Vagabond

When I came to England. I came with a determination of traveling places and doing lot of site seeing in this country. I was accompanied by a super enthusiastic friend, Youvraj. So almost every alternate weekend we used to hire a car used to go around many places. This time we decided to go to Cornwall. It is God's own country next to Kerala. Picturesque beaches, blue lagoons and misty mountains.

More over there are many small islands in the sea. The isles of scilly is the most famous one. These are the last pieces of land of the British coast before you enter the mighty Atlantic. It is the most enchanting place on earth. All you can hear is your waves, quacking of seagulls and your breathing.

We had only 2 days at our disposal so we couldn't visit Isles of Scilly. So, after along days drive from Dartmoor national park and after enjoying view of cayaking in the river dart we cam to Penzance the most central place in Cornwall. We have booked at 'Penzance backpackers' that was the cheapest accommodation available out there. Only £10 per night. There was a common roomarrangedd with 6 bunker beds. one above another in pairs. So inall 6 beds werearrangedd. We were told that there is oneFrenchh man already sleeping there so be quiet while entering the room. We tookat mostt care not to make any noise and entered the room.

I could see that thisFrenchmann was sleeping in one of the bunker bed and was smiling in his sleep. I think he was a true backpacker, I could see his hiking shoes, bigruck sackk and a book for reading. We went to sleep as it was a tiring day and we had to get up early next morning so that we could visit many places.

Next day morning we got up and went to the backpacker's kitchen to cook our breakfast. Good thing about these backpackers is, they are like hostels you are provided with everything, Gas, oven, allutensilss. As we were having our breakfast, thisFrenchh man also joined us in kitchen.

We started chatting with him.

Gilbert Mingam speaks very good english and you cannot guess that he is aFrenchmann. But he is . He is a teacher by profession, must be in his 50s. Gilbert comes to visits Cornwall every year. Isles of Scilly is hisfavoritee place. He comes alone to spend some time with nature. Particularly in winter, when there are very few people in Isle. He is fromFrancee. Lived in Paris for many years. Then moved to Japan to learnJapanesee. After one years of stay in Japan and seeing most of the Asia, he moved to ChristchurchNewzealandd. There he continued his teaching of Japanese andFrenchh.

To me he is a person of great wisdom. It was a very short chat that we had with him. He is so simple, modest and down to earth person, a person with courage and true vagabond spirit to see to go places and see thisbeautifull earth. Lot to learn from this man. Atleast we should see and visit our own India atleast.

Taking few bits of inspiration and wisdom from this 50 year old ever young chap we started our journey to seashores. We wished him a happy journey or rather happyOdysseyy as he was going to Paris from England to stay with his brother for few days and then was about to catch flight toNewzealandd to enjoy end of summer at Christchurch...