Over the last week, I have travelled across four states and used four different modes of interstate transport. Now, I am back to base and all I feel is a great sense of exhaustion and relief.

Travel appears very attractive and leisurely to those who don’t engage with it on an every day basis. Until recently, I used to be one of them. It is never as easy as it seems and in actuality, it is tremendous hard work, great discipline and a matter of constant reinforcement of the passion within.

Last evening, somewhere between my wait-listed train tickets and buying my back-up bus tickets, I did not want to make any decisions. I wanted to postpone all thinking and sleep peacefully. I wanted to escape away from words like ‘tickets’, ‘time’, ‘upper berth’, ‘destination’, ‘train number’ and everything from the world of travel. It was a first.

As I wrap up my day today, I realised how many times I lost a sense of time, date and place. I feel jet lagged and that isn’t a very healthy feeling at all. All I want to do now is going to bed with a good book and not think travel. Because I know tomorrow, once this exhaustion wears off, I will be planning my next destination.

Amrita Das

I have been a travel and culture independent journalist. My bylines have appeared in many publications worldwide including National Geographic Traveller India, Lonely Planet Magazine India, The Indian Express and World Travel Magazine. A fellow of Media Ambassadors India-Germany 2019 program by Robert Bosch Stiftung and Centre for Media Competence, University of Tübingen. Currently, I am the photo editor for RoundGlass Sustain, a wildlife and conservation e-publication. I live in India.

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