A solo-travelling wanderlust influencer from Australia who has repeatedly showered India with love on social media once again took to his Instagram profile this week to speak highly of the country.
During his ongoing Indian trip, Duncan McNaught chanced upon a “random wedding function in the mountains” on Monday. He was pleasantly surprised to see how strangers in the country basically welcomed him to crash their own celebration.
Australian travel influencer gate-crashes Indian wedding
The Aussie man initially took to his Instagram Stories to share the absolute joy he felt after attending a ceremony he and his companions had run into while hitchhiking. Eventually, a short vlog made it to his IG post feed, capturing how he enjoyed himself thoroughly.
The clip first shows him asking people at the wedding for permission to join them. “We don’t know them but they just let us in,” he says in the video.
An Indian woman can be seen applying a tilaka or tika on his forehead (a sacred, coloured mark applied by Hindus as a symbol of religious affiliation or during auspicious celebrations). Duncan then joins the kids on the dance floor, and eventually shakes a leg with older women as well, affectionately addressing them as “aunties” in the vlog.
“Only in India can you walk into a wedding, and they say ‘come, come inside, come enjoy our wedding,'” Duncan shares with his followers.
“Wedding crashing in India has never been so easy,” he captioned the post, adding in a separate comment, “I’m currently trying to show the side of India the media won’t so follow to see the true India.”
On his IG Stories, he even shared a glimpse of his time spent with the locals while hitchhiking through Indian locations. Sharing a heartwarming camera click featuring two young girls, he wrote on his Story, “Some of the people in the mountains live hard lives but still have the most amazing smiles.”
In another picture, he showed three men soaking in the warmth of a small bonfire on a chilly day in the mountains. “It’s starting to get cold as we are now at 2100m and soon will be heading to 3500. Hitchhiking our way only relying on the peoples kindness.”
In a follow-up IG Story, he added, “Wish us luck tmr as we hitchhike 6 more hours. I’m really trying to explore a part of India that very few foreigners get to see. Trying my best to show the side of India fhe media hides.”
More about Aussie influencer Duncan McNaught
Duncan McNaught, best known for his travel snippets and vlogs on the Internet, has been travelling across India for the past few months, as per his Instagram activity. Debunking misconceptions and widely upheld stereotypes about the South Asian nation, the Aussie influencer’s Instagram feed features over 15 posts portraying India in a positive light and the best way possible.
As per other videos shared on his Instagram and YouTube channel, McNaught crossed “I crossed 1,700 kilometers across India in 5 days with $0 — no wallet, no cards, no backup plan.” With just a camera and a backpack in his possession, the Aussie influencer has carried forward just one rule throughout his travels: “I could only survive through the kindness of strangers.”
Even in his previous posts online, Duncan has repeatedly praised India across numerous viral videos, urging everyone to travel to country at least once. In one such IG post, he called the South Asian country “the safest, most affordable and diverse place to travel to
According to his YouTube channel, the Australian travel influencer quit his job a year ago to pursue his passion for travelling the world, connecting with people, exploring different cultures and spreading positivity.
Just a few weeks ago, he bared his heart on Instagram, confessing that people had outrightly branded him a crazy man for quitting his stable job for his globe-trotting dream.
“We are all crazy. We are all different. We are all human. Life will be hard no matter the path you take so at least take the path that looks nice to you,” he wrote on social media. “If someone takes a path you don’t like that’s okay because you don’t have to walk down it. Walk the path you want to walk let others walk theirs.”