Our Trip to Italy - How it all began!
I was in my 8th grade. My father built a new house, and we moved from a rented house to the brand new, dream house in which my parents still live in. The house looked huge from outside, but it was a compact yet a lavish one with quality materials such as rose wood and teak wood. The house was a huge commitment beyond his monetary capacity that he did not even choose to add any interior decoration. However, I was surprised to see him build a fancy, spacious cupboard in the staircase room. I asked him what it was for. He told me that he is building a library. I was fascinated! An array of books adorned the shelves of the cupboard. All those text books of my parents' college days lined up in the shelves. There was still room left. After we moved in, one fine afternoon, two men brought two humungus, heavy cartons. I was curious to open them, and I immediately did. I was happy to see all the volumes of the Britannica encyclopedia. Those were years without internet, and when I started reading those books, I saw the world through them. I read about all unheard places, people, concepts and many other wonders. I vividly remember reading about Venice. Until I got a chance to read the encyclopedia, I had never heard of a city of canals. The pictures of Venice in the book were clear, glossy, colorful and mesmerizing. The immediate thought that came to my mind was, "Will I ever visit this place?". And I did - after 25 years from first learning about Venice.
I come from the so called "upper middle class family" - financially! There was never a "No" to anything that we asked for; rather, we knew our limits and hence we were reasonable. Money never stopped us from getting what we wanted. My father is an ambitious man with a passion to make money. He is righteous, well-balanced and is aware that money alone will not fetch all that we needed to lead a happy life. He wanted us to be knowledgeable, highly educated, well read and compassionate. Though we head butt with each other most of the times, it was my father who imparted the concept of a balanced life in me. He encourages me to visit places, but till date, he never has traveled much.
I never liked traveling. I did not want to visit new places. I wanted comfort food, a super-comfort stay and a smooth travel plan. I used to get gently chided for my disinterest in traveling. It is not that I had never traveled or visited places. When I was in my undergrad, I had visited Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Dehra Dun and Massoori - I had visited all these places twice in consecutive years. I learned a lot - new people, new language, the food, the mughlay monuments and many more. Yet, I missed home and would either be sad or even quietly weep in the night. I sometimes called Shailesh a nomad. He would never miss a chance to visit places, and I never missed a chance to stay home and sleep. Over years, we influenced each other, and I am glad I was influenced by his passion to visit places. He would pull, drag, trap or abduct me to show places. I slowly started changing.
We visited my cousin's place last Christmas. They are ardent travelers; they travel frequently with passion and are fun-loving! We were turning the pages of their album from their trip to Europe (they visited 16 years ago). I was gazing at the pictures of Colosseum and other monuments. My other cousin shared his experience of living in Salerno. The interest to visit Italy brewed since then. I didn't know that this trip was meant for us until we came back from Italy. In the second week of January, Shailesh was talking about a ticket deal to Milan, Italy. The fare appeared cheap and hence reasonable to travel! We bought the tickets to travel in April. Then started out preparations. Least did I contribute to planning or organizing for this trip. Shailesh did all the research about every bit of our travel plan. He created three iteneraries. He patiently explained them to me. All that I did was criticize! He patiently worked on my criticisms and came up with a plan that would suit all our interests. Though we disagree on a majority of things, we have a few common interests - history, paintings and architecture! That is all you need to visit a place like Italy!
I come from the so called "upper middle class family" - financially! There was never a "No" to anything that we asked for; rather, we knew our limits and hence we were reasonable. Money never stopped us from getting what we wanted. My father is an ambitious man with a passion to make money. He is righteous, well-balanced and is aware that money alone will not fetch all that we needed to lead a happy life. He wanted us to be knowledgeable, highly educated, well read and compassionate. Though we head butt with each other most of the times, it was my father who imparted the concept of a balanced life in me. He encourages me to visit places, but till date, he never has traveled much.
I never liked traveling. I did not want to visit new places. I wanted comfort food, a super-comfort stay and a smooth travel plan. I used to get gently chided for my disinterest in traveling. It is not that I had never traveled or visited places. When I was in my undergrad, I had visited Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Dehra Dun and Massoori - I had visited all these places twice in consecutive years. I learned a lot - new people, new language, the food, the mughlay monuments and many more. Yet, I missed home and would either be sad or even quietly weep in the night. I sometimes called Shailesh a nomad. He would never miss a chance to visit places, and I never missed a chance to stay home and sleep. Over years, we influenced each other, and I am glad I was influenced by his passion to visit places. He would pull, drag, trap or abduct me to show places. I slowly started changing.
We visited my cousin's place last Christmas. They are ardent travelers; they travel frequently with passion and are fun-loving! We were turning the pages of their album from their trip to Europe (they visited 16 years ago). I was gazing at the pictures of Colosseum and other monuments. My other cousin shared his experience of living in Salerno. The interest to visit Italy brewed since then. I didn't know that this trip was meant for us until we came back from Italy. In the second week of January, Shailesh was talking about a ticket deal to Milan, Italy. The fare appeared cheap and hence reasonable to travel! We bought the tickets to travel in April. Then started out preparations. Least did I contribute to planning or organizing for this trip. Shailesh did all the research about every bit of our travel plan. He created three iteneraries. He patiently explained them to me. All that I did was criticize! He patiently worked on my criticisms and came up with a plan that would suit all our interests. Though we disagree on a majority of things, we have a few common interests - history, paintings and architecture! That is all you need to visit a place like Italy!
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