The best place to explore!

Hello, everyone reading this. Hope you all had a good weekend and are wondering about a blog from me on a weekday and that too on a Monday. Yes, I usually write on weekends, but I was tired of exploring the best place and so couldn’t make it to writing. But now I am back to pouring it down, so you too would get sunk in it. Ready to explore the best place? All set, let’s go.

After a lazy Saturday of napping and cuddling in the blankets with books and caffeine, the Sunday broke out as usually bright. As I had planned for a trek, I was waking up awaiting a day of surprise and adventure. As I rushed to train to reach the meeting spot for the trek and sat in a seat, the mind was just knocking me from one end to start its chatter. I was reluctant to hear to it, but as usual, I lost as my mind was questioning my bravery for going on some random trek with strangers who I know nothing about and that too in a completely different country. My mind was a bit troubled by my decision and was murmuring that “this girl from traveling to different states where atleast I can manage the language is now going to countries putting me in sheer trouble. What if something goes wrong?”. As I was listening to my mind and was convincing my mind that it is a safe app and people usually use it, so nothing is going to turn out to be a nightmare,

the heart from other side was shouting to my mind that life needs to be adventurous and why will you create hypothesis and and try proving points every time.

Mind and heart started their job and the pity me was just listening to the conversation but an interesting one it was! And as this ever ending conversation was going on, it was my stop to get down.

Getting down the train and enquiring people about the meeting spot, I reached the spot and was searching for our guide who has mentioned that she will be in an orange jacket. As I saw an orange jacket, I waved my hand and she came towards me with a doubtful smile to confirm if I was one of her trekking group. After a formal introduction and some talk, other people from the hiking group started coming.  

The beauty of the trek was none of us knew anyone before and even the place before! Beauty lies in the mystery and joy is in revealing it.

The trek group though was small with 6 people was so diversely beautiful with an animation designer, a background painter, a financier, a world explorer and me, a seed researcher.  I was excited even before the trek by hearing from people about their backgrounds. Also, the group had people from diverse countries like China, India, West Indies and France. The chatter of my mind stopped for a while looking at people and assuring them to be safe for spending a day. I was at peace as my heart and mind were quiet.

After our journey towards the trekking spot, we reached the outscripts of Paris city, to a place called Chantilly. The city welcomed with calm, cold breeze. As we walked towards the trekking path, the trees smiled with the matured and dried yellow and red leaves all around.

And as we walked, we removed our masks

(you can take it in, either way, the covid masks and also the masks we wear from the outside world). The silence of the path got broke as we started interacting with each other. I was walking with our treking guide for some time who was in her early 60’s and we were speaking all things from the French culture to the stud farms and the James Bond movie that was shot in that spot. While the conversation got deeper, she was telling about her family and her divorce. As I was looking at her eyes as she spoke about her ex-husband, I found her eyes were still filled with love and some emptiness. When I was just thinking this looking into her eyes, she said “yes, I love him and he was a good guy”.  I was shocked as she replied to my inner thoughts and suddenly turned my gaze away.  I realized that sometimes, silence makes complete sense and a gaze reveals a thousand words than words ever could. Also, as she relished about her life journey and the countries she traveled and languages she knew, I realized how crazy life is and how fast a moment becomes a memory and simultaneously there was a shower of leaves as the breeze touched the trees. The falling leaves seemed to agree to my thoughts on life!

Ha ha, sometimes the universe too jumps into a conversation with subtle signs.

