Instagram story viewer> @ree11_a> Posts

Ree

@ree11_a

629

posts

332

followers

3404

following

Love all,Serve all 🙏
🕉

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

They built heaven... out of stone 🕉️🪷Not one wall left empty. every pillar carved with gods, dancers, animals, stories — because in India, even the walls were made to worship.This isn't just architecture. this is centuries of hands that believed something bigger than themselves. no machines, no shortcuts — just faith, chisel, and time.And that's the beauty of India... it doesn't just build things, it breathes life into them. every temple, every carving, every doorway is a piece of someone's soul, still standing.You don't just visit these places. you feel them✨ by @ree11_a

25

0

8 days ago

Thanjavur doesn't hit you all at once. It creeps in. The stone walls of the old fort, worn smooth by a thousand hands before mine. The kind of walls that have watched centuries pass and are still standing like they've got nowhere else to be. I walked around them without really looking. Phone up, filming, moving to the next shot. That's how it goes, right? You're so busy capturing the moment that you forget to actually be in it. The people here , vendors calling out prices like it's a song they've sung a thousand times, kids running past the temple gates barefoot and laughing, an old man sitting in the same patch of shade like he's been sitting there since the walls were built. I filmed all of it. Didn't think twice. It's only now scrolling back through the footage, weeks later that it hits me. That wasn't just a wall. That wasn't just a street. That was life happening, right in front of me, and I almost missed it because I was too busy recording it instead of feeling it. That's the thing about life, isn't it? You don't always know what you're standing in the middle of until you're looking back at it. Thanjavur taught me that. Not with words. Just with stone, and shadow, and people who've probably taught the same lesson to a thousand strangers before me without even trying. Appreciate it while you're in it. Not just when you watch it back. If this made you feel something... please don't forget to drop a like. It genuinely helps more than you'd think by @ree11_a

8

0

15 days ago

It's funny how some places only reveal their true magic years later.I was just 21 when I visited the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. At that age, you're excited to travel, eager to tick places off your bucket list, and constantly reaching for your camera. But sometimes, you're simply too young to truly grasp the weight of what you're standing in front of.Looking back now, I realise I wasn't just visiting another temple. I was walking through over a thousand years of history. Every stone, every intricate carving, every towering granite block had been carefully crafted by hands that lived centuries before mine. It's almost impossible to comprehend the brilliance, dedication, and vision that brought something so magnificent to life.Standing proudly on the banks of the Cauvery River, the Brihadisvara Temple is one of India's greatest architectural masterpieces and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built by the Chola king Rajaraja I in the 11th century, it continues to inspire visitors from around the world with its breathtaking beauty and remarkable engineering.If I could go back, I know I'd stand there a little longer. I'd look a little closer. I'd appreciate it so much more.So, if you're ever travelling through South India, promise yourself you'll make time for this place. Don't rush through it. Wander slowly, admire the details, and let yourself take in the incredible history that surrounds you.Some places are beautiful because of what you see.Others are unforgettable because of what they make you feel. by @ree11_a

12

0

23 days ago

I climbed 108 steps and left a different person. 🙏✨ They didn't build Swarnagiri for fame. They didn't build it for tourists. Someone was healed — miraculously healed — and this entire golden hill was their way of saying "Thank You" to God. That alone should tell you what kind of energy this place carries. The moment you step in, something shifts. 🌿A 12-foot Venkateswara — the largest in all of Telangana — stands at the heart of it, radiating a stillness that goes straight to your soul. A golden tower catches the sunlight like it was placed there by something greater than human hands. And that bronze bell… when it rings, it doesn't just echo through the hills — it echoes through you. 🔔 Lord Hanuman stands tall, watching over the land like a guardian who never sleeps. And then you find Narayana — resting peacefully on still waters, surrounded by calm — and suddenly you understand what balance actually feels like. 🌊🪷People call it the little Tirumala. When you're standing at the top, breathing that fresh hill air, heart full and mind quiet — you'll stop calling it little anything. 🏔️🔱 ✈️ If you're ever travelling through South India — whether you're chasing temples, seeking peace, or just following something you can't quite explain — make sure Swarnagiri, Bhuvanagiri is on your list. It's not the most famous stop. It's not on every itinerary. But the ones who find it… never forget it.Some places are just beautiful. This place is alive. 💛🙏#ThrowBack#TravelMoreWorryLess by @ree11_a

25

0

a month ago

I know I’ve been a little quiet lately, and I promise I haven’t forgotten about this account.Life has been moving at full speed. Balancing work while studying part-time towards my Master’s degree has been challenging, and some days there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. If you’re still here following along, thank you — I appreciate it more than you know.Now that things are settling down a little, I’m excited to get back to sharing the incredible places and stories that make travel so special.Starting with the breathtaking Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Kovil in Kanchipuram — a place where history, devotion, and timeless beauty come together. Walking through these sacred grounds was a reminder that no matter how busy life gets, there is always value in slowing down and appreciating the moments that bring peace to the soul.More adventures and stories coming soon. 🌸✨ by @ree11_a

8

0

a month ago

Some places don't need much words to describe them —they just sit there, quietly asking you to feel something.And sometimes, the only honest thing you can dois stand still, breathe it in,and let it be exactly what it is.So I'm just gonna leave it here. 🤍P.S. — To every single one of you who showed up for my last reel,thank you doesn't feel like enough.But thank you. Really, truly.You have no idea what that kind of love does to a person. 🥺✨🫶 by @ree11_a

