Japleen Pasricha
मैं भली भांति जानती हूँ कि यात्राएं करने से आपका जीवन ‘बदल’ जाने और ‘सबको करनी चाहिए’ के विचारों के बारे में अनेक कथाएँ और कहानियाँ प्रचलन में हैं। मैं यह भी जानती हूँ कि यात्रा कर पाना एक विशेष तरह की सुविधा, एक विशेषाधिकार है और हर कोई जीवन में यात्राएं नहीं कर पाता।
I don’t know if travelling has changed my life, but I can definitely say that it has altered my thought process for the better. Especially, solo travelling has given me a lot of courage and determination to do things I had thought I’d be unable to do.
They say the world is a book and those who do not travel only read a page. I had a very un-travel-ish childhood. Like every other middle-class Indian family, my parents did not believe in travelling or even holidaying for that matter. The only vacation we used to take as an annual trip was to visit my maternal grandparents who thankfully lived in Dehradun – away from bad and polluted Delhi (my hometown).
I did not know what feminism meant, but I remember being told I’m too rough for a girl. Or, was…
I recently attended a talk titled ‘Streeshakti’ at the Jaipur Literature Festival. One of the speakers Lata Sharma, a Rajasthani…