This is something that all women need the most. When I was a kid, my parents made all the decisions for me. But the first trip I took made me realize just how much work planning it takes. I was traveling to Rishikesh with some friends. Everything from booking accommodation, managing our budget, staying safe and having fun, has been in our hands. I've been very comfortable doing all of this since then, but that first trip got me discovering a lot. As a result of travel, I am today more aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and what I like and dislike. I have learned to stay calm in times of crisis and manage my emotions in times of joy.

Receiving unnecessary male attention has become a kind of rite of passage for a woman. I remember when I was a teenager when they called me a cat or pestered me, my dad always came to my rescue. I've always had the impression that women are supposed to hide behind veils and closed doors. I grew up feeling fearful, always aware that it was a lot of attention. Traveling is pretty much that.

Last year, on a train bound for Dehradun, I met a man in his forties who kept looking at me. Every time we made eye contact, he'd smile. When he didn't move, my annoyance turned into anger. Instead of letting him sit, she confronted Uncle She. He was so embarrassed and eventually left. I consider that incident a personal victory because before that I did not have the courage to interrogate a criminal.

I don't want to fool you into thinking that the travel world is a bed of roses. It has its own set of challenges. But facing these challenges taught me how to deal effectively with them and with many others. Traveling has helped me overcome my fear of heights, to get out of my comfort zone to experience things that I had never thought possible, it brought down my pride and made me realize that the universe is bigger than all of us. These are lessons you will not find in the classroom.

When I grew up in a sheltered home, I used to have others come to my rescue if I ran into trouble. But when I started traveling and in the middle of things, I had to rely on myself for protection and support. I clearly remember this time when I had to take a local train to the hotel in the evening. He was partying late with some locals at this Hamburg pub. When I started walking towards the subway, I had a strange feeling that I had to take a taxi. I trusted this instinct and came home safely on Uber. The next morning, I discovered that there was a technical problem with the system and the entire subway network had lost power for about an hour when I was going home.

Given the current life of social media, it becomes difficult to see ourselves in a positive light. Traveling has helped me interact with many women and learn about different beauty ideals. On my trip to the Andaman Islands two years ago, I met a group of European athletes who were also on vacation there. These women were muscular, seemed to be very strong, and had a bikini like no other. One night we started discussing this over a few drinks and discovered that they too had had a lot of complacency about their looks. Even though my friends and I find them in terms of sexy as hell, this was not the general opinion. I was shocked. This also made me read more about body image.

Often we look at the world in the first person, in terms of “me”. But travel raises many stark problems. Our problems are starting to seem small and we learn to comfort someone in trouble. I have been traveling to Leh for about two years. During one of our tours of the local market, I saw a group of poor children feeding a mountain dog while they ate their food. I later found out that they adopted 10 of those stray dogs and they were feeding them daily, taking portions of their food, and also taking help from other locals. I was touched by his sympathy. I try to learn from these incidents and be more compassionate in everyday life.


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