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Travel influencer, with 1.1 million followers, and vlogger, Shenaz Treasury's Insta feed seduces with the most exotic travel pictures.
Of her welcoming the sun on some glorious strip of sand. Or in a large, floppy sun hat curiously wandering through a Rajasthan khejri forest. Else she's joyously licking on a rose-shaped ice cream on a quaint street somewhere.
For World Tourism Day, here are Shenaz's recommendations of places to go for peace in India. As told to Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com.
"There are so many beautiful places in India, but when you ask for peaceful places, it's so contrary to what India is supposed to be. Or the legend of India.
India is meant to be peaceful. India is yoga.
In reality, India has now become honking, traffic and pollution.
Peaceful places? I really have to rack my brains for such places. I would have said Rishikesh or Varanasi, but no, those places have become very chaotic."
"I would find my peace in Goa. That's become too crazy too. Even Ladakh is so stunning, but if you go there now, there are again traffic jams and craziness."
These are the places Shenaz heads to for a little shanti:
1. South Goa
"There are some parts of Goa where I still feel peaceful, perhaps in the south; Places where you can find some quiet. And because Goa is almost like home for me. I looovvve Goa. I feel like I'm Goan.
I really adore the ocean. I always feel peace when I'm in the ocean."
2. Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh in the North East and Sikkim
"I love Meghalaya too. And those cane baskets they have. It's super clean. It's one of the cleanest states.
Arunachal is untouched and stunning. It has no fancy hotels or anything. It's very, very, very raw and that's lovely.
Sikkim is stunning. It's beautiful. And what I love about it is the government. No plastic.
People in the North East are actually much better behaved than the rest of the country. They don't litter as much. They are more protective towards the environment. I really feel like they are more evolved."
3. Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh
"Places like Spiti Valley still have some peace. It is another pocket of quiet."
4. Gurez Valley, Kashmir
"Kashmir's Gurez Valley, which is a little bit close to the border, but untouched by mass tourism. So, so far, it's quiet and peaceful because it's near the border. You have to go really far to find peace in India."
5. Auroville, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu
"Oh, and there's one more place -- Auroville. I feel a lot of peace when I go to Auroville. It's a beautiful community, and there are so many workshops there. I really feel good when I'm there."
Shenaz has more to add: "There's so much mass tourism. It's really hard to find a peaceful place in India which is the homeland to yoga. And people from all over the world think of India as the birthplace of yoga, peaceful. Really what it's become is crushing. I wish we could go back to the days when India was more peaceful.
"To find quiet and peace in India is a luxury. Sadly, yes, when you pay a lot and go to one of those expensive resorts, you can find peace.
"People are just so unaware. All they're doing is travelling to get Instagram pictures. It's frustrating. Everywhere I go, all around the world, it's the same story. It's really like people just want to show they've been there and that's it! It's sad. It's crazy. It's almost like consumerism, like how people buy bags and shoes and stuff. I think they just want that picture as part of their portfolio.
"If you go to anywhere in Himachal or anywhere in Uttarakhand, there will be traffic, pollution, craziness, even though you're going to find your spirituality.
"A German guy I met when I was travelling said, 'Oh, I know why you guys invented yoga because you need it!' Maybe we in India created yoga because there's so much chaos, pollution... I know yoga was created before all that, but (what he said was) still kind of funny.
"Maybe if we have peace in us, we can find peace anywhere.
"It's a double-edged sword. I earn my living from travel, but at the same time, I'm like, 'Oh, my God, now if I talk about this place, it's going to get crazy crowded and people are just going to come there to take pictures'. I feel a full dilemma. Pre-Covid (when people were not travelling that much), I was excited to tell people about a place.
"Now I'm, like, scared to do so. I don't want to tell them where a place is, because I know as soon as I say it and (it's out there) on social media, it's going to get so crowded, so many people."
