A Traveler's Memoir

Chander Verma is a father of 3, a local resident of Munsyari. Having done various jobs in the past and now running the Mayank Homestay by himself, on lease at 3.5 lakh a year. The day I reached, I told him that he was paying way too much but he already made an agreement for 3 years. He did magic with his hands when it came to cooking though. No bad habits, would smoke a cigarette rarely if someone offers, humble and a neat gentleman. Lovely kids and a beautiful family, living life on what they could afford. He knew his expenses would gradually increase so I asked him to think wisely before he did anything. I had long conversations with him, numerous times during my stay. When I called him to discuss my bill he was kind enough to offer the room at 500 and dinner at 150, even suggested that I extend my stay till the roads ahead were open. I wasn't moving around much but had to be paying rent for my stay and took only 1 meal. Dinner. Survived the rest of the day with biscuits and tea ...

I rode through Odisha on the NH 326. The stretch was more of an off-road experience, pure pleasure. I simply stood to enjoy the music of the engine revving. I saw a safe place to camp at around 4 pm. So thrilled that I might find more, I kept riding deeper through the forests but it got dark by the time I found another. The headlight runs on the dynamo, dimming every time I reduced the throttle, making it impossible to ride fast or even have a view of the surroundings to set camp. In the middle of nowhere, I met a few Tibetans stuck with one of their bikes not starting. I checked the bike, looked like there was a block in the carburettor. When I started talking to them, turned out one of the guys was from Bylakuppe! I towed their bike for a few kilometres to help them reach a garage.  As I rode ahead to realise It was Ganesh pooja that day and I was served with mildly spiced Kichidi as dinner by the townspeople who were celebrating. They made sure nobody went hungry that night. I s...

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...

Two days ago the General Manager of Club Mahindra visited my father. He asked about me and assured a job in the resort. When my dad told me about it, he did not stress much but asked me to think about it. I'm sure, he didn't like me going through this. I liked the offer, but first, I wanted to go as far as I could go on this journey. I never got a chance to decide for myself throughout my life, so now When I make a decision, I want to stick to it. He is having a tough time at work and sounded low. After working for 22 years in the industry his MD said, he is not in favour of the company, which hurt him. He may not be in favour of the company, but he is always in favour of the employees and that's how an HR should be. In recent times, with people's increasing greed for money, ethics are fading. I call it hospitality while they call it business. I tried to tell him, even if we startup we have to be like that to survive our corrupt system. The day I put down my papers at T...