Once upon a time there was little girl who loved to draw. She loved mountains and lakes and conical trees....at least her pictures said so...Her drawings were quintessential fantasy pictures or at least every kid/ adult thought so. Mountains in the backdrop, bluest of blue lakes, greenest of green grasses, conical trees and wooden houses with sloping roofs. And who would believe those creations...did we ever come across such scenarios? Hardly. The houses which we are used to living or looking at are concrete with no beauty whatsoever, forget brown woody exteriors and slopping roofs. Again lakes are hardly ever blue. Are they? And I am not talking about Pangong. 25 years back no one (commoners) knew such places (read Ladakh) existed on earth or did they? However kids were taught to draw those fantasy worlds.
Then came the advent of greeting cards. Her mother taught her to send those to her loved ones. She was a single child. So her loved ones included her cousins and her maternal grandpa. For them she used to spend way too many minutes perusing the aisles of Archies gallery. Every time, she would pick the same kind of cards...brook or any water body flowing over rocks with stunning flora all around. Or a card with green pastures (green being her favorite hue) with a sparkling river flowing under the blue sky. Of course Happy New Year or Season's Greetings written on both the types. For the rest of the people in her life, like teachers and friends, she would try to emulate such scenarios on to paper herself. Although she never knew that those places actually existed.
Years went by. Her fascination for fantasy landscapes ceased and her buying choices gravitated towards more practical ones like a gerbera arrangement for New Year or a snap of stacks of gifts for birthdays. As she grew chronologically, mentally and professionally, digital cards took over the traditional ones. As the aisles of greeting cards started wilting, so did her grandfather and her bonding with her cousins staying thousands of miles apart. Years after when she fell in love, she bought a paper card with red roses all over; after ages. That is how again she started frequenting her once much loved novelty store.
Eventually she got married to the person she loved and they started exploring the world on a different level. She had explored the length and breadth of India with her parents and now it was time to step out. But being the control freak, she always chose the next destination. Together they had already explored 16 countries. They were always ready to #SayYesToTheWorld
This year however she decided to let go off the reins of control and embrace a blind date for the first time in her life. No it was her second...her husband was her first and no wonder she had full faith in being thoroughly open minded.
Always a scholar in academics coupled with her penchant for world travel, her geography was way above excellent. However some of the destinations which featured on their itinerary were absolutely novel and difficult to pronounce too eg Salzkammergut, Gmunden, Dürnstein etc. None of these places featured on her bucket list but she accepted this blind date as a defiance to her control freak nature.
This time they were on a five country trail in Europe and were having the time of their lives. Then was the commencement of their actual adventure. Her husband rented an Audi A4 (in a right sided driving nation with no previous experience whatsoever; which happens to be her dream car) and their sojourn in the Austrian countryside began. The beauty was way beyond to be captured in words.
The first time she actually saw big wooden houses with sloping roofs with a riot of colourful flowers hanging from every window, the greenest of green garden in the front with trees loaded with rosy red apples and a blue water body in the vicinity. There came innumerable brooks on the way with color changing leaves on the trees (fall had arrived) with a wooden bridge to cross over. And all of a sudden she would spot a railway track in midst of the meadows and also would be lucky enough to see a red color train chugging through that surreal surroundings! It was overwhelming after a certain point. She had never seen such brightly hued blooms before, apple trees everywhere bowing with the load of their produce, pastures of her favourite shade of green and water so blue from a distance yet so clear that the bed could be seen. She also saw for the first time how the webbed feet of ducks actually move during swimming as the water was so clear. And all this under the backdrop of the mighty Alps mountains.
Eventually she became used to all the stunning beauty all around but deep down in her heart all her childhood painting fantasies rose like a phoenix. Reality is always prettier than fiction. She was content that she decided to opt for #TheBlindList. Her husband on the other hand not as expressive as her, grinned from ear to ear; elated on the success of their over ambitious sojourn.
Why do you love the world? Check this out by Lufthansa India.
Why do you love the world? Check this out by Lufthansa India.
