Let's Look at It Differently Let's Look at It Differently

My travel tales from around the world and my best ideas about life

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India

  • My Experiential Travel Guide to Hyderabad, The City of Nawabs (1) November 10, 2018
  • My Love and Hate Relationship With the Colorful India – A Story and Memory Postcards (9) September 1, 2018
  • Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary – A Day in the Winged Paradise (4) June 20, 2018
  • A One–Day Road Trip From Bangalore to Panchapalli Dam and Bettamugilalam Village – Driving Through Wilderness and Rejoicing in Nature (6) May 22, 2018
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  • As you can probably tell by this photo, I am not a poser. Neither can I pretend to be one. . . A year and a half ago when I was in South America, I didn't know a lot of things about myself. I didn't know that I was through one of the best trips of my life. I didn't know that I was going to cherish the friends I made there for ever. I didn't know that writing and traveling will become my soulmates as I will continue on my journey. I didn't know that no matter how glamorous this path looks it will have its own challenges. . . But it all happened. Now when I write sometimes all day long, pack my bag the next day to go somewhere new, alone, meet a lot of people on my way who sometimes seems threatening but sometimes inspire me to go out of my skin, and learn by living the life I find natural, I feel okay about my decisions. . . What is life after all without a little adventure? How will you ever have the satisfaction of finding your way if you don't walk out of the usual? How will you know if you don't try? . . As D.H. Lawrence said, I feel great grasping white hands in the air, wanting to get hold of the throat of anybody who tries to live, to live beyond money, and squeeze the life out. And a man has to fend and fettle for the best, and then trust in something beyond himself. . . So do what you want to do, break the social norms if you feel claustrophobic, do your best, and then leave it to the universe. Stay honest to at least yourself. . . That is my mantra, and some monday motivation for you ❣️ . . This one was taken in Salar de Uyuni or the famous Salt flats of Bolivia. I remember not comprehending the breathtaking volcanoes and mountains standing around me, the salt that was spread on the plains as if an ocean had flooded them and left, which is true by the way, and all of it at a height of 3500 metres. Now when I later look at my photos from there, this mind-blowing geography signifies how small everything is in comparison to the vast world and it's billions of inhabitants. At least, we can be significant to ourselves. . What do you think? Have you been thinking of taking some decisions that scare you? Would love to know 😊
  • Look at this squirrel nibbling away on a muskmelon peel. Who said you have to go away to see animals? You can also make your surroundings comfortable for them so that they pay you a visit every now and then. . . Mostly I don't have any food to spare, for I am on the road and eating in restaurants and homestays and try to make the most of the meal so that I feel full for sometime and don't have to search for food again. For I know that when I am hungry everything else becomes less important than my growling stomach and food. . . But when I am here in Bangalore, I do a lot of cooking, mostly vegetables and greens, and thus have a lot of peels and other leftover food items. So what do I do with it? I don't throw it in the wet dustbin. We make use of our roof, to which my partner has shifted to, which is infront of a large forest right here in the middle of Bangalore. We put the leftover and green waste in plates on the roof. And wait for some of our friends to show up and fill themselves full. . . This furry little thing is so cute, and she visits us almost every day now. No, not everyday, a few times a day. She climbs up, looks around, take a peek at me, is assured that I am busy writing when I don't look at her, and off she goes to her party. Little does she know that I am writing about her when she gobbles away everything that I put out. . . A friend had once said to me, Priyanka, you should live in a place like you are traveling. So when I am not traveling and am here in Bangalore, I try to stay close to nature and meet as many living beings as I can, and most of them are koels, cats, kites, sparrows, squirrels, moths, and more. Haha. . . Writing and looking at these curious ones takes most of.my time when I am not daydreaming about traveling. For some writing has to be done first. . . Isn't she cute? Would you like to see some more photos of India's biodiversity that thrives in my backyard? . . #onmycanvas #ngtindia #natgeoindia #squirrels #indiagram #animals
  • That's how I looked this Sunday. . . Whether I am traveling or I am at home or I am at my parent's place, which is not often, I am not the one known for taking care of my skin. Whatever that is. I love sitting under the sun without any sunscreen for I feel what is the point otherwise(hello, vitamin D). I don't cover my face with a scarf even when I am jostling my way through the most polluted streets. I don't wear full-sleeves shirt even when I am supposed to. I play with mud as often as I can, and I search through garbage if I recall putting a plastic bag in it which could have rather been used as a dustbin cover. Rather than applying moisturizer after a shower, I am either ready to rush out of the door and onto the streets of the place I have to explore or I go on to writing with a cup of ginger tea. . . Of course, the skin suffers. She cries. Asks for mercy. Which only falls on my unwilling years. Even so much that a few ex-boyfriends called me crocodile-skinned. But hey, it isn't that bad. I have an on and off relationship with my skin which gets deprioritized over other things. And traveling all the time and living out of a bag is the main culprit, not that I am complaining. . . So when today I was taking a walk on the sunlit roof of my partner's home here in Bangalore, I recalled the few packs of multani mitti or fuller's earth we have had since months. So I mentioned them to my partner, we judged the situation, one thing led to another, and this happened. . Haha. Multani mitti is supposed to cleanse off the dead skin, which I have many folds of since I don't care much. I say no to most of the chemical products. Only made in India, herbal things is what my heart beats to. And the best part is when the mitti dries off and you feel the skin stretching. It's so much fun. . Anyhow, basking under the sun and taking a walk on the terrace while looking like a theatre actor is how organic I like my days to be. A Sunday well spent. Until of course I rush off to the streets and get a fresh layer of pollution over. . Do you love basking in sun? Are you also cruel to your skin? What do you do while traveling? . . #realme #onmycanvas #fullersearth #incredibleindia
