Experience Reality

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If I must classify the places I visited in my last trip, it would be two basic categories; one which was flocked by tourists, locals, and travelers alike, and the other which was not. In the first category places (the popular sightseeing places, shopping streets, malls, a few very famous museums (not many people visiting though), and the like), you could witness the visitors glued to their electronic gadgets. You would rarely find anybody who is “actually” there. It is such a situational irony. Why is it an irony, you may ask. That is because, most of these visitors might have planned their visit by probably looking it up in the net (virtual world). They probably found the place interesting enough to explore it in real. However, after getting to the “real place”, they got glued in to the virtual world.

Let’s assume a situation, wherein a person gets interested in The Louvre by reading or listening about it. It might inspire the person to explore the place and see what it feels like to be there. However, once there, the person immerses in more of a semi-real/semi-virtual tour of the place. For instance, clicking pictures and feeling the urge to post it up immediately, or may be posting updates about it. The person hardly bothers to find out the story behind each of the artifacts that The Louvre has, the stories that spiral around the many decades of the place and may be experiencing it just for the beauty of the place that it is.

I am not saying that clicking pictures or posting updates is a bad thing. All I am saying is to prioritize, to have your own reason. Are you clicking pictures because you visited this beautiful place and want to take a piece of memory with you; or, are you visiting the place thinking that you will get some nice pictures and probably get to know something interesting to share as updates? If the former is your answer, decide if you are doing it the way you wanted. Why not immerse yourself completely in the experience, to be “actually” in that place? Then, once you feel you have lived enough of that place, may be collect memories by clicking pictures and sharing stories about it.

Living a place through yourself is probably the best experience one can ever have. It’s just like experiencing a sunrise rather than just witnessing it. Feeling the apprehension of the sky, sensing the excitement of the birds, and seeping in the ecstasy of the morning breeze…all waiting eagerly for the moment; it can only be experienced. It’s also like the misty waves splashing in the rocks, entailing a new story. It is like feeling and experiencing your own presence, realizing your essence in this earth.
Experiencing through travel is perhaps one of the best ways to have that moment all to yourself.
Why mix it up with something that may not do enough justice to this essence of being?
Give it a thought. Ask yourself how you would like to experience a new place (or an old place or some phenomena, for that matter). Then, live the experience that you have always wanted to. After all, its you who decides what is it that you desire.
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Now, for the curious souls, who might be thinking about the second category of places (the one not flocked by visitors), let me say that it depends on what you look in a place when you plan to visit it. Put differently, these are the places that depends on a person’s interests. The places that interests me, attracts less visitors probably because, most places prohibit the usage of phone/camera and, the places demand a complete immersive experience, to add on. Art galleries exhibiting varied and unique art forms, unusual and rare museums, libraries, history centers and culture clubs, books shops are few such places.

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