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Tag: travel the world

About Me, Who am I?

Important Life Update! – I Quit my Job

February 6, 2018July 1, 2018by peppytravelgirl3 Comments on Important Life Update! – I Quit my Job
Important Life Update! – I Quit my Job

HELLO, you beautiful, wonderful people! I’m writing this as I sit in the lap of nature. I’m surrounded by mountains, and I’m experiencing quite a different concept of living here at McLeodganj in Himachal. Can’t think of a better place to be at right now 🙂 So I’m here to tell you about a few [...]

Hi! Im Preethi!


Hey you! 👋🏼

So you've stumbled across my world of travel and stories..

Welcome home. Get comfortable, you lovely person, you can stay as loooong as you like! ♥

I'm Preethi, a travel-mad happiness-seeker from India! I chase experiences, sunsets, stories, waterfalls, chocolate, views.. Ah well, a lot of things 🤷🏻‍♀️

Follow along for an honest-to-goodness, real AF account of what I get up to as I klutz across this world! See yaaaa!

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And sometimes, we find a portal. We step through it, and we’re transported to a different time in a different place.
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‘Bhaiya, Chor Bazaar ke entrance pe chhod deejiye.’
‘Haan madam, aap yahin se andar jaa sakte hai.’
(‘Pls drop me at the entrance to Chor Bazaar.’
‘Madam, this is the entrance.’)
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I looked at the alley my cabbie pointed towards. A dilapidated lane looked back at me, crumbling store facades and all, a lane which I would steer clear of if I didn’t know what was in there. But now, I was alive with curiosity and was looking at it with different eyes. I started walking, and each step I took led me further away from the cacophony and rush on the street I’d alighted at, and into a sepia-hued world which was just waking up. I walked past two men who were busying themselves with dismantling a car, breaking it down piece by piece. A stray chicken wound its way around my legs and fluttered away. I could hear the distant bleating of goats, and an occasional rumble of a bike passing through. The streets grew narrower, and the Mumbai I’m used to faded away as I entered the Bombay of yore, the one with the fabled ‘old-world charm’.
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Mutton Street is home to the famous Chor Bazaar, one of the oldest flea markets in Mumbai. It was earlier known as ‘Shor Bazaar’, translating to ‘noisy street’, but it was constantly mispronounced by the British, and so the name stuck. And in keeping with its name, Chor Bazaar is home to a lot of stolen goods which find their way here from, well, who knows where? 
You’ll find literally anything here. Electronics, hardware, spare parts (car being broken down, remember?), clothing, antiques, furniture, trunks, ornaments, gramophones, you name it.
I found this shop called ‘Little Stuff’. It’s a tiny, tiny little store, but is packed to the rafters with a variety of bric-a-brac - vessels, musical instruments, ornaments.. What caught my eye was a pair of ghungroos, which took me right back to my dance days! 😊
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My tryst with Chor Bazaar was short this time, but it doesn’t take long to sense the vibe here, nor to realise that there are stories here from a time we don’t know of. And for those, I’ll be back 😊 ‘How have I walked past this place a million times and not paid enough attention?’
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Maybe we stay for so long in a place that we start taking it for granted, and never fully appreciate what it gives us. I have drooled over the street art in Melbourne, gaped open-mouthed at the fantastic graffiti artwork in Shoreditch, and yet I have walked past this very spot close to a hundred times, and never stopped and looked long enough.
This is one of my favourite places in the city. It’s a district I associate directly with creativity, because of the art festival, the historical involvement in music, quaint little art shops in the rickety lanes, and the new hipster cafes that have mushroomed here, something I directly connect with the words ‘freelancing’, ‘creativity’, and ‘cute’. There are days I have spent here at places like Sequel, Pantry, and KGC, spending hours on my laptop, giving my work my creative best. I’ve wandered in the cobbled alleyways looking at the buildings that still carry traces of the British Era. I’ve attended festivals, lost myself in song and dance, gone on dates, snuck into luxury stores feeling SO out of place, stood under falling leaves with an ice cream cone in my hand, stumbled around fully sloshed.. You never run out of things to do here 😄
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It’s impossible to get tired of a place like this. And yet, it appears it was impossible to appreciate its existence either.
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Maybe it’s time we stop taking things for granted, and count them in our blessings instead. Maybe it’s time we open our eyes and actively look for the things that make our lives better. Maybe finding a cocktail of colours is a brilliant idea.
