On Answering The Call From India

Because some places hold magic for you, without you knowing.

Hey everyone! If you didn’t know, I once had a travel blog called Wide Eyed Wanderer, that I loved writing on for many years. That blog has since been closed, and I have started this newsletter instead, where I talk about everything that interests me. Including travel.

I was looking over some of my old posts and realised, “Damn, I had some nuggets of gold here.” So, I’ve decided to periodically repurpose and share with you posts from that blog, that I love - giving it new life, with the belief that you may enjoy what I once wrote. It has been edited, though, to suit me telling this story in the present day.

I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think down below!

*Originally published in November 2019 on Wide Eyed Wanderer.

When India calls for you, you answer.

It started in July 2018, a full year before I would set my feet in India for the first time.

I had just finished a year of my degree and although I had no travel plans for that summer, I knew that I’d be itching for adventure for the next one.

Since I had delved deep into the world of music and education, I knew that I would want to travel somewhere to study the music of that culture. But where? So many appealing countries to visit. So many rich cultures to understand.

All I knew was that I wanted to drum.

Specific, I know. But rhythm had always been a part of my life and to drum was a yearning that I had not discovered an avenue for yet.

I figured that West Africa would be the perfect place to study drumming. The Djembe drum originates from West Africa and rhythm is a part of every day life in that region of the world. I would love to return to the continent, I thought. I had no idea how I would make that trip happen, but I was determined.

That was until I received the call.

Bhagsu Waterfall. We hiked here one day and it was gorgeous.

In the midst of the second year of my degree, India became on my radar.

I don’t mean that I had never heard of India before then. I picked up yoga a few years back, of which the birthplace is India. And I have fond memories of a day in primary school back in England, where all we did was learn about Indian culture. We prepared and ate Indian food, we learned about the geography and we practiced some traditional dances.

India is a country that is pretty much on every traveller’s radar and I was certainly aware of it. How can you not be? But it was the first time that India called me.

I had asked the universe where I should travel to, setting the intention to enjoy a change of scenery, rest and regulate myself after an intense year and get a sweet taste of another culture’s music.

I let it go, not thinking about it again, until the universe answered my call very loudly - everyone around me was talking about travelling to India.

When I mean everyone, it truly felt like everyone. All at once.

One of my best friends has just been with her family and loved it. Another best friend was going with her family for 3 weeks, the following summer. A good friend had gone to instruct a yoga teacher trainer course in Rishikesh. One of my favourite professors had just come back from teaching a sound and media course to university students in Hyderabad. And they weren’t the only ones.

A new friend and I got to talking about how we both want to take an international trip the following summer. I asked her where she wanted to travel to. To which she replied, “I'm really craving to go to India.”

There India was… again!

When I asked her what she’d be doing in India, she replied with an answer that felt like the universe was saying, “You asked the question. We’re spoon-feeding you the answer.” What was she going to do? She was going to learn Indian music.

That’s exactly what I want to do! Delve into a different culture and study its music!

It was clear that something was going on here. For whatever reason, India was calling me loudly. And so, the idea formed that maybe I would travel to India over the next summer.

As well as learning about Indian Music culture, I also took a workshop in Tibetan Art culture here at the Norbulingka Institute.

Having received the call and understanding that there was something here, I started researching travel in India and how I could perhaps go about this trip.

I still wasn’t exactly sure how my trip would look like. Where exactly would I go? What exactly would I study? For how long? Would I travel solo, or find people to travel with? Would I combine music classes with typical tourist attractions? What do I take with me? Is it wise to travel during monsoon season? What scams would I need to be aware of?

There was still so many questions that I had yet to answer. So many fears and anxieties that needed soothing. India may have been calling me, but it didn’t tell me how to calm those anxieties just yet. I had no idea how to organise a potential trip to India. I only knew that I really needed to rest and that I loved the idea of taking music classes. Is India even a country where one can rest in? Perhaps that was a stupid question, but I truly didn’t know yet.

I was still debating over how I would even go about travelling to India and even if I should go.

I know that to many seasoned travellers, that would sound ridiculous. Now, with the gift of hindsight, it sounds ridiculous to me too. Of course I should go. Even then, I had no doubt that it was a worthwhile country to visit. The name India seems to bestow a magical glow on the person, whenever they mention that they’ve travelled there.

But I still had a lot of fears surrounding travelling to the country. Would I be safe as a solo women? Would I be scammed often? Would the chaos overwhelm me and trigger my dormant anxiety disorder?

I wasn’t fully convinced yet.

Eventually, mid-research, my phone’s alarm rang to tell me that I needed to get going. I was about to meet a group of friends that I hadn’t met in a while.

I gather my things and make my way to leave. Only, what did I see as I left my apartment? On the doormat, in a perfect angle right in front of me, was a book. And what was the book called? “100 Ways To Lose Yourself in India”.

