HarPiyTravel

When Travel Is Life !

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Harmit, Piyush, and Aayansh chase, The golden light where highways bend. A shutter captures nature’s smile, On wild trails that never end.
  • Transformative Books That Changed My Worldview

    Transformative Books That Changed My Worldview

    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

    Memorable Hike with Stunning Views in Telluride

    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

    What I Learned About Family: Embracing Imperfection

    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!!!

  • Why I Wouldn’t Change Any Book Ending

    Why I Wouldn’t Change Any Book Ending

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be?

    Given the chance, I won’t change the ending of any book. I respect the author’s view and the story he built after considerable research and time. Maybe the ending doesn’t satisfy me, but it could be a perfect ending for other readers. What I think would make a good ending might even make it worse for other readers, lol.

    If you ask me which book ending disappointed me, actually, it’s none. There is only one book, though, which I rated 1-star , as it was so bad I kind of needed soul cleansing. The book is “Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I still respect the author, his views, his feelings, and his honesty, but it was never for me.

    Happy Reading! Keep traveling!!!

  • Bilingual Life: Navigating Hindi and English

    Bilingual Life: Navigating Hindi and English

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life?

    I speak Hindi and English. I connect more with the Hindi language, though, as it’s my native language. I feel lively when I speak Hindi. When I bought my house in 2022 and discovered my neighbor could speak Hindi, I felt so happy. It was the best thing that could have been done for me. Now my kid speaks Hindi so well, and I feel very proud and joyful. We speak Hindi at home, and like to use it as much as possible.

    That being said, I can’t ignore the impact of the English language on my life, which has shaped my career and enabled me to interact with non-Hindi speakers. I work in IT, and English is very important for interacting with clients and consumers. Even now, as I write this, it’s in English because I want my thoughts to reach a large audience. We can’t deny that, in this social media era, this language binds us well.

    Happy Reading! Keep Traveling!!!