29

0

2 months ago

Twenty-one. First time in India. Standing on a mountain I couldn't pronounce — and not understanding a single thing it was trying to tell me.Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam was my first brush with something truly ancient. I stood in that queue, lit my incense — and left without really grasping what I had just walked through.Now I'm in my 30s. And I get it. The stillness. The surrender. The reason millions climb those seven hills not because it's easy — but because something in them simply needs to.Life has a way of teaching you what sacred places were trying to show you all along. And you better believe I'm going back — this time as someone who will stand at those doors and actually mean it.Some places don't leave you. They just wait — patient as the hills themselves — until you're ready to return. by @ree11_a

843

1

2 months ago

Nobody warned me it would look like this.Alleppey doesn't announce itself. It just opens up — slowly, quietly — like a secret the rest of the world hasn't quite found yet. One moment you're on land and the next you're drifting through 900 kilometres of backwaters that weave through lakes, rivers and canals like they've been doing it for centuries. Because they have.They call it the Venice of the East and honestly, for once, the comparison doesn't feel like an exaggeration.There's something about being on a houseboat in Kerala that slows time down in a way nothing else does. No noise. No rush. Just water in every direction, coconut palms leaning into the view and a sky that turns colours you didn't know existed.India will surprise you every single time you let it. 🌿 by @ree11_a

2

0

2 months ago

There's a moment — right before the sun fully rises over the backwaters — where everything goes completely still. The water turns to glass. The coconut palms stop swaying. And for a second, you forget you're even breathing.That's Kerala doing what Kerala does best.I didn't come here looking for peace. But somehow, between the mist rolling off the Western Ghats and the smell of cardamom thick in the morning air, it found me anyway. Every road curves into something more beautiful than the last. Every village sounds like a song you swear you've heard before.The backwaters don't just sit there — they move through you. Slow, unhurried, ancient. Like they've been carrying people's stories long before yours arrived, and they'll carry them long after.No filter exists for what your eyes actually see here. None.If you ever feel like the world is moving too fast — come here. Let the rain hit the rice fields. Let the houseboat drift. Let a stranger offer you chai like you're family, because here, you kind of are.Kerala doesn't show off. It just is.And that's exactly why it stays with you. by @ree11_a

4

0

2 months ago

Some places find you before you find them.Tirupati was always just a name to me — something at the edges of conversations I was never quite part of. Growing up Hindi-speaking, it lived somewhere far south, somewhere other people journeyed to. No stories passed down, no connection that ever made it feel like mine.I had just turned 21 when I stood there at the break of dawn. That age where the world feels enormous and you feel both invincible and completely lost. I didn't fully understand what the moment meant. I just knew something about that morning felt different. Felt chosen.The sky was still that deep blue-grey, caught between night and morning. The gopuram — that ancient tower carved with hundreds of figures — gold just beginning to catch the first thread of light. The bells starting somewhere in the distance. People around me who had traveled from every corner of the country, some barefoot, some already in tears before they'd even stepped inside.Sri Venkateswara Temple is one of the most sacred places on earth — a living, breathing piece of devotion dating back to the 9th century. People wait days just for a glimpse of what I was standing in front of, completely unaware of how rare that moment was.At 21, I didn't know how to hold it properly. I took it the way you take in something beautiful when you're young — completely, but without knowing how rare it is.Looking back now, I understand. That morning was a blessing I hadn't earned and didn't yet know how to be grateful for.I got it at 21, half-asleep, barely knowing what I was witnessing.And somehow, that makes it mean even more. by @ree11_a

6

0

3 months ago

So... I may have pulled a disappearing act worthy of a Netflix documentary. No dramatic exit, no farewell post — just me, quietly vanishing into the chaos of work, studies, editing, and whatever else life decided to throw at me. 😅But I promise — this page was never forgotten. Some things just take a little longer to come back to, and between juggling everything, balance has honestly been the real full-time job. Nevertheless, here we are. And I'm glad we are. 🙏🏽Now — the universe has a funny way of reminding you of who you were. I found my old external hard drive the other day, plugged it in half-expecting it to be dead... and there it was. My very first trip to India. December 2015.I had just turned 21 in November, had my diploma in Marketing in hand, and had just received my acceptance to study towards my BTech. Life was wide open — and my very first trip to India took me to the South. To Tirupati.A city I had only ever heard stories about. Wrapped in layers of devotion, tradition, and a faith so old it feels like the hills themselves are praying.Growing up, I followed the customs and traditions passed down to me — sometimes understanding them, sometimes just going through the motions. Over the years I've been lovingly teased for not knowing every ritual by heart, for not always knowing the meaning behind each tradition. And honestly? I walked into that temple carrying all of that.But standing there — surrounded by thousands of devotees, the sacred chants bouncing off the hills, the air feeling somehow heavier and lighter at the same time — something in me shifted.It stopped being about knowing the rituals. It became about feeling the faith around me. I wasn't a tourist. I was just a small soul standing before something vast and eternal — and grace, quiet and unexpected, washed over me.Maybe that's where real connection begins. Not in knowing every verse — but in being still enough to feel it.I can't wait to share more from this trip and the ones that followed. And yes — please excuse the editing on this video. It's rough. But sometimes life isn't about being perfect. It's about showing up anyway. by @ree11_a

3

0

3 months ago

Sometimes you visit a place and you're just lost for words. This was one of those moments. by @ree11_a

7

0

4 months ago