About
A Semi Nomad Architect sharing her trails and tales as a Solo traveller, Cricket buff, Music lover, Hindu pilgrim, Vegetarian foodie across India and beyond.
My Life My Story
Hi
I am Architect Usha Datta! An avid traveller, music lover and culinary explorer. My life story includes my cricket craze, the level of which is equally on par with my visits to temples as a Hindu pilgrim.
PROFESSION
My consulting firm u’ n space provides complete solutions in Architecture, Interior Design and Project Management. In the earlier part of my life, I chose to travel in between projects. I used to enjoy the balance of working in an office with a stimulating team and travelling a few times a year.
BIRTH PLACE
The Smile that expands the moment I land in Chennai
I love to travel, I love my food {my website on food and drink – www.foodkarma.in) and for me, the two go hand in hand. A love of travel, and being single gave me opportunities and the freedom to travel at my pace. In December 2008, purchased a timeshare holiday membership with Club Mahindra and in the first quarter of 2009, I took my first International Holiday. 2009 and 2019 have been the years where I travelled to most places in one single year. In between, the decade long travels took me to Oceania, East Asian Countries and to Europe as well. Yes, I did visit the Queen… err the Buckingham Palace staterooms while HM was away at Balmoral.
SEMI NOMAD
To travel is to live
Due to Circumstances, Recently I took trips more frequently. In retrospect, it appeared the universe conspired for me to take longer trips and also more often than before. As a solo female Indian traveller; It helped me build my confidence. Each travel experience gave me enough learnings to take back home. The City life helped me build my professional life, but my soul was searching and seeking and the more I travelled the closer I got to receiving the answers. These journeys/trips helped me to discover ME in the process of discovering culture, history, the architecture of the places. Most times I came back home rejuvenated, and I loved the idea of drawing itineraries for the next.
TERRA FIRMA
Trek, boulder and summit, My Home City. Hyderabad. TS
At any given time, my notepad will have a dozen or more itineraries for India Travel and a similar number for International Travel.
Some of the cities in India I have travelled in the last decade 270 destinations of India that I have travelled
I am sure travel has been a teacher, an invisible guide holding me through at all times, emotions and keeping me strong. There is little time for brooding and highly recommend a dosage of travel to overcome depression. Thanks to travel, I have turned into a positive, happy individual.
I started as an independent traveller with luxury travel. Over the years I enjoy all genres of Travel, but I am passionate about adventure, rural and Ecotourism, spirituality, wildlife, trekking and specialize in Hindu pilgrim centres for which I have great affinity and keenness. Invariably factor in this aspect while planning my itinerary where I find history, culture, architecture and discover the customs and traditions of the past.
I do not have shots of the pilgrimage places, adhering to the restrictions while keeping the traditions and respect for the place in mind.
I have travelled across 23 of the 28 states and 5 Union Territories in India and around 23 countries across the globe. With the challenge trending, intend to compile all that I have seen, visited and share my experiences as close to its nature and hope it has some takeaway for the reader/follower.
The immense support from family and friends helped me sail through life till now. My parents have a big role in helping me achieve my dreams. At present am Living a semi-nomadic lifestyle and photography has been a constant companion.
I have plenty of photos that tell my travel stories, some of which I share on my personal social media profile.
Therefore the tag line for my website www.travelkarmas.com is ‘Every Picture has a Story’
Note: I must confess due to a hectic work schedule in the past and lack of expertise in building a website, writing blogs (beginning to get the hang of it) the website construction took forever. Wish I had maintained the habit of writing the days journey and notes right from the destination. For whatever reason, In the past, I did not share my experiences. This lockdown stalled all my travel plans, but given the situation, I am trying to slowly build my narration, organise pictures from my photo albums, learn the ropes of writing posts and so on.
I hope to make up for the lost time by posting often and surely make the visual journey worthwhile!
Thank you for your time.
Namasthe
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Blog website – work in progress. pardon me, it is definitely slow and not fully comprehensive.