Sonder faces in a solivagant's catalogue.

by Nimri KAS (India)

A leap into the unknown India

People's faces always fascinated me. I am always enchanted by the emotions of faces. The beauty and art in itself never ceases to amaze me. I am Nimri KAS, 22 years old from India. I was brought up in a timid, conservative and economically backward town. My whole high school memories are flooded with daily scenarios of going to school and back home on a regular basis. College away from home was where my real life adventure began. The chance to be independent and a path to self realization. There was always this unexplainable urge or the desire to want to belong to a particular niche. Impulsively a bag was packed, emergency ration funds grabbed from the back-up money bag and the next thing I knew I was deciding where to go while standing in the ticket booth alone. For all I cared I just wanted to get away for no known reasons. The bedroom walls had refused to stop caving onto me. A hill station sounded like a nice escape; fresh air, open space, unfamiliar faces. The need to be far away from the madding crowd; the familiar polluted city, continuous vehicle honks, familiar pitch sounded cries of the building housewives. I needed a breather. The roads were dusty, lonely and unfamiliar but the change was welcoming. The journey lasted the night and when the first rays of morning light beat through the windows of the bus, a sense of joy and an indescribable thrill took me over; I could see pines, tall trees, cedars,oaks. The trees were ladened with squirrels and monkeys all hustling about in the joyous morning. The bus stop filled with faces; unfamiliar vendors, tourists, young, middle aged and old men and women. I had finally reached Shimla(city in Himachal Pradesh, India). Like in a trance I got all lost looking at the new faces and taking in the whole new place and it surprised me how much enthralling sonder faces could be. An old woman in a traditional dress with paan stained teeth covered with a smile, the apple vendor with a deep voice calling out for customers, the tall tanned cloak room owner bustling around with the tourists, the fair tourists with the huge backpacks all excited, the innocent kids running all around in the busy market, the people at the local stall taking their breakfast, new faces so many faces, the street was bustling so lively with unfamiliar faces. It was until a lodging owner came up to me to ask if I needed a room that I broke out of my trance. Then and there I knew I was meant to not belong anywhere. I knew sonder faces in new places was my calling. I was alone but I never felt lonely; all I ever cared at that moment was making peace with myself taking in the whole bliss of the new environment. I was captivated by the immense beauty the hill station had to offer. Seconds turned to minutes which then turned to hours and it was already sundown and by then I already had, had my fill of taking in all the beauty for the day. The walk back to the lodging house never felt better and my mind never felt more refreshed. The bed never felt warmer and I never felt more bliss in all the years I had lived through. The following day was never more anticipated than ever, it was crazy that the distance never bothered me, once I could never fathom traveling alone. It all came back to me like a surge and then I knew I was a solivagant always enchanted by sonder faces, comforted by new places, making peace with new sounds, finding bliss in every tiny new details. The most credible attribute of traveling alone that time was the self realization and self acceptance that I came to terms with. The self realization and acceptance itself was a beauty in it's own art. Like how they say; solo travels are the best self realization experiences. ~Nimri KAS