Tales Of A Wanderer

You will rarely find a traveller who remains untouched by the places he visits or the sights he sees. Travel has the power to transform the mundane to the magical. Four experts, a chef, a sportswomen, an artist and a designer, talk of their most prominent journeys and share how their work has been influenced by the road less travelled.

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"Travel is a big part of who I am"

I started travelling at the early age of seven or eight while playing for state tournaments. Most of these competitions would be within India and my family and I would drive down to participate in them as we couldn’t afford to take the train or fly. But these road trips were still an amazing experience as they allowed us to spend time together as a family and bond. The first ever place I travelled to was Bangalore, to play in the under-10 tournament. Since then, my tryst with travel has been really unending, as I now spend about 30 weeks in a year travelling.

I feel that when one travels, one’s mind opens up to learning. Having said that, travel is also a major part of what I do and who I am. If I don’t play tennis then I don’t travel. I feel that travelling is an important part of any sports persons life – it instills discipline and literally takes you places.

One of the fondest memories I have is of a road trip that my family took from Mumbai to Tiruvananthapuram. It took us almost 24 hours because the car we were driving wasn’t in the best shape so we had to stop and check it every couple of hours. We were joined by some family friends and it turned out to be more of a vacation than a sports tournament. It was an incredible journey. For me, travelling rarely means a luxurious hotel —its more about what I learn from the experience.

I’ve ticked off most of the destinations on my wish list, except a couple. New York is one of those places that I love going back to. Bora Bora and Maldives are next on my list. Most of my travel ends up being hectic and I look forward to the opportunity to unplug and unwind when I can. -as told to Jahnavi Chakravarty