Am I Lost?

by Abhilasha Sareen (India)

A leap into the unknown United Kingdom

My story starts at an era when travel was not as widespread as we know it today. It was a fine monsoon morning; it has rained overnight, the pot holes in the road filled with muddy water, the sound of water splashing as the wheels of my car stamp over these holes while making way to the Office. The day unfolds when I find out that I was among the few high achievers chosen by my employers and awarded a fully paid vacation to London. Was this really true, I asked myself. How far is London, what will it be like, what’s the weather like, what are the people like, can I cope with the culture, my mind raced. I started the research about the places to visit in order to make this experience a memorable one. The day arrives, when we had to make our way to Delhi and board the flight. We were excited and just as the plane’s engines fell silent; the announcement was made, “Welcome to London’’, we raced out of the plane. The sky was so pretty and blue and the air was so fresh and quiet. Do the cars have horns I wondered, how the British people drive without honking. It was time to experience Britain, first hand. The fun starts, we had it all mapped out, we would go to the museum’s, race each other on Tower bridge, take a tour on the River in a duck, travel on the open top buses and this is where things started to fall apart. I stopped near the Tate art gallery. I would have sworn that the statues had moved, I had seen it from the corner of my eye. I stood still staring at his shining silver coat as the rays of the sun fell on his heavily smothered outfit. Yes I was right, a fly had bugged the statue and landed on his nose, he moved his hand to flick it away. I was right, I smiled. It was time to move on. I turn around and can’t see my group, panic starts to set in, am I lost? What will I do, where to go now; I was sweating on a cool day. This is an unknown place, a culture I am not familiar with, who will leap into my fears and tell me, it’s okay. Mobile phones were there but international card system was not so much conceived then. I started my journey with baited breath. Madam, I heard a voice, I turn around and there was a young Asian man, he looked at me and said, you do look like a tourist but I can see you seem disturbed, is everything okay? With fear, I said I am fine, am with a group and they were shopping but I wanted to just soak the atmosphere, so waiting for them. He smiled and said, there’s a nice place in the vicinity, which I may like and bid me goodbye and good wishes for my travel. It’s a saying “Get lost in nature and you will find yourself”. I was a good student, listened, observed and this was the time to put it into practice. As I approached that guided place, there was a band assembling, the sound of the strings pulled from a guitar filled the ears, it was a beautiful piece, I lost the sense of urgency. I stopped to listen there was a cafe just adjacent. I pulled a chair, ordered the cafe and with excitement watched the show as it unfolded. This encounter filled me with confidence to visit the next destination, Greenwich – The city of Time by which world sets their clocks. I never imagined that I will visit my dream place in such an adventurous way and my spirits were on cloud nine. Narrating the story to my colleagues, made them very envious of me, I had the experience of the generosity of a fellow Indian, I had visited places that we had not planned for and had experienced the outdoor concert. I was safe and back with people familiar to me. This leap of faith, insured I was not lost instead had become more independent.