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Do you know when life gets routine? When you do the same thing repeatedly. Even if it is going to a party every evening, but after a while, it becomes routine. And it is hard to break out of such a routine because it gives you such a wholesome life… everything that you need to live a complete life. Complete, but not really. My concerns and questions meant nothing, but they were implying a certain lack in my life. I just did not understand what that was! And just like that, one day I packed a bag, called in sick at work, told my family and friends that I was going on a work trip and took a plane to Goa. Goa has been my place of solace for a few years now. It resets my mood calendar. You can stretch on the beach as much as you want to because no matter how much you do, the beach will always stretch further than your furthest reach. Goa has always intrigued me. It amazes me that it has something for everyone. Upon landing in Goa, I headed straight to Candolim beach. For the first time, I had no plans and no reservations! But there is hardly anything that you cannot figure out on the beach, with some breakfast and beer. I started surfing through things to do in Goa. I had been to all the popular locations, or most popular locations during my previous visits. What would it be this time? I came across some caves, Buddhist caves, that I had not seen before. Not seen was one thing, I had no idea about these caves! I listed three such caves for my visit this time. A little trek, a promise of interesting photographs and something new. With that broad agenda, I had to find myself a place to stay, which is not very difficult to find these days. I checked into a homestay. It was a charming old goan house. After checking-in, I hired a cab and set left for the closest caves, Lamgao Buddhist Caves. There wasn’t much to identify the caves from afar. The dense areca palms cover the caves. The once-upon-a-time ornate caves, now carry the marks of time and seasons. A stream flowing nearby corroborates the theme. The caves are crafted out of red lateritic soil making them fragile. Perhaps the reason the caves have been left incomplete. And so is the story they try to tell. I stood there for feeling the quiet joy of the completeness of the experience. The next day was about the Harvalem Caves. These caves are believed to have been carved in the 6th century. The popular belief is that they were carved out by the travelling Buddhist monks as their architecture resembled a typical Buddhist cave. The legend has it that the five Pandavas, during their exile, had spent a brief time here. But that is mythology. Here were the caves, a dreary history and various perspectives. Whichever perspective has the largest number of believers, after a while, that would tend to sound truer than any other fact or perspective. With that, I decided to retire for the day. Last on the list and furthest from my base, next up were the Rivona Caves. The caves are lesser-known. A narrow pedestrian path takes you to the caves covered by a veil of vegetation. It was a place where I lost myself or a while, filled my lungs with the purest air and my mind with the purest thoughts. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks for no reason. I was not sad; I was not elated but I was at peace. I had found the place that tuned into my thoughts and presented them to me in form of visuals, and experience, for me to feel and understand the depth of the meaning of the lack in my life. There is something inside me that shifted giving me that anchor that I had been looking for. A place, a feeling, an emotion for you to come back to every time I feel lost, overwhelmed or just to find some peace within. With that, it was time to return.