“NOT A TOURIST, A
TRAVELLER. . .”
“I’m not a teacher:
only a fellow-traveller of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead- ahead of
myself as well as you.”
-
George Bernard Shaw.
Darjeeling, 2012.
The days of my tour in the small town left me with innumerous memories. The
special breakfast at Keventer’s, the lunch at Debby’s place, the breathtaking
shots at “Das Studio” kept for display, Satyajit Ray famous “Nepal Curio Shop”
window shopping, and the stoning sessions with Ari in the bathroom of the hotel
(as we were warned of the risk of smoking up in the rooms, and we didn’t want
to get butt kicked out), the church, the hills, and almost every possible place
where we could have, we did.
But something or rather someone the unknown can make the trip so memorable was something that neither I nor Arindam
had ever imagined.
On the last day
of our tour, as we had to return to Siliguri by 5p.m., for the day next bus, we
set out for a last sight of the Kanchenjunga range. After a short walk uphill
for 15-20 minutes, we reach a viewpoint. Debby decides to get seated and enjoy
her early morning “chia” (referred to tea in Nepali). Arindam and I headed down
the steps to take a last look at the snow-covered peak shining like a diamond
due to sunlight. It seemed as if it was resting its peak over a soft bed of
clouds. But as we descended to the final step, there was someone who amazed us
more than the boasting Himalayan range.
A young-looking “hippy” who was
hardly in his early thirties, long hair, unshaved, sparkling eyes, wearing
something like pant for the bottom which seemed to be hand-stitched and
somewhat like a vest, carrying an extremely beautiful photography camera. Well
honestly, I have fascination toward cameras and it was the camera that drew my
attention but was unaware that after talking to the owner, thoughts about the camera would just vanish. And that is when we met “Konstantin”. It was as hard
for us to understand his name as much hard was it for him to make us
understand.
A young Russian, who left his job
as a software engineer and set out to travel the world on his own and has been
traveling for almost the last two years, but it was not his traveling that got us
excited, but rather his will to travel and his ways to look at this world got
us to hear every word he uttered with ease to make us understand. It seemed as
he really wanted us to know what his real story was behind his traveling.
At the age of 29, just a few months before his birthday, he quit his job
and set out for this world. When we asked him where he came from, he
specifically stated that he was from Russia, but “from a region that was
neither too cold nor too hot” and he happened mentioned, “am no tourist, a traveler”.
Well now when we met him, he has been traveling for almost two years, so where
did the money come from? He had his apartment rented. Every month he received
the rent and that was his allowance for his traveling expenses, and it decided
for his stay, whether he would get proper accommodation or just another staircase to sleep on. His body was covered with mementos that he collected from
almost all around the world. Fingers covered with rings and natural stones from
various parts of the Earth, wrists covered with various bands and bracelets,
beads around his neck. It seemed as if the places he stepped his foot on, he
carried them with him. And he also carried stitching threads and needles, which
in leisure time he stitched himself fancy stuff to put up on his wrists.
With our growing curiosity, we kept on asking questions and kept on
getting amazed at his will power to hold on to his passion of traveling. The
night before, when I was sleeping on a comfortable bed with a warm blanket and
a hot water bag to add up to my comfort, he slept with an almost rugged blanket
on some staircase that he didn’t even remember. When he set out, he traveled
with almost ten sleeping bags which unfortunately were stolen in Cuba. It was
the end of the month and he planned to travel to Nepal but was waiting for the
money to be transferred. All he was left with just thirty rupees and an endless
passion to keep going on. On getting to know him more, we came to know that his
visa was due to expire in a few months, so he had to go back home. But flights
from India or Nepal or Pakistan would cost him too much. His plan was to travel
from India to Nepal to Pakistan to Afghanistan to Uzbekistan to where else only
he knew so that he could maximize his travel and minimize his expenses on
travel. His travel was entirely dependent on “Auto” (traveling by taking lifts
from other travelers or vehicles), for which he had to face problems in India,
but he had no complaints about it.
It was the most unforgettable thirty minutes of our life. The energy
with which he detailed us about his journey, the feeling was that as if he was
meant to be waiting there for us to tell us his story. On returning home, I
came to know his name, the places he traveled.
As my day came to an end, it was
not just a traveler’s experience or my tour to Darjeeling’s memory was what I
was left with, but rather a deep inspiration to set out to travel the time
zones with no fixed destiny or destination. Who knows someday I may be an
inspiration for someone.
Me, Konstantin and Arindam … Photo Courtesy-
Debby
Konstantin Zhuravlev,
date of birth 3rd August 1981 from Tomsk, Russia. Started his
journey on June 2010 and in these years, he has hitchhiked Cambodia, Thailand, Hong
Kong, Cuba, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Namibia,
Zambia, Zanzibar Island, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey,
Georgia, Azerbaijan, Litvania, Latvia, Estonia,
India and now in Nepal, starting from Russia his hitchhiking around the world in 777 days. And how he fixed his destination, “Following the Sun”.
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