well the descripton above modestly explains the travel bug in us,though its much deeper and has a history too. would explain a bit about mine first in my brief three years spent at college,we were given a task to cover the fibre crafts of kerela.the journey was exhaustive as we did COCHIN-CHERTALAI-ALLEPEY-QUILON-KOTTAYAM-TRIVANDRUM-NAGERCOIL-KANYAKUMARI-AMBASAMUDRAM AND BACK. all through the jouney we relished all possible modes of transport,went deep within the villages to study and document the crafts.it was heartning to see that they were able to explain all about the crafts they were so passionately into ,with out us knowing the vernacular language. a fifteen day sojourn into god s own country yielded me info that stays imbibed in my memories. in my years of entrepreneurship had an oppurtunity to work with sewa,ahemdabad and khadi samiti of gujarat.the project was to develop a range for the fashion show case event called DSYN 04.the ride to the khadi samiti head quaters in gondal was long and tiring one,had not thought that i would derive inspiration for my collection even before arriving at my destination !!! the inspiration was a CHAKRA,a diesel powered bullet attached to a cart is a cheapest mode of transport in and around gujarat districts.the decoration on that vehicle would have put the pakistani truck art patrons to shame.no wonder it caught my fancy and the collection turned out to be superb. my ride to ladakh would go down as one of my best journeys ever taken,unless we are signed up for this adventure ;] it was a ride full of challenges and hurdles,that takes a toll on you. there were times the bike broke down in top of freezing passes of nubra,in the middle of furious rivers at sarchu and stuck deep in the cold deserts of pang.but the will to go ahead and reach the destination conquered all.the relationship i developed with my machine in this enduring journey is amazing and will last forever.and of course the experience of riding on the HIGHEST MOTORABLE ROAD IN THE WORLD does nt happen that often.(khardungla 18380 ft) smita in similar ways has covered and documented the crafts in assam and neighbouring states. my travel experiences abroad have been more work trips to thailand,hong kong,china,france,spain and germany..these trips being short are hectic too.though in the recent one to berlin i managed to catch a glimpse of the berlin wall.the wall though at best a km of it is fully painted with colorful graphics by noted contemporary artists.the feelings expressed on it are of the freedom and peace which happened after it fell in 1989.and how simple it is to destroy the boundaries and walls which we have created in our environment and within us. smita and jagdeep