Despite missing out on Duran Duran's peak popularity, their music videos still left a valuable mark on my consciousness. One of them was for their song “Save a Prayer.” Shot on location in Sri Lanka, it features intoxicating scenes of temples, golden beaches, and ancient ruins. One particular part of the video stood out to me; it was the scene where Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes performed the song on top of a massive boulder surrounded by what looked like a set of ancient ruins.

I was feeling benumbed as I stared out the window of the bus and saw the sky reddened with strokes of sunrise. “Dawning of a new day,” I told myself, and instantly, a burst of excitement shot up my body as this meant a new opportunity to explore. It was the first morning of the Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart which I was invited to cover. Before the event started, the organizers took our group of travel writers for a short excursion to the city’s landmark known as the ‘Crown among Mosques’—the biggest mosque in India, the Taj-ul-Masajid.

After spending the first couple of days at the mercy of a gloomy sky, the sun finally appeared in all its shining glory on the third day. The bright daylight, coupled with the wind of the autumn season, made for perfect brisk walking conditions—and walk I did—for miles and miles over sidewalks and subway floors. Every thump of my feet became audibly in harmony with the multitude of Japanese commuters’ rickety medley of footsteps, sounding like an orchestral beatbox.

It took me almost a day of traveling—including a long layover in Kuala Lumpur—before I landed at Nagpur Airport from Mumbai. Upon arrival, I immediately rendezvoused with my friend Karla at her hotel. Wasting no time, we met our driver from Pench who was already waiting in the lobby to drive us on a three-hour ride to Pench in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh.