Of Pen-friends and distant friends.

December 2014, I boarded a train from Rajkot to Mumbai alone. Travelling alone on such long journeys give you two opportunities. First being, introspect for there is little you can do without thinking deep when sitting alone for long hours and second being interacting with fellow passengers. My compartment was being shared by a traditional old family so I had to chose the first option until evening, a passenger boarded who had his reservation opposite to my seat. Turned out that man was a backpacker, hitchhiker and an avid traveler. WOW! Just the type of person I would love to speak to.

He was a Doctor by profession who took a mandatory one month off every year to travel the world. These people are full of stories and you would want your journey to never come to an end. He would tell me about where were the best parties held and how he made new friends in each country. How he would cut down on costs so that he can visit multiple places. Those shady hotels that he has to stay in sometime or sleeping hungry for he would spend lavishly elsewhere. The hitchhiking and thrill involved. That how sometimes he visits back those countries only to spend time with his distant friends. Also the negative side of this being how he has been looted at different times or about how his family keeps calling him a crazy irresponsible man for draining away yearly savings into travelling.

I have never had friends outside my city except a few of them whom I have met at work or academic courses. Also, the last time I had a Pen-friend was in 2010 from whom I haven’t heard since long. However, I love the prospect of having friends spread across the globe. The prospect of you visiting them, knowing their culture and way of life, knowing different perceptions and tasting different delicacies.  I still remember the excitement and endless wait of receiving post cards from my Pen-friend in France which later got shifted to E-mail conversations. It is a different and exhilarating feeling. I believe chance encounters are more cherish-able than forced ones. So let’s hope, life throws me some really interesting Pen-friends ahead in my life. 🙂