We often think of leaving our mundane corporate jobs and go gallivanting. However, we never garner the courage to live that dream and surrender ourselves to the humdrum routine. Medhavi Davda, an ex-techie with 9.5 years of experience in Software Development decided to take up her passion for travel and resigned from her job. She has traveled extensively in India and has recently started exploring International Destinations. We got into a candid interview with Medhavi Davda. To get some inspiration from her, read on:
1. How did you chance upon the idea of Ravenous Legs?
Ravenous Legs was born only because of my friends pushing me into it. After every travel of mine, I came back home with a lot of interesting stories to tell and shared them with my friends. They absolutely loved my experiences and my narration style.
My original idea was to travel and collect maximum experiences till I’m young and start writing only when I’m too old for my adventurous journeys.
But my friends didn’t want me to wait till then, probably they didn’t trust my memory and forced me into writing now itself. I don’t regret. blogging has given me a great platform to connect with lot of interesting travelers, groups and events. It gives me an opportunity to relive my journeys and share my stories beyond my family and friends, i.e. with complete strangers.
2. What is the typical day for you like?
I quit my corporate job this year, donated most of my stuff and packed my important possessions - my trekking and snorkeling gears, my badminton kit, basic electronics, few clothes and toiletries in my car and head out to Himachal Pradesh. I have been living in and exploring different parts of Himachal Pradesh (Kangra, Spiti, Kinnaur, Tirthan) since then.
My typical day is like: Wake up at 6:30 in the morning to enjoy my ginger-lemon-honey-tea gazing into the vast blue sky and snow-clad mountains, right in front of my bedroom door. I then workout in the mountains – yoga with the rising sun, jog on the mountain trails, hike up the mountains. Get back home, work from home as per my own wish (I’m a freelancer now), eat organic fresh food straight from the farms. Walk in oblivion around the fields, along the rivers, monasteries, and have knowledge-exchange sessions with my local neighbours and travellers I meet on my journey.
3. How do you pick your destinations?
I love adventures and generally try to combine this passion of mine with my travels. High-altitude Trekking, Deep sea diving, Bungee jumping, off-road driving help me pick up a destination. My idea of travel is to backpack in some remote location, close to nature, away from the cities and crowds and live with the locals.
My friends often tease me that I don’t like living on the sea level, I’m either high up on the mountains or deep down in the oceans.
4. Share your best travel anecdote that still gives you an adrenaline rush?
I was trekking in Kashmir, and suddenly the weather played a spoilt sport while trying to cross a steep high altitude pass. It poured heavily and made all the narrow trails slushy. At one of the inclines, all trekkers were slipping and there was a traffic-jam already! The over smart me, took a narrower trail just below this jammed one. I was cautiously walking on it as it could accommodate only one foot at a time. Suddenly the trail ended! I had to climb up to the original jammed trail which was approx 30 feet above me. There was no trail, no support, and the rains didn’t help me either. I somehow gathered courage to move up against the deep valley without any grip on the slushy inclined mountains, with my 10kg backpack on me. I was halfway up and suddenly a horse slipped from the jammed trail towards my direction and it kept on slipping towards me, just 4-5 feet away from me. One kick-off his on my face would have vanished me forever. The horseman wasn’t able to control the horse and i just gathered enough strength to move in the opposite direction of the horse, quickly made my way to the main trail and sat down with frozen feet for 45 mins. I couldn’t move after this incident. Some local helped me cross the slippery incline after that.
5. What is the most challenging and satisfying part of your job?
Challenging part of my job : No more fat paycheques, no regular income, difficult to earn money as a blogger as most companies in India don’t want to pay for good content.
Satisfying part of my job : I get to work from my favourite locations, as per my schedule, following my healthy routines.
6. What is one thing that is too large or impractical to travel with that you wish you could bring with you when you travel?
I thought about this for 2 days, but I guess I’m too detached with materialism to find an answer to this question. I’ve learnt to live with whatever I have and always find my work arounds.