 a.m ., a fact I realised just now while looking at my phone clock. Sleep, amusingly, loves playing hide and seek with me when I travel, hence, while watching the trees (and buildings) pass by and thinking I should have probably been an owl 🦉, I thought of writing (typing?) down a few thoughts. The original destination that had been selected for the trip was Delhi, अपनी दिल्ली... But plans have a habit of not working out at times, and given that I live in Mangalore, we finally decided to travel slightly closer to home this time, and thus Kerala was decided upon. You'll have to wait a bit longer, Delhi... Kerala has always been on my list of travel destinations; however, for some reason or the other, this is my very first trip there. I somehow used to end up on a trip to a totally different destination every time.. Oh well, better late...

It is right now 1 a.m. and I am in the bus, on the way back home from a whirlwind trip of sorts to Hyderabad.  There are people snoring all around me  but being the insomniac that I am (and given the fact that I hardly get any sleep while travelling in overnight buses), I am wide awake, hearing songs on my dear cell phone (hurrah for technology!). The fact that the bus I am in has a charging port that actually works for a change is only inspiring my sleeplessness. So I finally thought I would jot down a few lines in my blog after what seems like ages. I love going on trips and visiting new places. Sadly, though, working in an industry that gives you just a one weekly off and not many holidays doesn't really give me the opportunity to travel often. This time, however, I was determined to make some time for myself for a change. I finally picked up the courage and got leave for two days; adding in a Sunday meant I'd have a three day trip (yayyy)! The next question was, whe...