Mrunal: Kareena from Jab We Met inspired me

Mrunal Thalur is quite active on social media and if you are one of her followers, you will know that the actress is a complete

travel

junkie in her real life. From travelling to different parts of the world to trying different cuisines to exploring different cultures, Mrunal is at the top of her game. She recently sat down with ETimes for a freewheeling chat where she spoke about her love for travel, her memorable trips and how Kareena Kapoor's '

Geet

' from '

Jab We Met

' inspired her.

Excerpts...
We see a lot of travel pictures on your Instagram account. Are you a travel junkie in real life?
The meaning of my name is Deer, which means I can never stay at one spot. My parents usually ask me how many destinations I am traveling to. And it doesn't stop at one, two or three. It just goes on and they're like, 'Are you serious?' I think it is lovely. That the nature of my job allows me to travel so much. And the best thing is that whenever I go for shoots, I just extend my stay for two days or three days so that I get to explore the city.
All my friends follow me because they feel that due to their nine to five job, they can't travel as much, so through my travel stories on Instagram they feel like they are travelling too and it also inspires them to travel. I am very active on social media. I love sharing with the people, be it destinations, locations, food, restaurants, people, cultures, or traditions. And I'm a very rooted person, so I love experiencing all these things and sharing it with my audience because what's the point if you don't share this information with them? Eventually, I just want everybody to live a happy life, enjoy traveling as much as they can. Because I think one of the key ingredients for me to be a wiser woman today is because of so much traveling. You meet new people, you get to experience traditions, cultures, and it makes you a better person.

How do you manage the hectic travel itineraries? Is there someone who helps you plan?
With the amount of traveling I do, I get to associate with brands like Kayak. It does not even feel like an association, it feels like it's a personal thing because I resonate with them. As a frequent traveller, it makes my life easy. It is a one-stop-shop for everything you will need while travelling. A lot of people get so scared of traveling alone for a lot of reasons. They wonder what they will do if their flight gets missed or what if the car doesn't arrive. So I think this app allows you to be independent and you know to be independent especially for a woman like me, it is so enchanting.

So what has been your most memorable holiday?
The bestest memory I have is of traveling during festivals. I remember carrying Diwali snacks and exploring. And that was the first time I discovered how festivals are celebrated across the nation. They are celebrated very differently. Eating Diwali snacks during my travel journey was fun. It has been one of my most memorable trips because I remember fighting for chakli and shankar pali.

You mentioned in one of your previous interviews that Kareena Kapoor's 'Jab We Met' character inspired you in your life.
I remember Geet taking a train from Mumbai to Bhatinda. That's when I told my parents if Geet can do it I can also do it too. So I used to take trains from Lokmanya Tilak in Mumbai to Kerala. That's where my parents used to live and it was a 24 hour journey. And that's how I convinced my family that it's absolutely safe and it's lovely. You meet so many people.
There are also a few dialogues from the film which truly resonate with me. One is where she says, 'I am my favourite'. And it's been a while that people have stopped loving themselves. So maybe that was kind of a reminder that I am my favourite. I think you should love yourself so much that you should be full in life. You should feel happy and grateful. Your happiness shouldn't be dependent on others. And there was also one moment where she says something like, 'whatever I am doing, I am doing it for me. I don't want anyone else to take decisions for me or decide for me. Tomorrow if it goes well, then great. If it doesn't go well, then I don't want to blame anyone'. So there were a lot of lessons that I learnt from that film and I felt like it was so deep that it inspired me in many ways.