The Ultimate Journey

I had heard somewhere that we form unique experiences in our memory by combining scents, sight and sounds of a place. Once, this sensory combination is experienced, it gets stored in our memory cells. I recently travelled back to my land of origin “Punjab” to rediscover the sensory experience as a traveler without adding the bias of my love for the land. But I forgot that the senses not just get stored in the brain but also evoke myriad of emotions inside which make a memory, a face, a shop so special. The final aphrodisiac being the food of this land of warm-hearted people. Be it the divine “rabri-falooda-kulfi” concoction or the devilish “keema naan”.

My friend and I planned to start our journey with an early morning prayer at Harminder Sahib but what we didn’t imagine was its power to engulf everything in it like converging of all energies into one big ocean of peace and tranquility. The Golden Temple awed us as if our eyes had opened for the first time to our inner soul. The “parikarma“ was like giving in to the almighty and leaning on his strength. We were surrounded by thousands and could not make out whether we were all drawn by some external energy or were following our soul’s voice. We were lost in trance and were jolted out of it with the sweet aromas of “Prasad”.

We stayed in Punjab for a fortnight, long enough to indulge our senses and forget that there exists other part of our life on the roads of the metros that we map every day, the world of noise outside and within us and constant worries of our unmet desires. But, here, we were in a place where every face reflected contentment, every smile was genuine and every food served with generous affection. The modes of transport were of all sizes and shapes. Such colours in clothes, food, punjabi juttis that I could never ever imagine. I sure could not get everything back home but what I could get back is beautiful and endearing memories. I shall be sharing our journey with all sensory details and would love to get to know how you feel about it…..so do write back.