“Why do you keep wandering?” we asked this wanderer, during one of our trips to Kashmir.

He smirked, didn’t smile yet his eyes were so bright, full of answers to so many questions with stars from all his adventures. He intrigued us.

“You travellers come here and ask me the same thing. You are settled in the big city, but why do come here?” he asked us instead

“To enjoy nature, take a break from our hectic live and have some fun,” we answered in unison.

“I am full of life. I have had so many adventures, I do not need to take breaks; I have knowledge of everything around here. Through the mountains, down the roads; what is within and around the forest. I am close to GOD and with HIS creation all the time,” he said with glazed eyes.

“I am the life you seek; my life is what you crave within the big cities, away from the noise and chaos, I have experienced the calmness within.”

“I am not the wanderer, YOU ARE!” he laughed with wisdom.

Lit: Annam Lodhi, United Arab Emirates

Picture: Fahad Aziz, Lahore

Originally Published on The Dialogue