15 & 16 April 2025
My first bansuri lesson with Yahor was… well, a mixture of excitement, the familiar joy of holding a flute again, and the real challenge of getting my fingers into completely new positions—which, for a moment, felt almost impossible! In a way, it reminded me a bit of learning guitar, needing to cover the holes with the second soft part of the finger, instead of the fingertips, like with Western flutes. It will take some practice, but I’m optimistic that one day—maybe—I’ll be able to play those haunting, beautiful Indian tunes.
The last few days haven’t offered too much in the way of excitement, but honestly, I prefer it that way. I’ve realized my body has entered that typical “shutdown” mode often experienced during the first few days of a holiday—feeling extremely tired, struggling to wake up, and wanting to do as little as possible, for as long as possible. And since there’s nothing pressing that I absolutely must do, I decided to gift myself this time. Full rest, without guilt.
Some days, I feel like a complete extrovert—chatting away to anyone and everyone. But lately, I’ve felt the quieter, more introverted part of me needing solitude. Over the years, I’ve been lucky during my travels to mostly meet wonderful people. The occasional rude bus driver or street comment doesn’t really count. Most of the friendships I’ve formed—short and long-term—have been deeply genuine and enriching.
But every high has a low… and this time, I’ve found myself deeply hurt by someone who, as it turns out, wasn’t quite as real as I had thought.
As I try to do more and more these days, I’ve been sitting quietly with the pain—asking why her actions hurt me so much, identifying the triggers, and trying to understand the mirror that’s been placed in front of me. It hasn’t been easy. The emotions sit shallow in my chest, unresolved. After trying and failing to sit down and resolve things, it seems there’s no neutral ground. So, I’ve decided it may be best to simply move on.
Cutting someone out of your life—someone you counted as a friend—is never ideal. Especially when you’re still sharing a room. But right now, my own peace and emotional wellbeing matter more. Sadly, because of the unresolved conflict, we may never see each other again, and this experience will likely just fade into a forgotten memory.
On a lighter note… I had to laugh out loud today walking past a café. A witty sidewalk sign caught my attention:
Rustic Road Café – “We have momos HOTTER THAN YOUR EX!”
I had to chuckle and wonder who came up with it.
After spending some quiet time by the Ganga yesterday—swimming and soaking up the April sun—today I was on the hunt for a quiet place to sit and write. It’s not always possible to write my full diary entry every day. Sometimes I have to backtrack through messy notes to reconstruct the story. Broken Wi-Fi, dead devices, unplanned events, or simply being too tired to think all get in the way.
But today, I had a solid few hours to disappear and focus entirely on catching up.
We often post only the pretty bits on social media, the fun and the light. But long-term travel is not a holiday—it’s real life, just happening elsewhere. There are still bills to pay, emotions to process, healing to do, and work that doesn’t pause just because we’re on the move.
Still, for some of us… this wild, unpredictable, heart-opening rollercoaster of long-term travel is something we dream of doing again and again.
