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Being a shy kid to an adventurous solo travel has been a crazy journey. Travelling has always been fun ,but solo travel was something that was scary and very exciting to me. I eventually decided to go on a solo trip to a place i have never been to before- Rishikesh. I wanted to understand myself and what better place to go to than the 'yoga capital of the world'. When i travel i don't expect before the travels. I believe in spirituality and always had questions regarding my existence, the reason and the purpose behind it. Being in an unknown place with rudementary knowledge of the language was a difficult task ,but thanks to the lovely people i found my way to the place of stay. Going with very less cash with me and the want to survive with the bare minimum is something i have never tried and through this I learnt to appreciate the value of everything from food to shelter. That was my first lesson. Spirituality has always intrigued me ,but seeing various yoga centers i felt that it was not my cup of tea and went to the holy river of ganga and sat close to the river goin into the state of 'dhyanam'. This feeling of intense concentration was never experienced before and time just passed by. I started learning with the splashing waters and 'nature' now became my 'spiritual guru'. I felt a great sense of joy and gratitude in the presence of my guru. I learnt that life goes on no matter what happens just like the flowing river. Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction just like the rise and fall of the tides. Everything is connected ,just the way the earth is filled with water throughout. This changed my perception and understanding of the world. This was my second lesson- nature is your guru. In my travels i never had the chance to interact with any foreigners before and i was judgemental about foreigners. I always mistook foreigners to not understand and respect the culture of the place they visit, but all this drastically changed when i interacted with my now very good friends- Matt and Ben. My perception about them changed as soon as we started talking about various things from sports to environment. The three of us bonded instantly and went to a waterfall with an amazing view and the adventurous passion and the need to reach all the way top is something we shared. Jumping into a small pond of water pouring from the glacier and helping out Ben who got injured halfway,collecting empty beer bottles that had been thrown taught me the lesson that everyone are same by heart and it's just false prejudice in the society that fogs our thoughts. My third lesson - 'Love everyone for who they are'. My last and final lesson - 'Seek Discomfort'. Being on a budget i found ways to feed myself by going to temples to feed myself, sleeping under a not so condition room and going by walk instead of the comfortable tuk-tuk rides and also spending a night in the bus stop. After all this i never felt sad or uncomfortable,I felt gratitude ,satisfied and also understand the true conditions of the locals living there.Sitting with them trying their homemade food or eating 'prasad' from the temples has been an amazing experience where its worth cannot be explained through monetary values. Few weeks of travel to Rishikesh has taught me so much more lessons than years of learning.The reason for all this was the decision to 'travel to the unknown'. It gave me a perspective in life and gave me the glimpses to true meaning of happiness.