travel blogger | On My Canvas

हिमाचल प्रदेश का अदभुत मंडी शहर

हिमाचल प्रदेश के अदभुत मंडी शहर में हम: और वहाँ व्यतीत किया हमारा कुछ समय

हम व्यास नदी पर है।

ये हिंदी का प्यार आज छूटता ही नहीं है। जबसे वो हिमाचल प्रदेश कि हिंदी दसवीं कक्षा की किताब पढ़ी है मन करता है सब हिंदी में ही लिखने को। और क्यूँ ना करें? हिंदी मेरी मात्र-पित्र की भाषा है।

और हम है भी ऐसी जगह। हम है मंडी में, इस छोटे से हिमाचलि शहर को छोटी काशी के नाम से भी जाना जाता है। बहुत मंदिर है यहाँ। पुराने, नए, सब तरह के मंदिर। मेरे पति—जिन्होंने कहा था हम यहां आएँगे—बताते है कि इस हिमाचलि काशी में लोग कुछ १२-१३ सदी में बस गए थे। बहुत पहले से इंसान रहते है यहाँ।

जबकि मेरे होटेल में सफ़ायी वाली बताती है की उसके सामने ही इस नदी के तट पर कोई ख़ास घर नहीं थे। जंगल था यहाँ। अब मैं अपनी बालकनी में खड़े हो कर देखती हूँ तो मुझे घर ही घर दिखते है सामने। ऊँचे, बड़े, लम्बे, छोटे घर। सबकी छत कुछ टेढ़ी है, जैसे होती है हिमाचल के घरों की। ऊपर एक रिसॉर्ट भी दिखता है, पर उससे ज़्यादा कुछ नहीं|

बराबर बराबर एक दूसरे से कंधे से कंधा मिलाए खड़े है ये घर। बीच में एक इंच जगह भी नहीं दिखती नदी के इस तट पर। जगह होगी ज़रूर। घरों के आगे पत्थरों से पटा है नदी का किनारा। तट कह सकते है उसको। बड़े छोटे सब प्रकार के पत्थर दिखते है वहाँ। जे़ सी बी मशीन भी काम कर रही है तट के बिलकुल पीछे जिससे पता चलता है कि पहाड़ का और हिस्सा कट कर नदी पर और मकान या दुकान बनने वाले हैं।

a girl, the author of the article, priyanka gupta holding a blue umbrella in her hands looking up smiling standing under open sky under coconut trees water visible behind her

What Does it Mean to be Blogging for Eight Years?

For eight years, I haven’t woken up a day thinking I had nothing to do. You must have heard of, “Hey, my project is over. We are celebrating. Now onto new things!” I could never say this. I can exclaim these words after publishing every blog post, but I don’t feel like it. My project is understanding and documenting the act of being alive, and it is never over, until it is over.

I also always have more than enough to write because for almost five years my partner, Sagar, and I have been living nomadically in India. We don’t have a home, our stuff is in our car, Scooby, and we have been traveling slowly. In June 2025, we parked Scooby at Sagar’s parents’ home in North India. Now we have been traveling with our backpacks (Here are my best travel resources).

traveling from chennai to howrah train in background and female traveler in front with bags on her looks like a female traveler from India writer and blogger solo (1)

the author standing in beautiful mountains with arms open embracing her long writing and travel journey

Seven Years as a Full-Time Writer, four of which I have spent on the road

On My Canvas turned seven in August. I couldn’t publish a post on its anniversary. As I’ve repeated in my newsletter Looking Inwards, a big project kept me busy. Soon that project will be out in the world and see the sun. Until then, I’m here to write about these seven years of full-time writing.

Along with the blog, I have freelanced, written poems, penned down stories, and so on. I’ve been on the road for four of those years, with all my things in the car. Yeah, my partner has been with me, too. I’m sure you have read about our itinerant journey in this massive post.

a boat parked at the edge of water used as a feature image for six years of my personal growth and travel blog on my canvas

Six Years of My Personal Growth and Travel Blog On My Canvas The past six years have been important to me in many ways. In them, I not only wrote on this blog and brought it to where it is today: an infinite source of inspiration, hope, and ideas for me and, hopefully, a peaceful, …

5 Years of My Personal Growth and Travel Blog On My Canvas Thank you for coming along on this journey with me and supporting me always. If I have learned one thing in these five years, it is that the joy of creating should be enough. When we work hard and persist, we arrive at …

Best Articles Published During On My Canvas’s Fourth Year (August 2020 – August 2021) My blog On My Canvas just turned four. Congratulations to me and to all you brilliant readers who give me a reason to write every day. Read the above link to know about the indefinite travel journey I’m on, another big news, …

walking on mountains in gagal near mashobra shimla himachal four years of blog celebration.jpeg

Celebrating Four Years of On My Canvas – Learnings and Updates

Phew!

