Motivation passion optimism

I Was Brought Up In A Slum: Here's How I Changed My Fate

( words)
*For representational purpose only.

I am Brij, from faridabad. I am an IT professional with a passion for traveling.

Recently, I completed my Spiti circuit in just 8 thousand rupees in 3 months from Delhi to Delhi. I covered about 20 properties to fund this Spiti trip.

I know this is not something that is really extraordinary these days but definitely extraordinary for a family in which I am the only one earning and the only one who has ever attended college. Someone from a lower-middle-class family living in a single room and brought up in an unauthorized colony that was not even registered in government records.

This is a story of someone who started traveling in local trains for school for 70 km when he was just 15 years old. Someone who worked his arse off to get rid of his education loan after graduation and then started finally 'living' when he was 27 but traveled intensely in the last three years across the world.

I have traveled across 20 states, 3 union territories, and 7 countries so far. I have also done about 30 treks. I don’t call myself a traveler but an explorer for travelers instead.

This is a story that inspired me a lot to keep continuing what I am doing as 'TraveLo'. I always travel solo and when I check into any cafe, I always look for an empty seat, be it alone on a table or on a table with strangers.

So, I was in the most famous and the oldest cafe in Old Manali. It was always crowded and there was no free table. Then, I came across a table where about 10 people had been denied already with a single empty seat. On that table, there were people from all across the world. There were people from Gujrat, Mumbai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Germany, Kerala, UK, etc. I approached the seat and sat with them and ordered my food.

There was this guy from Kerala who got really curious and asked me this question. “Bro, do you know anyone on this table?” So, I have this tendency of sitting with my head down. I looked up at him. Then, I looked around that table to check out who all were there.

Then, I heard this voice coming from the other side of the table, “Hello travelo” “Hello travelo” “Hello travelo”. It turns out that six out of those ten people knew me already. It hit me really hard that night.

The next day, I was at another cafe to have ginger lemon honey. I could hear a group whisper something about travel. I went ahead to pay up my bill and one of the girls from that group approached me and asked “Are you traveLo?” I said “yes, I am.” She told me that she had seen one of my videos in 2019 and came to Himachal for the first time to have Siddu.

As a solo traveler, sometimes, you tend to feel depressed after traveling solo for a long time and thinking to yourself - if what you are doing is all worth it and is good at all. That night I realized one thing that yes, whatever I am doing is something good. It made me feel a little overwhelmed inside and a little proud of myself.

My purpose of travelo is to prove that anyone can travel, be it a person from a filthy rich family to a guy like me who was born and raised in a slum-like colony.

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