Her World , Her Journey

From Maine Pyar Kiya to Travel Tales by Bhagyashree, the actor talks about her love of travel, her fascination with the natural world and the journeys she shares with the people closest to her.

BY SEEMA DHAWAN

If you have followed Bhagyashree on Instagram, you will have seen another side of her life emerge over the years. Alongside photographs from shoots, family moments and everyday life, there are glimpses of forests, mountains, historic places and holidays taken simply for the pleasure of being somewhere else. Travel appears often, and so does the unmistakable pleasure she takes in discovering a new place.That was one of the reasons I was keen to speak with her for this issue. When I called, she was in the middle of a shoot. We spoke briefly, and she called me back later when she was free. Our conversation soon turned to travel, and somewhere along the way she told me about Travel Tales by Bhagyashree, the YouTube channel she has started to share her journeys.I became even more curious.

With this issue of Retropop Lifestyle magazine being our Travel and Destination Special, the choice of cover felt particularly natural. Here was an actor audiences have known since Maine Pyar Kiya, who has continued to work across films and television, and whose life today includes a genuine love of travel, a fascination with the natural world and a desire to see more of the places around her.What came through in our conversation was that travel is not simply another subject for the camera. There is a real curiosity behind it—the wish to see a place for herself, to understand something of its history, to spend time in nature and to share the experiences that have meant something to her.That interest began when she was a child.She remembers watching National Geographic and becoming fascinated by animals and the environments in which they lived.”My fascination with the natural world began very early. As a child, I would watch National Geographic and be completely mesmerised by the extraordinary lives of creatures and the intricacies of their habitats.”The interest never left.”That curiosity has stayed with me. Even today, discovering the wilderness feels like reconnecting with that little girl who was endlessly fascinated by the world beyond her own.”

Over the past six months to a year, that curiosity has taken her to very different places. There was Kanha, with its forests and wildlife, and Finland, with its winter landscape. Udaipur came about as a birthday surprise planned by her daughter, Avantika. Rishikesh and Pahalgam are among the places she would happily return to.Looking at the journeys together, she describes the year in a way that suits the variety of it.”It would perhaps resemble the changing colours of the seasons. From the sun-drenched heat of the Kanha forests to the ethereal chill of Finland’s winters, every journey has carried a distinct mood, a different rhythm and its own little story.”Finland was the trip that required the most planning.”Finland was certainly the most meticulously planned. International travel usually demands a certain degree of preparation.”

Udaipur was quite the opposite.

“Udaipur, however, was wonderfully spontaneous, it was a birthday surprise planned by my daughter, Avantika, which made it all the more special.”There is an obvious difference between organizing a trip yourself and being surprised with one. In Udaipur, she could simply arrive and enjoy the fact that someone else had thought through the details.For her, though, the journeys that remain longest in memory are usually the ones that lead into nature.

THE FORESTS

“It is always the nature trails that remain with me. There is an inexplicable tranquillity in forests. The stillness, the silence and the magnificence of nature.”

It is easy to see why. A forest changes the pace of a day. You cannot decide when you will see an animal or what you will hear next. You walk, wait and watch. There is very little point in rushing.Her childhood interest in wildlife makes those experiences even more personal.”They have a way of reminding you how infinitesimal we are in the vastness of the universe, and yet how deeply connected we remain to it.”Spending time in nature has also changed what she considers important.”Travel has taught me that I need very little to feel content. The farther I travel into nature, the more I realise that peace does not come from possessing more, but from experiencing more deeply.”

The thought extends beyond the forest. Travel has made her more aware of the value of simple things that can disappear into the background of everyday life.”It has made me more receptive, more patient and far more appreciative of the simple things.”A quiet morning, a good meal, a walk, time with family—none of these require much, but they can make a day feel full.Asked what she brings home from a journey, not in her luggage but in her heart, she answers simply:

“Peace.”

Then she explains:”Travel is a reset for me, a restorative pause from the incessant rhythm of everyday life. I return feeling re-energised, rejuvenated and somehow more centred.”That pause is perhaps especially valuable when life involves shoots, schedules and the demands that come with being a familiar face to audiences.Travel gives her time away from all of that.

TRAVELING WITH FAMILY

The way she travels changes with the destination and with the people around her.”I suppose all these identities travel with me. It really depends on the destination and, sometimes, even on my state of mind. There are journeys where comfort takes precedence over fashion, and others where expectations take precedence over personal preference.”There are trips where practicality matters more and others where the occasion calls for something different.And who usually packs?”But, more often than not, I am the one packing the suitcase!”

She likes to leave some space in it.”Half empty! I love shopping and bringing back little memories from every place.”The reason is straightforward. There should be room for whatever she finds along the way.Her handbag is equally uncomplicated.”My Ganeshji, my phone and mints. The essentials, really!” she says with a smile.When it comes to a travel companion, there is no hesitation.

