The journey from Champaign to NYC

This has been a while back.. I found these notes when browsing through a diary of mine..
So thought I'd put them up here..

Well, I am travelling.. Yes, again!!!

This is fun. My, am I loving it..!! I always love the time I spend on trips, especially when I'm travelling alone. It gives me time out, to be with myself, only myself, which I rarely get when I'm around people. Not that I don't like being around people. But well, I'd say both have their own place in life.

Sometimes, we just forget ourselves in the middle of all the work and all the people around us. This gives me a chance to reconnect with myself.

Hmmm.. Ya. The decision of taking the bus to get to NY ( Its a 23 hour drive) over the flight wasn't a bad idea at all. I'm traveling through a good part of the country (even though I would have preferred to see it without the glass window in between), which is way better than flying amongst clouds ( which I love too.. but then, they are just the same everywhere, lol!!)

I am dead tired after a whole day in Champaign with all my luggage, figuring out how to get from here to there..
But when I'm on the bus, I'm not sleepy. My eyes are staring out the window and I just can't bring myself to close them ( There is also a small night light, right on top of my head, that doesn't go off :( ).
Its 2 in the night. There is practically nothing visible out the window but I still continue to stare.
Its the vastness of the dark enveloping the silhouette of trees.. I see them stretched endlessly along the road side.
I wonder what trees are they? What kind..? Something exotic..? Would I be familiar with the names..?

As the music from the ear phones rings into my ears, the physical sensation of them disappears and I feel the music as if in the air..

Wohh.. Its a starry night..!! I can spot The Great Bear even from the bus.
Other than a cluster of lights visible occasionally along the way, and of course, those neon advertisement signs, its the star studded envelope of black all around.

I don't know why, but I have so always loved watching the roads rush back as we move forward on the road ( Yes, the relative velocity fundaa..). I'm not quite sure if its the idea of moving ahead or of leaving the landmarks along the road of life behind us, that fascinates me more. But I have realized that I can stare at those linear stretches of gray concrete speeding behind, for hour together without wanting to blink my eyes.

Those trees by the road, they are so many, but all on their own, standing there through day and night witnessing the movement, the continuous, so called forward movement of the world.
But, isn't there an almost equal amount of traffic on both sides of the divider?
So, which one is moving forward and which one would be said to be going back..?

Just wondering..

Guess they are all moving forward..on their own path.. to their own destinations..
And does it even really matter? Which way are we moving.. as long as we are moving..

Movement, I would say, is the essence of life.. The yellow line along the road, is probably the only one that moves along with us, right till the end; even as we leave everything behind us moving 'forward' on the road .. the road of life..

What is this yellow line?

This is nothing but the road itself.. The road we take is the only one that accompanies us during the journey.
Not the landmarks we use to help us know we are on the right track, not the stops we use to rest to replenish the energy and strength for the rest of the trip, neither the hurdles we come across along the way, which are only meant to be crossed and left behind.
Nor the fellow passengers who keep coming and going as we halt at different stops. There might be many with us for some parts of the journey, there might not be any for others..
What matters is that we move on..!!

Its our journey and we must make it.. No one else can do it for us, no one else can do it with us..

And really, I don't think it would be that much fun if it wasn't just ours..
Thats what makes it so special. While its good to have company during parts of it, there are other parts which we must go through, just on our own..

The romance of it, the adventure is only because its me taking it, looking at the world with my own eyes,breathing it all in, feeling it sink into myself, and become a part of me.

You got to dive in the water to know how much fun swimming is; you got to feel the adrenalin rush through your nerves when the tide is high against you; when your muscles are cramping, when you are out of breath or when you are in water fathom deep.

And once you do it, it gives you the confidence. The confidence of getting into the waters, getting soaked and wet, facing the tide and riding it high.. and its then that you start enjoying it.. when you win over the fear.. and aren't afraid to go out there and get your feet wet..

Despite many adversities that I came across on this trip, things have worked out for me, so far..!! ( In hindsight, this is a gross understatement. Little did I know when I wrote this, how much more was in store)

People have been nice, very nice to me. I don't know what I would have done without all the people who have been helping me out with every single thing, from finding the shopping store to making coffee. And the interesting part is, these are all, so called, strangers. People whom I have never met before, who don't even know my name sometimes ( and vice versa), people I probably will never see again in life.

I have really no way of expressing my gratitude to them, neither were they looking for it. We have crossed paths in our journey around this world, and they have quietly made their contribution and moved on, not an insignificant one though..

I really wish to God I'm able to carry on the legacy, in whatever small ways possible...