🌍 Travel Isn’t About Places - It’s About People
When I look back at my December 2008 journey - Indore → Coimbatore → Vaikom → Coimbatore → Indore - the cities blur a little, the routes overlap, the timelines soften.
But the people?
Crystal clear.
Travel doesn’t leave fingerprints on maps.
It leaves them on memory - through conversations, smiles, gestures, shared silences and moments with strangers who unknowingly become part of your life story.
This post is about them.
🧳 Indore - The Familiar Faces You Leave Behind
The journey started with familiar ground.
Indore, in winter, has a certain softness - cool mornings, warm afternoons and streets that feel lived-in rather than rushed.
Before leaving, there were the usual exchanges:
👨👩👦 Family members asking, “Kab tak aaoge?”
🧑🤝🧑 Friends offering last-minute advice
☕ Tea stall conversations that casually drifted into life talk
These weren’t dramatic goodbyes - just understated acknowledgments that travel temporarily rearranges relationships.
And that’s how it should be.
✈️ Airports & Anonymous Bonds
Airports are strange social spaces.
You sit next to someone for hours, share armrests, smiles, sometimes snacks - and then disappear from each other’s lives forever.
On that flight south, there were:
🧔 A businessman flipping through files
👩 A mother managing kids with military precision
🎧 A quiet traveler staring out the window
No names exchanged. No introductions.
Yet for those few hours, you’re part of a shared micro-community - suspended between where you were and where you’re going.
🛺 Coimbatore - The First Shift in Human Energy
The moment I landed in Coimbatore, I noticed something subtle but powerful.
People spoke less - but meant more.
Auto drivers didn’t over-explain. Shopkeepers didn’t oversell. Conversations were short, efficient and warm without being invasive.
One auto driver, noticing my unfamiliarity, simply said (in broken Hindi + Tamil):
> “Slow ahh… city good.”
That was it. No pitch. No sales talk.
And he was right.
☕ Coffee Shop Conversations That Stay With You
At a small coffee place in Coimbatore, I shared a table with an elderly man reading a newspaper.
We didn’t talk at first.
Then he looked up and asked, casually:
> “North India?”
I nodded.
He smiled and said:
> “You people walk fast. Here, we walk correct.”
That line stuck with me.
Not slower.
Not faster.
Correct.
That one sentence explained an entire city’s philosophy.
🚆 On the Move - Strangers Who Briefly Matter
Indian travel - especially trains and long road journeys - creates instant social proximity.
You don’t choose it.
You just accept it.
On the way south, there were shared glances, shared food, shared stories:
🍌 Someone offering banana chips
🫖 A chai vendor announcing his presence like a town crier
🧓 A fellow traveler explaining routes without being asked
None of these interactions were profound on their own.
But together, they created a feeling of belonging without obligation.
🌴 Vaikom - Where People Speak With Their Presence
Vaikom didn’t introduce itself with words.
People here communicated through pace.
A shopkeeper who didn’t rush you.
A boatman who waited without checking his watch.
An elderly woman who smiled without curiosity or expectation.
One afternoon, sitting near the backwaters, a fisherman passed by and nodded.
No conversation.
Just acknowledgment.
And somehow, that felt complete.
🛶 The Boatman Who Knew the Water Like Memory
I met a boatman - quiet, weathered, unhurried.
He didn’t narrate. He didn’t guide.
He just rowed.
At one point, I asked him how long he had been doing this.
He paused, thought and said:
> “Always.”
Not years.
Not decades.
Always.
That word carried generations.
For him, this wasn’t a job. It was continuity.
🍛 Shared Meals, Unspoken Trust
Food has a way of dissolving social barriers.
In Vaikom, meals weren’t transactional - they were shared experiences.
🍽️ Eating alongside locals
🥥 Being offered extra curry without asking
🍚 Sitting quietly while everyone ate at their own rhythm
No one asked where I was from.
No one asked why I was there.
I was present - and that was enough.
🧓 Elders & Their Unfiltered Wisdom
In small towns, elders don’t preach.
They observe.
One elderly man, sitting near a temple, asked where I was headed next.
When I told him, he said:
> “Good. But don’t go fast. Water doesn’t like hurry.”
That wasn’t advice.
That was a worldview.
🌅 Children - The Truest Locals
Kids everywhere are the same - curious, playful, unfiltered.
In Vaikom:
👣 Children ran barefoot near canals
🚲 Cycled past laughing
🎣 Watched fishermen with fascination
They didn’t stare at me like a tourist.
They barely noticed me.
And that’s how you know you’re in a place that isn’t performing for outsiders.
🔄 Returning to Coimbatore - Familiar Faces, New Eyes
Coming back to Coimbatore after Vaikom felt different.
Same city.
Same streets.
But now I noticed:
🧑🍳 The cook who remembered my order
🛺 The auto driver who waved in recognition
☕ The coffee vendor who nodded like an old acquaintance
Travel compresses time.
A few days can make strangers feel familiar.
✈️ The Journey Back - Conversations Fade, Impact Remains
The return flight to Indore was quieter.
Less anticipation. More processing.
There were conversations - but fewer.
And that felt right.
Because by then, the journey had moved inward.
🏙️ Back in Indore - Seeing People Differently
Returning home does something strange.
You see familiar people with new lenses.
Conversations feel richer.
Silences feel acceptable.
Pace feels negotiable.
Travel doesn’t change others.
It changes how you meet them.
🧠 What These People Taught Me
This trip reinforced something fundamental:
👥 You don’t need deep conversations to feel connected
🕊️ Presence is a language
🌍 People carry place more than architecture
🤝 Respect doesn’t require explanation
⏳ Slowness is a form of intelligence
Every person I met added a layer to the journey - even if they never knew it.
🧭 Why This Trip Still Matters
Years later, I don’t remember names.
But I remember:
🙂 Smiles
🤲 Gestures
🛶 Quiet companionship
☕ Shared tables
🌊 Mutual silence
And that’s the real archive of travel.
🏁 Final Thought - The Real Souvenirs
You don’t bring people back with you.
But they stay.
In how you listen.
In how you wait.
In how you move through spaces.
That December 2008 journey didn’t just show me places -
it showed me how humans inhabit them.
And that lesson never expires.
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