Deciding to Go: Sona and Navdeep Backpack Around the World!

Much like asking Sona to marry me when I didn’t have a job, or any remote interest in the possiblity of attaining one – I was in the middle of an MFA in creative writing program while living with my parents in Fresno (and she still said yes!)- the decision to drop everything and go backpacking through India wasn’t a difficult one. When I asked Sona to get married, all I knew was that it felt right. And that is how I feel about this adventure, despite Sona’s tendencies to overcomplicate everything, from simple recipes, to packing, I knew it would be an adventure that I couldn’t pass up. Sona has great work ethic, which is not a good trait in a traveler. So, when she suggested the act of vagabonding for a couple of months before settling back into reality, I knew I couldn’t pass up my one opportunity to infect her with the travel bug.

We had the whole world at our disposal, but we ultimately decided on India because, well, it’s India. There is no country in the world quite like it and we both think we can speak the North Indian languages of Hindi and Punjabi, relatively well (numbers higher than 10 are a bit tricky though).It is a land of contradictions with its breathtaking beauty, vast areas of ugliness in the sheer level of visible pollution, majestic architecture, squalid tin-roofed make-shift neighborhoods, perilous roads, home to some of the world’s most exciting and dangerous places.

For Sona, it is also about embracing a country that she has never properly explored as an insider. She’s always been on the outside with sheltered 2 week family trips involving lots of shopping, and being shuttled from one relative’s house to the next. The first time I went on my own was when I was 20, as a reward for myself for failing all of my classes at community college. Yes, community college. That trip really made me focus on my studies, perhaps not exactly for the right reasons: I wanted to be done, so I could go travel some more!

The second I graduated with my Bachelors degree, I went gallavanting off to China, and ended up living there for 2 years. I eventually made it back to the United States, but not before backpacking from China into India via Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Tibet, and Nepal. I took the scenic route.

Travel has always been a part of my life and my parents have always made it a point to learn about local customs and cultures, while remaining true to their own identities. Growing up, we would go on adventures big and small: weekend camping trips, long summer holidays, and because of my dad’s work as a landscape architect, we lived all over the world. Sona and I don’t want to be fifty and remembering our one long honeymoon adventure. We want to have countless adventures!

I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site that Sona isn’t on friendly terms with bugs. Here is an example of what happened yesterday:

So we’re in bed and I’m in a deep sleep while Sona has the lamp on and is reading when apparently a moth flies in, attracted to the light. The book flies up into and lands on the floor with a loud slap. I still don’t stir, until Sona ever so gently clasps my t-shirt and shakes me vigorously.
“There’s a flying thing. Get rid of it,” I make out in between her screaming.
“What?” I say, opening my eyes.
“Get rid of it!”
“Get rid of what stupidass, there’s nothing here. Just turn the light off and it’ll go away.”

She decides my logic has a huge flaw and the only rational thing to do is to drag the blanket I was covered in out to the living room. Then switch the hallway light on to attract the moth back so I can kill it. And for her to lie awake on the sofa in the living-room (which only sleeps one).

To put it mildly, we are different travelers. And I am dreading having to deal with creepy-crawlies. Or rather dealing with Sona dealing with creepy-crawlies in India. But I am quite curious to see what Sona’s solution to moths being in our vicinity will be. Or crickets, mosquitos, ants, fireflies, wasps, and cockroaches. Maybe I’ll roast them and put them on a stick for her.