Lessons From the Indian Globetrotter

The world is a book and he who doesn’t travel only reads one page.

This popular quote — from I don’t know who — always ignites my heart. It makes me think again and again.

As a child, I used to dream of traveling to far away places. I’d this plastic globe kept in a corner of my study table and I would look it now and then.

When I grew up, started earning, I started traveling to the length and breadth of India. Although I’ve traveled to a few countries outside Indian, I have been mainly been a domestic traveler. I’ve traveled by road, sea, river, train, and even walking. Walking through Indian villages is what I enjoy most.

Just in case you got interested you can visit the travel category on my blog and check out the stories from my NO-MONEY walking pilgrimage.

The thing about traveling is that there’s no end. You complete one destination and you come to know that there’re thousands of them waiting to be explored by you. The world is such a huge place — I wonder why people keep telling that the world is such a small place?

I love to meet people who travel. I’ve met many such people who keep going around the globe for travel or leisure. But one such man resides in the Facebook friend list. I’ve met him once but I follow him every day; on social media.

Sanjay F. Gupta is the only man from my Facebook friend list who’s a genuine globetrotter.

Now, you can find enough information about him on the internet and hence, I’ll not spend my time on the usual information. He’s a reputed name in the international media and entertainment industry.; especially Bollywood.

PS: Don’t request me to arrange a meeting with him for an autograph or photograph. He’s a busy man. I still haven’t been able to do that for myself.

I am just a smalltime blogger.

Who loves to write.

About incredible people.

Coming back to our point, Sanjay is always on the go for his work or leisure. He’s always in a new country, with a new drink with new people. He’s a radical visual storyteller and his photographs take my breath every time I see it.

I first met him in 2010 through my professor Tim — from South Africa — while I was learning wildlife filmmaking and wildlife conservation. He was welcoming and humble. We had a brief conversation.

It was a blessed day.

We never met after that.

It never seems that I never met him because I meet him every day on social media; through his visual storytelling. There’s a hidden message in all his posts. It talks about travel.

A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.

Maybe, he has a bucket list for travel or maybe he’s just going with the flow. He’s following his heart for sure. This is one thing if you’re in the visual media, you get to travel a lot for work-related projects.

I’ve made a bucket list for my wanderlust.

How many times in life have you heard your heart? How many times have you followed it? How many of us have a bucket list in life? How many of us tick the done ones?

I guess, for most of us, the number is short. There’re various reasons for not listening and following the heart. Each of us has their private traps that no one knows about.

Then some dare.

These are the ones who listen to and follow their heart.

Having a bucket list is important because it will help keep your spirit of adventure going. Just having the list itself is great because, through it, you are keeping your goals and dreams alive.

For Sanjay, traveling maybe just another interesting project or tick on the bucket list — or even more — but for me, it’s a whole new opportunity to look at life differently, and share it to the world. For me, it’s about the honor of knowing a person who follows his heart and dares to even follow it; in this one life.

He’s a messenger who is here to teach us to listen to our hearts.

He has a lesson to share.

Come one, take control of your life, stand up, and run. It’s your turn to live your life the way you want it. Live your life and make it a true story. There’s only one life and if the travel stories of Sanjay don’t excite or inspire you to go for an adventure, you’re probably dead.

Don’t waste it.

BTW, I’m sure he has a passport that weighs more than me!