To quote Andy Bernard from The Office, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days, before you’ve actually left them.”
Imagine a highlight reel of your life’s happiest and stress-free moments. Did moments from your childhood make an appearance? You can’t tell me that moments from your childhood won’t show up in your highlight reel. I think it is safe to say that childhood was the best time of our lives and that we would do anything to live those days again. No matter how much work we are swamped with, reminiscing childhood memories will always bring a smile on one’s face. It’s crazy to think that all of us come from different places and different upbringings, yet we have more things in common than we can imagine. That first day of school, your first picnic, your first friendship, your first job, all of us may have a different timeline for these events but all of us have experienced these things at some point.
When I think of my childhood, I can feel this wave of nostalgia hit me. So many experiences, so many firsts, some of them well preserved in my memory and who knows, how many forgotten? It is weird how sometimes a feeling or a scent will transport us right back to the time where we experienced it. One photograph or a film or a song can bring back thousands of memories about what life was like back then. When I was kid, I would always hear my grandmother and my parents talking about things they would do in their childhood and I would notice their faces light up instantly. Back then, I was too young to understand why adults find so much happiness and comfort in their childhood. Now having graduated college and stepping into the real world, I can see exactly why.
I think it’s safe to say that moments from our childhood are definitely some of the high points of our lives. The thought of experiencing something for the first time is so intriguing to me because you never know what to expect. This was my state when we traveled to my native place for the first time. The memories of that train journey are as clear in my mind as though it was yesterday. It was my annual summer vacation and my whole family decided to go to my native place which is in Karnataka. Needless to say, after my first visit that was something I looked forward to every year.
Speaking of train journeys, the whole ambience of a train journey is like none other and if you have never traveled by one, I would highly recommend doing so. The experience is unmatched and no words will ever do it justice. The chitter-chatter of families, the hawkers reminding you it’s tea time every time they yell ‘Chai, chai’ as they rush through the compartments, the card games played with your family to pass time, the feeling of fear mixed with doubt whether your dad would make it back in time when the train is at halt and he decides to quickly go grab some hot deep fried snacks from the station, the breeze flowing through your hair as the train crosses different states are things you have to experience yourself.
Another exciting outing as a child would be school picnics. Though our happiness on the day of the picnic would know no bounds, the real excitement would kick in the night prior to the picnic as we would prepare for the morning. I distinctly remember I would go with my mom to the supermarket in the evening and buy a little too many snacks for me to consume, get back home and have my bag packed and uniform laid out next to me before I fell asleep. With a full day’s worth of screaming, yelling and singing I would return from my picnic with a sore throat, yet there was no stopping us from doing that. The fight for a window seat in the bus was one not to be taken lightly. Though we would put on a tough fight for the window seat, as soon as the bus would start all of us students would be gathered around the last seat playing ‘Antakshari’ and ‘Dumb Charades’.
The thought of experiencing things for the first time and the feelings and emotions that come with it still enthuse me. Come to think of it, our first exposure to traveling can be credited to our parents. It’s usually with them that most of us have our first outing. Be it your first family vacation, your first railway journey, your first flight even if you have your parents with you to experience it. So, it won’t come off as a surprise if you pick up your travel habits from your parents. As we grow older these family outings and school trips turn into ‘Yeh saal Goa chalte hai’ or ‘Ladakh jaate hai yaar trek pe’ with our friends. As fun as those trips with friends might be, nothing beats the sheer joy of traveling as an innocent kid who is new to everything.
Use the Tripsaga app to create a travelogue of your trips to share & rejoice with your loved once. Click here to download.
Author : Rachel D’souza
