Priyanka Gupta

About a decade ago, I graduated with a B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD). In 2016, five years into an evolving investment banking career, I quit my job. Now I’m an itinerant writer. On my blog On My Canvas I write about alternative ways of living and exploring. My aim is to live by asking why rather than blindly following someone before me. And while I’m out challenging the norms, or if we may say, looking at things more with curiosity rather than habit or tradition, I share and write what I experience and learn. I read a lot of science and books (and science books), too. Personal growth ideas, cruising through the choppy waters of our emotional selves, writing tips, cultural biases, meditations from individual books, and travel narratives — you will find them all on my blog. Welcome!

तुम

वो पिछली सुबह जो एक बूँद मोती की तरह बैठी थी ना पत्ते पर,

याद है तुम्हे?

जिसे घूँट भर पी लिया था मैंने,

जाने कैसे एक बूँद से प्यास बुझी थी?

मुझे लगता है तुम वही बूँद हो!

एहसास

तेरी ख़ुशबू है आती अभी तक मेरी रूह से

तेरे स्पर्ष का है एहसास बाकि अभि

तेरे हाथों की गर्मी को महसूस करती हूँ मैं

तेरे होंठो की नर्मी क एहसास भी गया नहीं

बालों मे हर सनसनाहट का तू ही जिम्मेदार है

होंठो के कपकपाने की वजह भी है तू ही

उन सुन्हरी सुबहों मे साथ तु था जब

मुस्कुराती हुई आती थी किरने भी

चाँद

जब कोई चिड़िया चहकती है,

सूरज उगता है,

हवा चलती है,

तभी मेरी क़लम भी थिरकती है,

जब सुबह – सुबह प्रक्रति शृंगार करती है,

मैं उसको निहारती हूँ,

पानी में तैरते हुए,

या तैरने की कोशिश करते हुए,

ऊपर आसमान में अपनी नज़रें फिराती हूँ,

बादल उड़ते नज़र आते है,

रूयी जैसे हल्के बादल,

हल्के-सफ़ेद, हल्के-नीले, हल्के-स्याह,

भागे चलें जाते है,

दूर–दूर उन लोगों की पुकार पूरी करने जो उनहें चाहते है,

जिनको रोटी नसीब नहीं होगी या प्यास से उनके गले और होंठ सूख जायेंगे!

Covid-Related Travel Update, Jan 2024: Chile is open to international tourists. Visit the Chilean government’s official website for travel-related information and regulations. Don’t forget to read the government’s rules to be followed in public spaces here. My guide to Chile visa would be helpful for Indian citizens.

What does this Chile Travel Guide contain?

chilean+people+culture+santiago+south+america

A month before my solo trip to Chile, I ran into Valentina. We were riding the same train from Bangkok to Siem Reap. As we got off the train, Valentina told me she was from Chile.

What a coincidence! I was just heading to Chile. Cozying into the same hostel in Siem Reap, we soon became travel friends. Call me Val, she said.

While strolling together in the magnificent Angkor Wat temple, Val asked me if I knew how Chileans greeted each other. I shook my head. I knew nothing about the Chilean culture. We were in June, and my flight ticket to Santiago was booked for the end of July. The classic me hadn’t yet applied for a Chile visa. But I wasn’t worried. I was going as a volunteer of the English Open Doors program [EODP] to teach English in Chile; I knew the program would help me arrange a visa quickly.

Val took it upon her to educate me about the traditions in Chile (and also gave me a lot of travel tips for Chile). And Val’s guidance made my six-month solo adventure through Chile a little easier. To return the kindness, I am aggregating all the unique things about the culture of Chile travelers should know.

Hope you enjoy the read.

Hyderabad Travel Memoir and Places to visit in Hyderabad in 3 Days

In 2018, I had to travel to Hyderabad twice to get my US visa. Back then I decided against writing a Hyderabad blog.

I didn’t want to write down places to visit in Hyderabad in 3 days because Hyderabad city seemed orthodox to my free spirit. Men ogled women freely while their wives roamed around the city fully clad. Hoards of men crowded the corner shops and streets while the women were nowhere to be seen. I even saw an old Muslim man pointing to me and later telling his son my clothes (a pink short-sleeved top and three-fourth jeans) weren’t decent. Though every corner of this Nawabi town was fragrant with delicacies, we had a hard time finding vegetarian food in Hyderabad.