As the path got widened and the walking pace changed, now I was in between the chinese girl and a French guy. We were speaking about our work and as the Chinese girl works in finance, she was speaking about markets and trading and on the other side, the French guy who was the animator was speaking about his profession while I was telling about seeds. We heard to each other with excitement as it was a new field to know. The conversation was so deep that I learned the history behind black Monday and how 3d animations were made while they were so curious about domestication in plants. When I asked in wonder to the animation guy “what made you choose this field?” He replied he was excited about it and when I further dragged the conversation with a question “were you bored of reality and that’s why you were excited to create your own reality through animations?”. He looked at me and asked, “Do you write something?”. I was shocked and I asked “what? and why was he asking that?”. He replied, “I saw some sort of writer in you with the question you asked. I think I am right, your shock tells that!”. I was just struck by his spontaneity and connection. As the path narrowed, we were to walk one behind the other and as I walked before him, he said “I am not bored of reality, I like reality so much that I wished to create my own!”. I turned back, smiled and said “you seem to be a better writer!”. We laughed as we walked. As we walked we saw a stream and few beautiful ducks. As the Chinese girl was capturing video of it, I instantaneously shouted “Mallards”, while the girl and the guide asked “what?”. I was explaining that those ducks were called so, and how forced copulation is a phenomenon in it. I was so carried away with the topic that I was explaining territorial and non-territorial ducks and how evolution of female preference shaped them. Then after a while, I realized that why I am speaking so much and I abruptly stopped while another guy who was a background designer for television and movies, came and asked few more questions on it, which I was again explaining to him.

He in turn was telling about traditional background designing and 3d designing and virtual reality. I learned a few new terms about background designing and as the conversation shifted to movies, he was asking me that “why in Indian movies only males will make the first move and females will just be passive?”. I said, “that’s how culture in India is, but it is changing in some parts though”. He then recommended a few movies, while he was intensely discussing on background effects of some movies that won award in Canne festival and he was showing me images of it in google, though I was not getting the details of it, the passion in his eyes made me interested in looking to it and responding. And it’s time for lunch and we stopped in some abandoned bus stop and were opening our boxes for food.

Lunchtime became a food exploration time as we were learning about foods of various countries and tasting them. And as we resumed the trek after lunch, it was drizzling. We were walking with our umbrellas, we were all left with us separated by umbrellas to assimilate all the interactions of the morning. As the drizzle stopped, I was walking with the Chinese girl who was so impressed with my bindi and was asking whether it was a tatoo and we were speaking about it for some time and when she was telling about various treks she went, she said she left her job a year back. I asked her why and was it her decision to quit. She was saying how terribly she needed a break after working for 12 long years continuously. I was looking at her and said yes it is correct if you felt you needed it. She smiled widely and said “thanks”. I asked her why and she replied “I don’t get to hear such reply from many. People usually blame me for my decision, but none really cared about my ‘self’ which needed a break and when you said it, I felt reassured. So, thanks!”. I smiled and then she was telling me about her life and culture in China and was enquiring about Indian culture and traditions.

As we came near the castle, there was some wedding going on in it, for which they have beautifully decorated the castle. There was a big heart-shaped structure made for the wedding and when we cross it from a specific angle, I found that the statue of a warrior in castle seems to fit within it perfectly. Though this was just by chance and effect of seeing from a differnt angle, that looked so dramatic. I smiled to myself that the warrior with sword and horse has at last been locked by love as I walked on the shores of the stream.

And as the trek was coming to an end, we went to a restaurant to eat some fresh cream for which the place ie Chantilly is famous for. We had some pastries and when I looked at everyone there was some calm and peace in everyone’s face. The 20 km trek had indeed drained us physically though the beautiful sceneries kept on rejuvenating the battery but the overall experience has refreshed the soul with so much stories and lessons.

From completely unknown strangers, these people became a part of everyone else’s life journey. The guide then instructed us to put back the mask as we are into the city. I smiled, yes masks on!

So, the best place to explore is not chantilly, though it is a great place to trek and know nature, the best place to explore is the human heart!

Years of experience and walking different paths of pleasure and pain in life, everyone has a story worth exploring! Explore, rejoice and relive gratefully!

PS: While I was deep into thoughts thinking about how to put this experience into writing, this evening when my friend was sharing about the treking experience to my labmate, soon after asking how the place was, he asked “how were the people?”. My bulb got lit and you got the blog! Thanks to him for that question.

Yes, people were, are and will be good!