It has been four years since I published the first article on On My Canvas. From then on, these four years have been a non-stop roller-coaster ride. From the first year of impenetrable determination but absolute ignorance to helping out other bloggers from my two years of blogging journey, and the third year of accomplishments, I have come a long way.

The journey started with writing. But every artist needs an audience. I want to thank you all – my beloved readers – who have helped me make the blog the meaningful resource it is. Though I know On My Canvas has to reach a lot more people, I really appreciate the love and support I’ve received so far. At least, I have not been hit by spoiled tomatoes or stinky eggs.

So thank you!

Memoir of a Three-Week Stay in Mehli, Shimla

Himachal feels like home.

Here I run with little children in their parents’ green fields. I almost join the lithe girls in their hop-scotch game. I explore every obscure path that can be (or cannot be) stepped on. Every tiny dhaba seems like a food stop. I never shake off the red-black curious beetles that embezzle my white-green Kashmiri kurta. Whistling thrush is my new loud neighbor (I won’t say friend for she hardly seems to care). I click and research the birds I see from the balcony of my one-bedroom guesthouse. (Here are some parrots, if you are craving to see.)

We are in the village of Mehli Shimla. (Later when we would tell the locals where all we had stayed in Himachal, they didn’t understand Mehli but recognized Shakrala, a village of rural Shimla under which Mehli falls, I guess). Mehli is our first stop on this indefinite Himachal Pradesh trip.

A Narrative Photo Essay on Street Food of Malaysia

Eating Malaysian Street Food in Kuala Lumpur

My experience with the traditional food in Malaysia began in Kuala Lumpur (KL). I arrived late at night in KL. I had chosen a hostel close to Chinatown. Someone had told me that if you want to eat street food of Malaysia that is the place to be. I checked in the Travel Hub guesthouse and took a bed in a female dorm.

A long transit from Bali to Malaysia had left me famished. Overeating has been my die-hard habit. Now I try to eat less for a healthy and sustained living. But then, I gorged on Malaysian food without a thought. I don’t like to overthink calories when I travel. Who would?

From being baffled by the cornucopia of Malaysian cuisines, restaurants, and dishes to knowing where and what exactly I wanted to eat, I had a long rendezvous with the Malaysian street food. This food memoir is my attempt to recreate my month-long food journey in Malaysia.

From Mandalay to Dee Doke Waterfall

Should I share or hide? While deciding whether I should write about the Dee Doke waterfall, I’ve become more conscious of my responsibilities as a travel blogger.

Dee Doke is a remote and uncrowded waterfall because most people don’t know about it. But if I talk about the Dee Doke falls, more travelers will go there. But would all those visitors keep the place clean and serene, as it is now?

I can only request and rest is upto the people, up to you guys. If I show you some pictures of these turquoise falls, tell you they are about an hour and a half scenic drive away from Mandalay, and the waterfalls are mostly empty, you would want to rush to Dee Doke or Dee Dote, as locals call it. It’s a fair request.

I also went to Dee Doke because I discovered Myanmar travel blogs that suggested me to visit this stunning waterfall. I had an amazing day driving from Mandalay and then swimming in the Dee Dote blue lagoons. So I’m thankful to those travel writers.

I’m just returning the favor now. I only ask for not playing music on speakers there or leaving garbage behind. That’s all. I know you would be good and respectful.

Let’s go then.

First of all, I thank my loyal and kind readers who return to On My Canvas time and again. Without you, this blog wouldn’t be this positive, experimental, and inspirational place it is becoming. I appreciate your company and promise to keep this platform as peaceful, honest, fun, and informative as I had intended on Day One.

To stick around to see for yourself, subscribe to my weekly newsletter. There I send weekly updates, my writing, best thoughts of the week, things I have been reading, off the hook travel tips, stuff I’ve been watching, and my life updates, too. It is the best way to stay connected with me.

If you like the kind of ideas I share, you will find that newsletter informative, enjoyable, and compact. So go here and subscribe now, or use the subscription box below. Welcome along in this journey of travel, discovery, and personal growth 🙂

Now let us talk about 2020.

Curry rich, Asian-influenced, salad-based, unhygienic – these are only some of the phrases that seem to describe Myanmar traditional food all over the internet.

When I visited Myanmar last year, I had high hopes from the Burmese food: a concoction of not only the culinary taste of the hundreds of ethnic groups within Myanmar but also steeped in flavors, ingredients, and recipes from the colorful neighbor China, Thailand, and India.

While you can find fish noodle soups and tea leaf salads at every corner of Myanmar, you can also overeat potato samosas, suck into juicy dumplings, and cry out on spicy curries or run away from fried insects- all the later delicacies can be attributed to Myanmar’s neighbors whose people and flavors both have been generously accepted by Burma.