Why did Hiuen Tsang walk for so long

As a 5th form student I first learned about this chinese chap called Hiuen Tsang, which I still have great difficulty in spelling. The teacher said that this chappy travelled all accross ancient india for 16 years and then went back to China where he originally came from. I thought to myself , "thats a hell of a walk", why would someone walk for such a long time, ..travel tourism pat came the reply from my classmate. Now what is that and why would one want to do that ? .. I thought.
Well, when I came over to Britain to work, I got to know of a new term like so many others along with my huge culture shock... and that term was 'back-packing'. Aparently, most of the young university passouts (or could be GCSE or A levels for all I care ) do travel where-ever they can afford to on a shoe-string budget taking odd jobs on the way to sustain themselves. This idea is very popular in the west and is thought of highly, to enhance one's perception of the world around them.
Now when I understood this term in the right context I mused to myself that I have definately missed out on something crucial here, and the idea of missing out on fun-stuff is not what I take kindly to. I thought to myself the longest journey I have taken, is a train from Allahabad to Bangalore via Chennai. 3 days and 2 nights with an interchange, but I did love all the experiences I had on the way when I made it a point to stroll on every station that the train stopped, you know, just to experience the culture first hand , not to mention the urge to savour all the different types of foods on the stations to south india. I quite enjoyed it at that time, but when I heard about this back-packing stuff I felt my experience was nothing and rightly so.
During one of the cold winter months in the follwoing years I witnessed a telivision series on SKy called the Long way around by Charlie Boorman and Euwan McGregor, and what I instantly took a liking to was motorbiking as a way to travel. So, pat I got on the case and tried very hard to get a biking licence in the UK (not easy by any streach of imagination!).
TAKE1
In 2007 I made the mistake of going to India in mid-April, big mistake! my body just didn't like it and I was absolutely de-hydrated all the time.
Actually, earlier, I tried to emulate what i wanted to achieve in England , but I had the wrong bike and the wrong sense of what I wanted to achieve. I needed a camel with trainers on it. I bought a hare on adrenalin overdose , the YZZR with 210 bhp wasn't going to cut the mustard. So I thought I would trial my idea in India.
So the idea is to achieve exactly what travel tourism achieves but in a slighlty compressed timeframe. So what does travel tourism achieve? What made Hiuen Tsang march on for 16 long years?
I guess what it does is speeds up your learning process about life itself and since you are travelling the spirit is that you are very receptive and open to all that is thrown your way.

I was in the middle of this high profile technical delivery which I hadn't taken my eyes off since Jan' 2006 and pat I went just after Easter to my boss on an April morning and said... "Simon, I am off to India for 18 days starting next friday, is that alright" , he in his remarkable skeptic style says.."you tell me, whats up any emergency back home?", I said .. "kindda but nothing to do with family just gotta be there, gotta do someing quick!". He says.. , " awright make it 14 and be back then , is that awright"..I nodded came out booked my flight called mom and said I will be there next Friday, she was amazed, happy and thought to herself why is he here in the middle of summer.
When I went to india I went there with a plan to cut accross the middle of india on a suitable bike and visit the tribal areas of MP and spend as much time with these people.
Failed! I could not acieve any of my goals. Took me a week to buy the bike because of umpteen problems. .. then realised that it would take my grand tourer 7 weeks to arrive from Germany and then a couple to get it cleared from customs... so plan B. Bought a 17.8 bhp Honda Karizma, got it in 2 days and I was quite impressed by the bike when I trialed it. Although it had a 10th of the power that I was used to.
Anyways I had the bike in 2 days but fell ill and just managed to road test the bike for 3 days and clocked 350 odd KMs on it, and had to catch the flight back to England.

TAKE2

By mid Jan 2008 I had delivered the largest IT based business intelligence project of my life £118 mn project for an insurance giant and it was a big feather in my cap and our company. I was in cloud 9 and I wanted to get back to my passion, I went to Simon, and, I said I am off on a 30 day unpaid leave to India, he was bemused, but reserved his opinion and said if he needed me I must be contactable. I said yes ofcouse and packed my bags and arrived in Delhi on the 19th of January 2008 with 1 and only ambition and that was to clock as many mile as possible on my bike and go to the remotest parts of India my little sweetheart.
My mum and dad thought it was a bad idea, but I wasn't listening.
I was off for 18 days on the road solo on my bike and after 6800 Kms returned back home to Allahabad. I was enlightened beyond belief! I spent time with villagers and tribals went to places unheard of and had experiences I never thought I would have and made friends with people that I thought I would never meet!!!
I had just discovered India and what a darling she is ... I had tears in my eyes when I caughtthe plane to England.
When I came back to England I narrated the story to my friends and they thought I was a lunatic!.. they said solo on a 17.8 bhp bike in remote india for 18 days... no way!... I said yes believe me I have just been there and it is Nirvana!
TAKE3
IN early October 2008 I lost my job thanks to recession!.. i kept looking, but to no avail , after trying for 2 months I headed off to india in mid december and as luck would have it just 2 days before I was scheduled to leave I got a call from my agent that I had been selected for the role of head of strategy for a very large consultancy project to start in January. I said I was away for 50 days in India and I can't possibly change my arrangement ( a bit barmy you would think after 2 months of unemployment).
Anyways, I convindced them and they were very understanding to wait till early Feb. So off I went to India on a 50 day mission to go wherever I wanted for the next 2 months or so. I spent the Christmas and New year with my family so that they couldn't complain and then off I went on a cold and foggy morning at 6:15 am on 2nd of January 2009 and came back after 32 days and 9450 KMs later into Allahabad. It was just awsome experience of my nation's ancient culture and true indians. the villagers and tribals of my beloved motherland. It was a lesson I will never forget. AND that lesson is to be stuck into your roots and knowing who we realy are, what does it mean to be a bhartiya.
To sum it is an easy one in Bangla , "Ei desh ti, taeg er desh, bhog er naa" (.."This is a nation that embodies sacrifice and not a nation that embodies mindless consumption"), thats why the colour of this nation also has Saffron, which signifies sacrifice and not hindutva. These were the exact thoughts that crossed my mind when I had my first drag of cigarette standing in civil lines on that beautiful winter afternoon of 4th February 2009 celebrating the completion of my journey.

Take4
The next on the card is a solo to Kanyakumari from Allahabad along the costal from daman and diu via mumbai to KKR.
I am waiting for the right time.

I intend to write a seperate blog about thet houghts, the people and the conversations I had during my earlier visits.