How Travelling Has Changed Me

Seeing a way of life other than yours can be a big learning, and it can sometimes lead to transformation within.

- Kalyani Prasher

Learning to Live and Let Live

It was the first time I noticed him properly. His eyes had a certain radiance: they sparkled with mischief, or the promise of a bright future, or, perhaps, both. Before this, Yuddhishthir had just been the friendly young chap assigned by the hotel to accompany me on excursions into the wildlife park nearby. But then he caught my attention by asking me to shut up.

“It’s just a garden spider, don’t scream!” he said in a hushed tone, befitting a jungle. I had indeed screamed—I was in the front seat of a safari jeep and the spider was on my leg. I couldn’t get off the jeep in the middle of the park and even if I could, I wouldn’t have, as I was paralyzed with fear by the scary little thing.

“It’s a white garden spider,” he repeated, looking at the creature with more affection than I could muster for most humans.

“I don’t care what it is, make it go away!” I said, this time whispering urgently. I was terrified, and he was interested in the classification of the species! I wanted him to pick the thing up and fling it out of the jeep right at that moment. He did something quite else.

He pushed his leg towards mine and held out the cloth of his trousers to gently let the spider on to his own leg. He then drove on, as if nothing had happened. The spider crawled a little bit and then just stopped there, clinging to his knee. I sat there staring at the spider for any sudden movement—if a tiger had walked by then, I would not have even looked at it.