Tour of the guide

by Muskan Garg (India)

Making a local connection India

All of us are filled with travel juices and have undying want of adrenaline rush. But what halts our juices are money or time. Mostly cash-strapped times are the ones that makes you crave and take a break from monotonous routine to dive in adventure and fun filled days. As they say- If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.” Word up! 19 November 2019 it was when i had got an adrenaline rush only from a call. I had an experience of a lifetime. It was after I participated in a radio contest that landed me in Vietnam. Indigo's campaign- 'Vietnam toh suna hoga' and in no time interviews started and i kept clearing each of them. Then the final call and I was asked to pack the bags ASAP and in a week I was standing at Indira Gandhi Airport. Carrying heavy suitcases never felt so relaxing. I was just walking and somehow it felt more like flying. My travel buddy was RJ Vidit from 98.3, Mirchi. The campaign was by Indigo and I was lucked out. It was 4D and 3N trip. We covered Hanoi and UNESCO heritage site, Halong bay. The first Scenery I had of Vietnam painted in my mind is of setting sun. It started getting a bit darker and street lights were shinning brighter. There I saw a man flashing my name on a placard. He was our tour guide. His name was Trung in Vietnamese and Tony in general. He began with greetings and later he sang us a song on their late leader Ho-Chi-Minh. It was so engrossing and beautiful. The manner in which he explained it all and covered the history of Vietnamese war was a work of art. I was secretly admiring his rhetoric style. For dinner he took us at a local café named Banh mi and it was all aesthetic yellow. It was around that point that I found him more beautiful than places we were visiting. Someone said it right-that it is people and their stories that makes country rich. So every time he took us some place I was curious to know his impressions and memories associated with that place. Next day we went to temple of literature and it did not look as appealing and historic as much as made it with his speech. How amazing and saddening it is that a single monument, city or country holds millions of stories and memories that remain unknown forever. I began getting interested from what Trung had to told rather than actually knowing about the place. We starting having conversations about him. He was a man of refreshing candour. I remember him telling that how often people are not very good with guides and they don’t respect them much. Infact, some tend to be very rude and harsh but he still wears his beautiful smile that at times calms them. The best part was his subtle humour that always kept us interested. At a point I did not even feel like I was not at home. Maybe warm hospitality was his forte. One and a half day was over and we were busy haggling with local shoppers. Then I couldn’t resist but asked are you happy with what you are doing? To which he smiled and quoted a line his son said from his last night family conversation. “Father why do we have to eat sweet potato every day? To which he replied “because your father loves his profession more than money” it was at that time I knew that right job is one that makes you happy, albeit he seemed to be happiest. Another fondest memory was during city tour. He mostly insisted us to walk and see around, feel the local flavors. During the tour he also showed us his former home and shared his childhood memories of running to shop located which was two streets away to hog on cloud ice-creams. He eyes were gleaming while those stories were being shared. He refuted the saying “Seize the moment” rather he made me believe “it is moment that seizes us”.