HarPiyTravel

When Travel Is Life !

about

Harmit, Piyush, and Aayansh chase, The golden light where highways bend. A shutter captures nature’s smile, On wild trails that never end.

Traveling Through Change: A Month of Growth

June 30, 2026

Reading Time: 3 minutes
The month is ending today, and it has been a bittersweet one overall. Harmit got a new job and had to move to Oklahoma City, which is a 7-hour drive from Omaha. On her birthday, she was not with me, so I had to travel to OKC with my kid to celebrate. We are grateful for this job, but it also means taking our test, as we are living apart. But that’s how life is: you get something, you lose something. The idea is to embrace everything with positivity.

Most of you know I love traveling, and this month is all about travel. I drove to OKC 3 times, and we also took a boys’ trip to Telluride that took 14 hours.

My dad, who is a cancer patient, is unwell. So we had to travel to India unplanned. First, I had to drive 7 hours to reach OKC, and then the next day, a 3-hour drive to Dallas International Airport. The trip to India itself was a 26-hour journey through a 7-hour layover in Helsinki, Finland. It’s our longest travel ever; thankfully, Aayansh didn’t trouble us and was cooperative.

Things are OK and in control. Throughout all these trips, I captured various shots. My favorite ones are the following:-

Which of these pictures is your favorite? what it reminds you?

Happy Reading! Keep Traveling!!!
From Hating Veggies to Loving Them: A Journey

June 30, 2026

Reading Time: < 1 minute
What do you love now, that you hated when you were younger?

I am in India right now at my uncle’s place, and we were discussing our childhood habits. During those conversations, my mom told me how I had changed over the years. Earlier, I hated veggies and would remove tomato and potato from curries, literally just touching the veggies with roti.

Now I have no reservations at all; I can eat anything. I actually wonder: how can I not like potatoes in pulao and tomatoes in aloo-tamatar curry? Now that I know the importance of health and nutrition, I don’t mind eating anything good for my health.

Few vegetables like Lauki, Torai were the worst one that used to bring tears to my eyes. I vaguely remember, I was so pissed of seeing such veggies in my plate and I used to take out “unwanted” ingredients from my curries.

Now it’s my turn to see all this through my kid, who is 3.5 years old. He is just like me and doesn’t like any veggies; he will eat all kinds of junk food. I still feel he is a better version of me, though, as he likes broccoli, oats, and smoothies. So something better than nothing.

Happy Reading! Keep traveling!!!
Transformative Books That Changed My Worldview

June 29, 2026
Reading Time: 2 minutes
What’s a piece of media (book, movie, song) that changed how you see the world?

I am always fascinated by books. They carry so much wisdom and experience, and, amazingly, you get to read that compressed work in hours, days, or months. The movie is a great medium, too, but I always feel that reading a book is superior to watching its adaptation. The reason is that a book allows you to imagine the story from your own view, while a movie gives you someone else’s views, which has its own limitations.

Books taught me a lot, and I am still learning. I am grateful to have this habit of reading. There is a famous quote by Frank Zappa: “So many books, so little time.” I totally feel it. There are so many books that changed my perception of the world.

I used to read when I was in India, and then I got busy with life. When I came to the USA, my elder sister encouraged me to start reading again; she herself is a bookworm. Thanks to her, I started reading again, and the USA has a very powerful public library system. I wish we also had something similar in India. I am a frequent library member; other than that, I use the Libby app for digital checkouts, Kindle Unlimited, and Prime Reading.

A few books that I want to mention here that changed my perspective on the world:-
1. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
2. Somnath by Acharya Chatursen
3. Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
4. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
5. E=mc2: a biography of the World’s most famous equation by David Bodanis
6. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
There are so many books like these that are shaping my life every day. Right now I am reading “The Gut by Payal Kothari”.

What are you reading? Have you read any of the listed books?

Happy reading! Keep traveling!!!
Memorable Hike with Stunning Views in Telluride

June 27, 2026

Reading Time: 3 minutes
This Sunday, we were returning to Omaha, and that’s a 14-hour drive. Saturday went pretty quickly, as it was our last day in the town, so I couldn’t write about it. This post was drafted when my friend was driving in the storm, and the mobile network was strong enough.

In the storm

As I said in the previous post, we were excited for our hike. We planned to start the hike at 6AM, but woke up late, arrived at the trailhead at 7:30AM, and finished the hike around 2 PM. It was a 10-mile hike with stunning views. The hike has 3 blue lakes and lots of waterfalls, and you have to cross them during the hike, which is fun.

After our hike, we had a heavy lunch at the same Mexican place in Telluride and then came back to our hostel. The hot tub after the intense activity was very relaxing, and the shower after that relaxed the soreness of the leg muscles.

We spent quality time in the hostel cafeteria, I tried a lemon-flavored tea and chemoline tea before we went to bed. It was a memorable trip, very well spent.

Here are some pictured from the hike and other places:-

Log

Vista

scenic

Lower blue lake

Stream

Trail

Mid blue lake

Upper blue lake

Jai veeru

Vintage

Classic

Which of these pictures attracted you the most? Are you a hiker person like me?

Happy Reading! Keep traveling!!!
What I Learned About Family: Embracing Imperfection

June 27, 2026

Reading Time: < 1 minute
What’s something you used to believe as a kid that seems ridiculous now?

When I was a kid, I used to think my family was perfect. An ideal version that everyone should look towards. My dad was my hero; he was that invincible, strong force who always stood firm in every circumstance, and he used to be the most well-mannered man I’d ever met.

My family used to be the most progressive, which I always considered a modern family. As I grew older, I realized they are not perfect. In fact, perfection is a myth; imperfection is what makes us human; otherwise, we can become gods.

My father is not as strong as we all believed, as he is struggling with stage 4 cancer, the guy who motivated us the whole life is void of motivation and desire to live. That’s disappointing. The guy who never cursed anyone is so annoyed and angry that he started using foul language. But I understand him; it’s unimaginable what he is going through.

I always thought my parents were progressive enough to have equality among kids, but soon I realized they also have this favoritism towards me (the only boy) as opposed to my sisters, and that hurt me a lot. Few things can be felt rather than said, and I could feel this numerous times.

What I learned is that what we think and assume is not always true, and no family is ideal or perfect. We should embrace imperfection and live our lives accordingly.

Do you agree with me? Also, do you feel imperfection is an essential part of any family?

Happy Reading! Keep traveling!!!