As a child, listening to mythological stories from elders, Tushar Gupta often pictured these places in his head. They weren’t just stories for him, but places to be explored, to be de-mystified.
“We have grown up hearing tales about such temples and the faiths associated with them from elders but they never include a proper explanation, “ says Gupta, explaining why his travel plans always feature interesting mythological destinations — temples in particular, in an attempt to understand the tale associated with the place.
“The lack of explanation piqued my curiosity in these tales and that led me to visiting these structures,” says the Buzz4health co-founder.
The story goes back to Gupta’s engineering days, when he started to read in-depth about such destinations. “It all started in 2005. The idea was to comprehend the logic behind these tales and how they were propagated,” he explains. But, his very first visit made him question his own ideas. “The trip was to the Mehandipur Balaji temple where exorcism is practiced. On seeing it first-hand, I felt that, maybe, not all things can be explained by science,” he shares.
Another interesting place that he visited was the Dhari Devi temple in Uttarakhand. “There were stories that the flash floods in Uttarakhand in 2013 was due to the shifting of this temple to a different location. Thus, I ended up visiting the place myself,” he says. A few other places on his travel list include the Tungnath Temple, Jwala Devi Temple, Kaichi Dham and Chitai Golu Devta amongst others.
Since most of his travels are made alone or with his wife, Gupta says that these trips provide him much needed introspection. “I was struggling with the decision of quitting my job when I visited Badrinath. That visit helped me decide, cleared my thoughts up,” he reminisces, about his decision to start-up a venture.
Gupta’s fascination though doesn’t stop at mythology but also extends to Vedas and scriptures. In fact, learning Sanskrit is on his to-do list. “Rather than reading translated and abridged versions, I would prefer to read the actual scriptures myself, for which learning Sanskrit is a must,” he says.
Despite his strong connect with the world of temples, Gupta doesn’t tag him as religious. “I am a mix of both sides. I do try to figure out the scientific rationale behind any of the stories,” he explains.
Ideally, Gupta travels once in 3-4 months and has visited around 25 such places. Badrinath is a favourite and so is the Mehandipur Balaji temple due to the energy they emit, shares Gupta. “As they are religious places, these trips provide me peace. That helps me cope with the hassles and pressures of the start-up world. Every time, I come back refreshed with new thoughts and ideas. The positive energy that I feel here is something that words can’t describe,” he concludes.