  • I thought today I will post a photo with a small caption. . . That being said, let me tell you that this photo was taken on the Palolem beach of Goa, when one early morning we had ended up there for we couldn't find a hidden beach near our Airbnb in Agonda. The sunrise was to be beautiful from that hidden beach, but even though we drove onto unknown mud trails and steep paths and rocky hills in dark, we couldn't find the beach the first time. . . So I instead drove to Palolem, we ran on the beach, and watched the fishermen start their day by bringing out hoards of fish out of the Indian Ocean. And then we ate heartily and called it a day and went back to our place and slept and chilled. Of course, we woke up the next day before sunrise and finally found the hidden beach. . . A hell lot of a stories from Goa, all from my 7-8-9 trips in the past. Hopefully I will put them up in a blog post and share them here, too. All in good time. . Though this wasn't the smallest caption, tell me-Do you like the longer captions more or the smaller one? . . #onmycanvas #goa #palolem #incredibleindia #instaworld #travelblogger #travelwriting #goa
  • I was trying to fly, for when you see such a beautiful spot, what else would you do. . . Though finding this view to the backwaters wasn't easy in the gigantic Sharavathi valley in Karnataka. I went there this year end because the greens and the blues that fill the map of this area looked too scenic and adventurous to ignore. When we drove through the valley and decided to visit the numerous waterfalls, dams, reservoirs, and the forest, people told us that we could only access those places after we had received an entry permit from the Shimoga forest department. . . We were a little disheartened, but the valley had still much to offer. This temple in sigandur was the one which didn't need an entry permit from before. And we wanted to go there for the views of the temple looked amazing in photos. To my dismay, when we arrived at the temple, the beautiful backwaters that we had seen in pictures were missing from the whole landscape. . . But how could that stop us from finding them. While we tried to find the backwaters some people even laughed at us and wondered that why we weren't going inside but were instead looking for something else. How could we, was most of their countenance said. . . We walked around the temple, sneaked into a place which looked like a factory or a timber cutting place( really not sure what it was.) And further ahead lay this view. It looked like that the hill banking the backwaters is mostly private or government owned but out of access for public. We stayed there for a few minutes, gaped at the gorgeous backwaters coming from the Sharavathi river, clicked a few pictures, and walked out. Of course, not without first looking for the snake that we had seen crawling in the woods as we entered the place. They are peaceful animals and to stay safe, just maintain your distance.So much for my unplanned year-end trip. . Thinking about the upcoming travels for this year. I can't do much planning beforehand. I just scroll through the Google map, see the greenery, the distance of the place, and if it looks like in budget, off I go. . . India is on my mind this year. ❣️ . . What about you? Where are you planning to go in 2019? . . #onmycanvas #travel
  • Excited for the year 2019 and all that I hope it would bring along. . . Last year was an exciting and challenging year for me. 2018 was when I fell in love, wrote full-time, started earning money with writing, gave up my apartment and became a nomad, traveled inside and outside India for months, alone, focused on photography, started travel blogging alongside my other writing, fell from a scooter to hurt my knee badly in Indonesia, ran and swam, dived for the first time, read voraciously, and made new friends. It was the first complete year of a writing, traveling, and blogging life, and I am still learning and accepting and rejoicing at what comes along with this lifestyle. . . But the greatest lesson that I have taken from 2018 is that I need to be patient, and I have to remember why I started it all. I left my investment banking career to find my own path which is away from the chaos of a corporate job, deadlines and bosses, meaninglessness work that doesn't interest me, following goals that weren't my own, and breaking away from the laid down paths by a collectivist society for which individual doesn't exist. Couldn't be more thankful to this life and work that I have chosen for it happily keeps me away from all that ❣️ . . Thought I should start the year by thanking the universe for what i have and appreciating myself a little bit for what I believe in while remembering what matters. For would we be here if not for the decisions we took? . . While I was thinking about all this, I wrote a blog post on the golden highlights of 2018. (Link is in bio). Go read. Let me know what you think. . . And you, what are you thankful for from 2018? . . #onmycanvas #2018 #happynewyear #writing✍️ #bloggers #bloggerlife #travelbloggersofig #incredibleindia #indiantraveler #femmetravel #karnatakatourism

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