Solo Trip to Varkala, Kerala by a South Indian Girl - A Travelogue

Yes! I am a south Indian Girl, and this is my story:

You are an Indian girl and you travel alone? your parents would be soo embarrassed..

Its never safe for a girl to walk alone. 

Instead you need to find a man who has common intrest and get married and travel with him. These are some advices given to me when i started traveling alone. 

Oh! wait, but it wasnt a holiday trip, it was actually a educational trip.. being an indian girl and uttering the sentence travelling alone implies "she is a ".

I visited Varkala in Kerala to learn Ayurvedic therapy. Thanks to my parents as they never showed difference between me and my brother, which gave me the strenght to walk forward.

This trip taught me not just the importance of Ayurveda but also the importance of travel in life. Travelling is the first step for our soul to get out of the box. While travelling we meet new people, experience new cultures, know different traditions and all above learn to  adapt.

Varkala is a coastal town in Kerala where the clifs are adjacent to the Arabian sea. The Sea view from the shacks on the cliff can cure any hidden depression, the sounds of waves can fill the dark lonely silence within, the trees around  will never leave you alone.  It shows the richness of  Nature. I was born and brought up in a city with no sea, and that was the first time i started listening to the sounds of nature. It made me understand that Nature is not just a word in science, its a Living Energy instead.

Astonishingly i have alighted in front of a beach, where people Surf . Yes! you heard me right, people surfing and me on the other side dont even know how to swim. Slowly i started making friends from different regions and countries which made me realise that i am no different from them.  Colour, Sex,region and religion never differentiated us, i was much more comfortable than my hometown thanks to all my friends. Life has started giving me many beautiful moments and experiences. 

One of the best and challenging experience was the path to ride a wave.. yes, its Surfing! 

One fine evening I walked in to a resort called soul and surf, it was a movie night and the movie screening was about surfing. There theme is to pursue a simpler more rewarding lifestyle doing the things we love.  BOOM... Next morning i was in the sea with a surfing board. They have a surfing instructors and the owner is a pro surfer himself. 

This experience gave me the chance to sense the sunrise and sunset, flying fishes, dolphin groups, beautiful sky above the sea which inturn stamped my human ego.

It is very rough to face the waves, but its beautiful if we face our fear. My friends around gave me the confidence to walk in to the sea with my board remember i cant swim at that time. They gave me the opportunity to surf everyday with them. Now i can swim and surf just a beginner though. 

Life itself is a travel. We need to explore, feel and learn. At the end of the day we must leave this body and travel further. So we shouldn't be stagnated because of this mortal body as we are actually an immortal soul.

Solo trip makes you feel connected with people like never before.

Story written & provided by: Akshaya Rao Holistic health practitioner