I am a researcher by profession, and a traveller by heart.

I grew up in the city of Calcutta, or Kolkata, as people say nowadays, but I prefer the old name. I never left home for more than two weeks until 2014, when I was lucky enough to get the DAAD WISE fellowship along with the opportunity to travel to a different continent. Leaving home at the age of 21 for almost a semester opened a new world to me, and I never looked back. In 2015, I got admitted in the PhD programme of the University of Maryland, College Park, and stayed there until 2020. I graduated last year and moved to Princeton as a postdoctoral research associate.

I know what you’re thinking by now. This guy is one of those nerds who live on coffee and ramen, and never leaves their lab. How can he write about travel? That’s certainly unheard of. Well, certainly there are times when I slept in the lab, but otherwise, you can find me on a dangerously close to a waterfall, adjusting my tripod and camera. Oops, I forgot to mention, seeing through the lens is one of my favourite hobbies, and I am overly protective about my camera gears. I was introduced to this community by my best friend Chiranjib Saha during my undergrad days. Please check his Flickr stream and mine, you won’t be disappointed.

During last 5 years, I traveled to 20 countries, and gained some unique experiences. I spent night under the midnight sun in Oslo, hiked the Old Rag mountain in Virginia at night, got my passport stolen in Brussels, missed my flight and then traveled in business class. But honestly when I look back, I cherish the misfortunes more than the smooth ones. After all, they make good stories, don’t they?