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This city drives me crazy. It really does. I can’t spend more than a couple of months here before it’s mad, stressed, crowded vibe starts getting to me and slowly squeezes every last breath out of my lungs. I’ve been here for close to five months without substantial travel, and I feel like a part of me has gone numb. The rest of me, however, is rediscovering parts of this city that I do love, like this right here, and as I inch closer to my next flight, I know I’ll miss home a few short weeks after I’m gone 😊
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#peppytravelgirl Love and all that.
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I've never subscribed to the idea of all these 'days', because I think love transcends all labels and definitions and doesn't need a day to be expressed, felt, or made.
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Love everyday. Love someone through thick and thin, through good and bad. Tell someone how you feel, today, tomorrow, whenever. Surprise your partner. Talk to your best friend. Give your parents a hug. Take yourself out to dinner. Go solo for a movie. Book that trip you’ve always wanted to. Let go of toxic relationships. Put yourself first.
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Do it for no reason at all 🙂
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This is all love. This is how I celebrate it. Everyday ♥️
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And you?
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#peppytravelgirl If I had to list out all the reasons I love South Bombay, architecture would be somewhere near the top!
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I’ve walked these lanes a thousand times, and I still marvel at the grandeur of these colonial-era buildings. This part of town will always be quintessentially ‘Bombay’ over ‘Mumbai’, know what I mean? Where else will you find heritage structures, double-decker buses, kaali-peelis, the lingering smell of fish, salt in the air, and oodles of history all bundled into one?
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I studied in this area for 2 years, but barely got out and explored. And now that I’m in the city for a week or so more, I thought why ever not? Curiosity is a good thing, because it’s taking me places, showing me things, and telling me stories that I haven’t seen before, and in my world, that’s the BEST thing possible. So here I go, dedicating some time to my home city, discovering parts of it I haven’t seen before, and finding stories in nooks and crannies. SoBo now, somewhere else soon!
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What’s your favourite story from your city?
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📸: @trulynomadly
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#peppytravelgirl Saree at an art fest? Yes please! 😃
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Donning a saree really isn’t as hard as you’d think, especially when it’s with a crop top 😁
Mum’s been killing the handloom game for YEARS now, and I thought I’d twin with her for the day we spent at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 😄 Best part? No pins!
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Every year, since 20 years, Mumbai experiences a week-long melange of the arts. Students from art schools put up installations, some crazy creative, some carrying a message. Experts from across the city and the country come down to help others understand their art. Sometimes some of us get to give it a shot too! Homegrown brands find a corner to sell their wares, and what makes me so happy about this is a lot of these products are sourced and created organically. Grand music and dance performances make up the evenings against the glittering night sky, and dip you right into the culture of our country, with a taste of what’s going on outside it as well!
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It’s a riot of colours and sounds, and folks from around the city arrive in droves to experience some part of it. And although this makes it a tad chaotic, you can tune out the crowds and enjoy the festival for what it offers if you find your little space.
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The main street of Kala Ghoda was maaaaaad crowded. Every. Single. Person. Wants. A. Photograph (look behind me). You’ll NEVER get a frame with no one in it! What I loved, though, were some of the music and dance performances that I could attend, and some of the performers were SO GOOD I could cry! I also tried a workshop for the first time - mandala art therapy - which was one of THE most meditative experiences I have ever had. It teaches you to stay focused, to find flexibility in stability, and the other way round. And hey, it looks pretty amazing, so there’s that! 😄
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I’m glad I went 3 times this year, because I’ve managed to see and do something vividly different each time around and actually experience a little bit of everything going on!
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Fellow Mumbaikars, did you go? What was your experience like? And for y’all outside Mumbai, what’s the equivalent of a KGAF in your city? I’ll add it to my list 😄
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📸: @p.prema28 (aka Amma)
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#peppytravelgirl #tkgaf20 Thank you, 2018 ✨

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