Skip to main content

Adventure is the lack of experience. For me, it was no adventure, it was life

I was hired into business development and my boss was not an easy one. In fact, one of the scariest. A perfectionist.  I didn't know what he was trying with me? Finally one day, just after 3 months I told him “Abhi, I don't think I can save our friendship if we continue to work together.” He said okay, like a gentleman, as we reached the office he wrote me a cheque to date and said “You can hand it over.” Only after leaving his company, I realised the knowledge I had gained but I don't regret quitting since I would have lost his friendship. One great guidance I got was to treat personal life and work-life separately, which I apply even now. Life is impossible otherwise.

During graduation, I wanted to be a tour escort, so I could travel to different places. With the pressure to settle down, I ended up taking the wrong jobs and messed my career. I have about 7 offer letters with hardly a couple of relieving letters. I do things with passion or don't do it at all. The day I felt I’m done, I quit. No notice period or formalities. All the jobs that I took up, I was comfortable for a few weeks and later got bored doing the same monotonous thing day after day. I couldn't see a life to wish for, even at the top level, to become the way our managers had, No, Not for me. With age and experience life has to get easy and not complicated.

Another thing that kept me away from the industry was people. People in suits are cheaper than the roadside vendors. The fight to reach the top is like winning a war to rule the kingdom, and they do eventually. If you work hard, you would end up working forever. For me, I needed a life of my own, didn't matter even if I was alone.

We wanted to take a bank loan to build the homestay when my aunt said she would fund it. with the competition, I wanted to do 2 cottages and gradually progress depending on the flow of bookings. This time, my father comes in, brings in an engineer, they talk among themselves and before I knew, a 20 lakh loan was on my head! And with the unnatural floods that season, tourism came to a halt and I was totally frustrated.

Even when the business went well, every time I received payment, my mom stood in front of me with a bill or a commitment leaving me with just enough to buy some Cannabis. She spent that on her passion for animals and running the farm. I knew I wasn't good at handling money, I kept quiet. Trying my best to at least keep them happy, I cut down the company of my friends, spent more time at home, took them to every movie that arrived, drove them to meet relatives and visit temples. I accepted things simply by nodding to everyone in the family, faking a smile, but something was mounting on the inside.

One of my labourers put me in a fix at home exposing me for smoking weed. Everyone in the house knew except dad and when they started to act weird, I had to stand up and tell my father. Things calmed down the next day, but treating me as a failure and watching my every move suspiciously irritated me. I had lived alone for about 8 years and needed my space.

Finally, a small spark of passion lit up. “Go get away”, I told myself. The start was a pinch though. I had been toying with this idea of travelling on a motorcycle across the country for a long time. The next day I told my family that I wanted to travel again. They didn't say much, they knew I didn't have the money.

I was sure I couldn't take the Jawa this time, it would become another joke. She runs great, but my finances weren't. So it was the 100 cc Bajaj Platina, which I bought some time ago for 12 thousand rupees. The Bike needed a new clutch, a tyre and oil. You don't want a breakdown early, so I got busy setting the bike, bringing it to stock. Once I was on the road it did not seem too bad.

No matter how much cash I borrowed, it didn't seem enough. My aunt and granny handed me about 3000 for my travel. I had loaned 10000 from granny, out of which 3k went on insurance, 4k on the bike and tyre. Finally, when I left home I had about 6 thousand rupees, still needed a charger on the bike and a rain pant.

Adventure is the lack of experience. For me, it was no adventure, it was life. The only adventure was my finances. This time I limited my luggage. Two jeans, boxers, 1 short, 3 pairs of socks, thermals, sweater, a small blanket, sleeping bag, tent, tools, bungee cords, jacket, a decade-old rain jacket, fresh up kit, chargers and power bank, a backup mobile, a few plastic bags for laundry or wet clothes and a novel. Prepped the bike and bags, it was dad's birthday, the 23rd of August. I didn't think much, I loaded my luggage picked a direction and started riding. North East.










Like the blog? Then support the blogger

You can contribute through Phonepe @ 7259496378 ( Akarshan Devanand )

Or

Bank transfers can be made to

Federal Bank

Akarshan Devanand Bhagwan

Account number - 19310100012360

IFSC - FDRL0001931

Kushalnagar branch

---

Instagram

@Akarshandevanand

https://instagram.com/akarshandevanand?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=

YouTube

https://youtube.com/user/TheAkarshan17

Thankful to them all, Thankful to the One! Much metta

Comments

  1. OMG.... Was I that bad... 🤔🤔😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No you weren't. You had to be that person because of many things, the competition, funding and I can imagine the pressure one has to take and give to build something in todays world.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

With the first Snow fall of my life, It was a feeling worth for being born

The next morning I visited the temple again before I rode back. I was having tea when a person suggested to me to visit Munsyari. The map showed 128 kilometres and he said it could be snowing there now. I took that direction and as I rode higher, it started getting colder and I wore almost every single cloth I had, one over the other, layers of new and the old thermals, a woollen sweater, a 100 rupee pullover from Shillong, my jacket and the decade-old rain Jacket. Waist down I had 2 thermals and jeans, woollen socks from decathlon and not to forget the 200 rupees sneaker. As I rode ahead, the landscape and cold only got better and better and by evening while I was just about 30 kilometres away from Munsyari I started seeing snow. For once, I felt worth being born. For a moment I recollected my Status on Social media just before starting this ride, when I said riding to the land of snow and sand on the Platina, My Friend Sukesh had commented asking, riding till snow? I live to my word

Alone, in the night, walking towards a light far far away. through the lush green valleys of Nagaland. - Dzuko valley

While riding to Nagaland through Silonijan, my engine oil measuring cap burst suddenly while climbing a road uphill, causing oil to leak. I managed to reach a Bajaj showroom in Barpathar after 30 kilometres, fixed it and changed the engine oil. The technicians were so amazed at the Platina, that they honoured me with another Gamcha.  The day went fast with that minor hiccup but I couldn't find a spot to pitch my tent. As it got darker I found a place to camp in a small neighbourhood. When I requested Ajay Boro, he agreed to let me camp. I put my tent and sat for a conversation with the families there. Brother Ajay asked me about my habits and I said I smoked up. He took me just around the house and for 50 rupees they gave me about a hell lot. I was dumbfounded! I said I didn't want so much. They said that’s how much they gave for 50. I smoked with an old man in his pipe and took Ajay da to buy some liquor since he didn't smoke.  This man Ajay Boro had a beautiful life but k

The Himalayas! A new feeling rushing through my body.

It happened again, a view of mighty mountains in front of me and a road leading into it, I was lit like fire. The Himalayas! It was a new feeling rushing through my body, I can still feel it as I'm writing this. I was climbing very slowly with my 100cc engine having just enough power to pull me through, as I was feeling the need for some extra power under my throttle. Can you imagine climbing the Himalayan mountains at 30 kmph? The mountains kept me calm, the view of clouds resting on the mountains, the slight drizzle and those winding roads through the lush forests kept me going. After all that riding, I was now starting to feel the real cold. I reached Darjeeling town around 3:00 pm and found a youth hostel to stay and it started raining. I was inside The Darjeeling zoo when I suddenly bumped into Jeevan Thomas. We had done our graduation together in Bangalore. He was there with his family and worked for a travel firm in Kolkata. He looked the same as before. No change in shape o