“Are you alone?” She asked and it startled me enough to take a break from being mesmerized by the serenity of lake Traunsee while enjoying sunny afternoon, embarked on an open cruise boat in a small quaint town Gmunden in Austria. It was a late afternoon of May 2018 and weather was as we say in French ‘Il fais très beau ‘ I moved from India to Paris in 2016 and this was my first solo trip across Germany and Austria. In fact, my first solo trip in the period of 29 years I had spent on earth. What’s the big deal in travelling solo one may ask but believe me for me it was! I come from India. I laughed and cried a little bit when India was declared the “Worst place to be a female “in a worldwide survey. I was brought up in a mildly conservative environment, mildly because I had independence to achieve my academic goals but still have to follow the unwritten rules as my freedom can be danger for the society. Nonetheless it took me 2 years even in Europe to gather courage and travel alone. Maybe it was the zeal of feeling independent, way to find distraction from recently failed love matters or the tick tock of clock which was a constant reminder that I will be turning 30 that year in October. I always wanted to visit Salzburg because of ‘The sound of music’ and Hallstatt because of its picturesque beauty. I was staying in between these two places in a small town Gmunden for ease of travel. Once I was done walking around absorbing the nature, I decided to take the cruise in the lake. “Hi … Are you alone? “she asked again .As I had new found philosophy from my solo travel I wanted to reply “Aren’t we all!” but then I realized she just wanted to know if the seat beside me is empty. And with a smile I welcomed her next to me. Suzanne was 60 something, originally from Gmunden, and travelled the whole world as air hostess before moving back to home 3 years ago. I shared some stories of my Parisian life, love for travel and we tool some pictures together. She also recommended some nice restaurants in town putting extra emphasis to visit a bakery in city centre to try their desserts. As we got down from our boat, I had the feeling that this encounter is not supposed to end here. I invited her to join me to the bakery she mentioned. As we were walking along the lake side, she told me that she left Austria when she was in her early twenties. We talked about love and life. We also connected on our common interest of psychology; she was taking classes in holistic psychology. We took good 10 minutes to decide our dessert from the numerous options in the Bakery and got settled. As I took a big bite of my Sachertorte, I asked her that after having such an adventurous life what made her to come back to the small town whose name is also not known to people. She took a deep breath and shared a part of her life, something so personal and deep for which I was not even prepared. “I was raped when I was 16, you see Priyanka the society here is very conservative and I had to deal with not just the physical but mental pain as well. I moved to countries in search of something more progressive and eventually went to USA, but all this time I felt I escaped from the place but place didn’t escape from me. So, I decided to come back 3 years ago as I felt I need to resolve unfinished business with this place. I won’t say it all has gone now but I am making my peace with it.” I was stunned, I had 100 questions in my mind, how? Who? Justice? But I remained quiet maybe because I didn’t want to cross the personal boundary of the stranger, I just met 2 hours ago or maybe as a woman I was empathetic enough to not make her uncomfortable with recollection of the tragic memories. We talked a little bit more and I said good bye to her promising that I will mail our pictures. While my walk back I had chain of thoughts in my mind. For me this place was safer than the place I was coming from and still I met someone who has been through similar kind of trauma for which a city has been named ‘Rape City’ in India. I had also escaped and was trying to find the place where I can belong and there she was bravely facing and fighting the past. I mailed her our pictures we took in boat with a small message that how much I enjoyed talking to her. I never got any reply. But now when I think about that question “Are you alone?” I think I have figured out right answer. I think honestly … none of us are. Wherever you go you can always find someone with whom you can relate your life journey/story and with who will be able to share a part of their past, present or future.