“My daughter.” Avantika is not only her favorite person to travel with; she is also the person behind the spontaneous Udaipur birthday trip. And when asked which place felt like home during the past year, the answer is not a city.”Anywhere my daughter was with me.”For all the landscapes she has seen, it is a reminder that some of the strongest travel memories have very little to do with the destination itself.

TRAVEL TALES BY BHAGYASHREE

The idea behind Travel Tales by Bhagyashree comes from a belief in travel as something that teaches as much as it entertains.”I have always believed that travel is one of life’s most profound teachers. It broadens your perspective, opens your mind and introduces you to people, cultures and realities beyond your own.”That is what she wanted the channel to reflect.”With Travel Tales, I wanted to capture that relationship, Not merely the places I visit, but what those places make me feel and understand.”The order matters to her.”I travel first to experience, and then I share those experiences.”If something has genuinely caught her attention, she wants the people who follow her to see it too.

“If something has moved me, delighted me or made me pause and wonder, I naturally want my fans and followers to experience a little of that beauty through my eyes.”But not everything makes it to the screen.What does she deliberately choose not to show?

“The boring ones!” she says, laughing.Then comes the more serious answer:”Not every moment needs to become a memory for the camera. Some moments are best left to simply be lived.”It is a useful distinction, particularly now, when a holiday can easily become as much about documenting the experience as having it.For her, the camera is there when there is something worth sharing. It does not need to follow every minute.

SEEING A PLACE BEYOND THE OBVIOUS

There is one ritual she tries to follow whenever she arrives in a new city.”I always try to visit a temple or a historically significant place.”In India, that can open up an entirely different way of seeing a destination.”India is a civilisation layered with innumerable untold stories, and I find something deeply grounding in connecting with those fragments of history wherever I go.”A temple, an old neighborhood, a historic building or a local tradition can tell you something about a place that a standard sightseeing list may not.She also prefers to leave room for such discoveries.

Her best travel advice is uncomplicated:”Be fluid with your plans. Remain receptive to the unexpected, allow yourself to be curious and never be so attached to an itinerary that you miss an experience unfolding right in front of you.”It is advice she appears to follow herself. Finland was meticulously planned; Udaipur was not. Both became memorable for very different reasons.

THE SMALL THINGS

Some of her travel preferences are firmly established.

Window or aisle?

“Window, always.”

She enjoys watching takeoffs and landings.

“I am fascinated by planes taking off and landing. There is something extraordinary about watching humans defy the earth and fly.”

Her favorite travel comfort food is equally familiar.

“Khichdi. It is my safe option, yet somehow tastes wonderfully different in every state.”

It is a fitting choice for someone who travels through India. The dish is familiar, but the way it is prepared can change from one place to another.

THE NEXT JOURNEY

If she could return tomorrow to one place from the past year, she names two.

“Rishikesh or Pahalgam.”

The place that felt completely new to her soul?

“The forests.”

And the place that felt like home?

“Anywhere my daughter was with me.”

Her next destination, however, is farther away.

“Russia. I have heard so much about it, and I would love to finally experience it for myself.”That last thought is perhaps at the heart of the way she travels. Hearing about a place is not enough. Photographs can create interest, recommendations can create an itinerary, but eventually there is only one way to know a place: to go there.If the last year of travel were a book, she would call it:

“Seasons.”It is an apt description of the places she has visited, from Kanha to Finland, but it also reflects the different kinds of journeys that have filled the year—planned and spontaneous, close to home and far away, with family and into the wilderness.Looking at her life today, there is a natural progression to it.The actor audiences first knew in Maine Pyar Kiya has continued to work across films and television. There have been new roles, new experiences and different ways of connecting with the people who have followed her career for years. Travel has become another part of that life, one that allows her to indulge a curiosity that began in childhood.Now that curiosity has a name and a platform: Travel Tales by Bhagyashree.But the channel did not create the traveler.The traveler was there long before the camera.There were the National Geographic programs as a child, the fascination with wildlife, the family journeys, the forests, the mountains, the historic places and the simple pleasure of seeing somewhere new.The camera simply gives her another way to share them.She travels first to experience. She takes the window seat when she can. She leaves half her suitcase empty because she knows she will find something to bring home. She looks for temples and historic places. She travels with her daughter. And she leaves some moments off camera because, as she says, “Some moments are best left to simply be lived.”

For someone who has spent so much of her life being watched, perhaps there is something particularly appealing about travel being a time when she can simply look.At the end of a journey, what remains is not necessarily the photograph, the shopping or even the list of places visited.It is what she carries back with her.

“Peace.”

It is the feeling of having been somewhere, seen something new and shared those moments with the people who matter most.Perhaps that is the simplest way to understand what travel means to her: a chance to step away from the usual pace, spend time with the people she loves, follow her curiosity and return home with a fresh perspective and renewed energy.