I had never in my life seen or heard of that book and I had no idea where it came from. I had never seen it on our bookshelves at home and our neighbours didn’t have a habit of leaving books, or anything else for that matter, on our doormat. That book was sitting there by itself, perfectly in place, as if waiting for me to find it, at just the right time.

Personally, I don’t believe in coincidences. When something like that happens, when it’s too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence – it isn’t. It’s a confirmation. “Yes, Ella, you’re not mistaken. We are calling you to travel to India.” For reasons that I still didn’t know, I really needed to answer this call.

This is a section of the main road in Bhagsu, where I chose to stay.

If I had attempted a trip to India even just a couple of years before, I would not have been ready. The idea of India, even with all its mesmerising beauty, felt too risky to me. As if I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

But when the time came to make my first arrival into the country, I was completely confident and moved by how relaxed I felt.

Yes, I was going to be safe as a solo women. Because I knew to trust my gut and say no when needed. Yes, I may be scammed, but not as often as I thought. Because many locals are genuine and I did my research beforehand. And no, the chaos wasn’t going to overwhelm me and trigger my anxiety. Because I now knew how to keep ahold of my inner calm and find beauty in any chaos that I’d encounter. Not to mention that India is vast and diverse, and there are many locations to experience calm and peace in the country.

From the moment that I stepped on the plane, I knew I was going to be fine. In fact, I was going to be more than fine. Because India was going to work its magic on me.

The hostel I stayed at in Bhagsu… and my favourite photo from the trip...

The truth is, the trip that I had planned for myself was very tailored to my wants and needs and wasn’t the typical backpacker trip that you’d expect.

I decided to stay 3 weeks in one place – Bhagsu, Himachal Pradesh. A beautiful, kind of touristy, but relaxing place up in the hills, filled with top notch cafes and interesting classes and workshops. Staying in one place would allow me to take the regular music classes that I wanted, but also settle in and feel like a part of the place.

I decided to enjoy a slower pace of life and focus on relaxing and enjoying the change of scenery, rather than seeing more of the country.

And you know what? Despite my first trip being completely different from most traveller’s trips to India, I had an absolutely fantastic time.

I mostly took Indian classical voice and djembe classes, but towards the end I also tried the tabla drum, bansuri flute and the sitar. This is Hari, one of my teachers at the Divine Indian Music Centre, and myself playing the tabla.

I can’t say that I saw the country, because I know that I haven’t. And I very much would love to do a separate trip in the future, more akin to the typical backpacker trip that takes you all around the country, in a few months.

I would love to connect deeply with India’s spiritual side in Rishikesh and Varanasi. I would love to observe the exquisite, calm romance of Udaipur and Jodhpur. I would love to relax on the soft beaches of Goa. I would love to be humbled by the magnitude of the mountains in Leh and Ladakh. I would love to enjoy the green, modern city that is Pune. I would love to sail on the backwaters of Kerala, and delight in its cuisine. I would love to see the Taj Mahal, and many other beautiful buildings possessing rich history.

My ‘bucket list’ for India has grown exponentially since having returned.

But I’m incredibly grateful for the trip that I had and it was perfect for what I wanted and needed.

What I wanted was to get a taste of a different culture’s music, that I already felt connected to in some way. What I needed was to relax after a busy and stressful year in my degree, before beginning the next stressful year.

And despite the image the country has, it turned out that India was the perfect place for me to do that.

These are the prayer wheels at the Dalai Lama Temple in Mcleodganj.

What I didn’t know back then, or back when I originally wrote this piece for my now defunct travel blog Wide Eyed Wanderer - was how much my time in India was going to change my life.

Literally. Within six months of having returned from India, I had moved out of a difficult living situation and into a happier one, I revamped my physical health, stabilised my mental health and met the woman who would become my wife.

And… it was while I was there, that I realised something significant. This random passion project of mine, a divinely guided novel that I was secretly working on, was something that I might actually want to publish one day. Not just keep to myself.

India seemed to be the perfect place and the right energetic match for me, to uplevel my life in numerous ways. It seemed to be exactly the location that would help me realise what would end up being an important life goal. One I didn't anticipate I would ever do, yet can't deny how crucial and integral it is to my evolution as a person.

I had no idea back then, that my short 3-week stint in the hills of Bhagsu, India, would do all that for me.

But I’m certain the universe knew.

Which is why, I believe, I received the call.

Have you ever been to a country and visited it differently from expected? Have you received the call to visit India (or any other country) and if so, how was it? Feel free to share below!

Speak soon,

Love, Ella x

P.S. If you want to learn more about how exactly this divinely guided novel came to be, or you want to know why exactly I think India was the right energetic match for me, using a fun esoteric system… click on the links included!