For me the most interesting part about being a local guide is the ability to show the world to the world, with your own eyes and through your own experience. Possibly that’s the reason that as a local guide, the maximum that i have even contributed is through photos alone.
And there are still other aspects of being a local guide which i’m still learning.
Below is a story of one such experience, probably one of my favorite - when i was still new to being a local guide:
A couple of Years back, in June 2017, four of us friends decided to do a road trip from New Delhi in North of India, to Pondicherry in the South.
That’s about 2500km/1500miles - One Way.
Also, this was a non-stop road trip.
All we stopped was for some food, tea, pee and photography breaks. No sleepover at any hotel/motel/tent.
On our way to Pondicherry, we crossed about half a dozen states. Madhya Pradesh being one of them.
On one of the long lonely roads, we came across this really small, and really pretty lake. We decided to stop. (This was day 1 of the trip)
We took a couple of photos of an abandoned beautiful hut, the brown and barren lands and the lifeless leafless trees and we moved on to Pondicherry.
It took us close to 45 hour of continuous driving to reach there.
The time in Pondicherry was beautiful, we also went to see Auroville- one of the biggest and most structured experimental living communities in the world.
After 5 days at Pondicherry, we head back towards New Delhi in our car.
Again following the same route from which we drove during our onward journey.
Madhaya Pradesh (MP)was again on our way. And MP does have a lot of small beautiful lakes and streams, particularly in its vast and wide lands when it rains. And this , happened to be the Monsoon Season.
So while crossing MP again (Day 8), we came across this really small and really pretty lake which was lush green and there were so many birds, just so many birds, making it look even more beautiful.
It took us a little while to realise that this was the same place which we had crossed on Day 1. Had it not been for the same hut, we would convince ourselves that this was a different lake.
IT HAD TRANSFORMED.
The barren brown land was now absolutely green! The trees got leaves! The birds came from nowhere and there were even mushrooms growing from the ground! And that’s just in 1 WEEK!
If it weren’t for these photos, you probably wouldn’t believe us yourself!