Then I decided against my intuition of not writing about Hyderabad places.

molten golden sunset nusa penida island bali

Covid Update Jan 2024: Indonesia is now open for all travelers.

Irrespective of from where and with whom you watch a sunset, each sunset is of its own kind and is perfect in its own way.

I witnessed the golden beauty submerging in the Indian ocean from the island of Nusa Penida, near Bali, and in the zen state that followed, I wrote this piece of writing which I am publishing here (with some editing).

The Glorious Sunset on Nusa Penida Island, Indonesia

priyanka gupta solo traveler on nyangnyang beach bali

Covid Update Jan 2024: Indonesia is now open for all travelers.

Nyangnyang Beach Bali – One of the Best Beaches on the Island

We descended the stairs on the hill shadowing the Nyang Nyang beach. And all we could see was the turquoise Nyang Nyang rolling ahead of us into infinity.

Covid Update January 2024: Indonesia is now open for all travelers.

My Best Things to do in Bali

Bali has been a relief from the chaos of the overcrowded and the ever-rushing world. Though I had heard really touristy things about Bali, I love the place.

I have spent most of my twenty days in Ubud, old Bali with a modern twist, a village called Laplapan, which is close to Ubud, and also biking my way to far away floating temples, hidden beaches, and rice fields whose pictures were able to enchant me enough.

Before I came here, I thought Bali would be a tourist jungle packed with hotels, restaurants, tour shops, yoga centers, and bike rental shops, along with some greenery. But Ubud and Bali are places that have all these things and also have artistic temples the Balinese people visit daily, lush paddy fields in the heart of the island, cute ducks wobbling around in open pastures, deserted turquoise beaches (such as Nyangnyang beach), hidden jungles, a cool river cutting through the middle of Ubud, splashing waterfalls, a colorful underwater world, and all with the backdrop of a gaping volcano. I have captured my first glimpses of Bali and some travel tips for the island in the linked post.

The Independence Day of Chile, Or Fiestas Patrias

Today is the independence day of Chile, which is also called Fiestas Patrias or dieciocho, the 18th. Having celebrated this grand day in its mother country, I promise you that the one week of celebrations preceding the independence day and on the day itself are unmatchable. And why shouldn’t they be?

On this date in 1820, Chile overthrew Spain and freed herself from 300-year-long captivity.

Chileans are thrilled around their independence day and celebrate it with honesty, love, and passion. Children, students, adults, grandparents all dress up, decorate, cook, visit their families, talk, celebrate, drink, host barbecues, dance, sing, and act. [Here is me being honest about Chilean traditions and customs.]

Covid Update January 2024: Indonesia is now open for all travelers.

Travel Tips for Bali: Collected From My One-Month Journey

I write this piece while sitting on the balcony of a beautiful Balinese home, with a lush green garden, with the blooming frangipani canopying over the sunlit courtyard and its tiny temple, and with towering palm and coconut trees swaying in the distance. And as I listen to the water falling over an artistic fountain while drinking tea, I know that there is nowhere else I would want to be in this moment.

Having been in Bali for ten days, my wanderlust soul and ever-wandering eyes have experienced and seen a lot.

Update January 2024: I also have a complete travel guide for Bali and a guide on Bali Visa on Arrival – For Indians and Others.)

author priyanka gupta an itinerant writer travel blogger digital nomad on a beach

On the Road, Alone

I have given up my apartment, packed my bags, said my goodbyes, and off I go with my backpack, a pen and a notebook, and a one-way ticket to the world.

I have been in namma Bengaluru for a year now. Before that, I was in South America (SA), teaching, living, and traveling. After having been nagged by my family to return, I came back last year.

During my nine-months-long adventure in the passionate continent, I did more than I could have done in a few years. I hiked active volcanos, made friends from all over the world, learned Spanish, taught English in Chile and realized that I might have a few traits of a good teacher, stayed in a treehouse in a Bolivian village, stayed with local Quechua communities on the remote islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru, got mugged in Santiago, held monkeys and sloths in the Amazon, night trekked to stumble into the deadliest frogs and snakes, lost myself in the Machu Picchu Inca ruins, wandered in the fathomless-ness of the Atacama desert, and struggled to get job interviews and tried to prolong my stay in South America.