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Tejasswi Prakash Recalls Her Mauritian Adventure: From Swimming with Dolphins to Walking Underwater
From walking the ocean floor to chasing wild dolphins to wobbling across a suspended bridge, Tejasswi Prakash’s holiday in Mauritius feels like an extreme sport.
It has been less than 24 hours since actor Tejasswi Prakash landed back in Mumbai.
“I got back last morning and headed straight to set from the airport,” she says, as if that’s the most natural thing in the world. And yet, she sounds energised rather than exhausted, still riding the high of her Mauritian adventures. The island, it turns out, matched her appetite for adventure entirely — offering open seas, mountain valleys and enough adrenaline to keep her fully occupied.
Diving In
She dove in, head-first, with an underwater sea walk — helmeted, moving along the ocean floor, while fish wove about her. “I felt like I was in space,” she says with a laugh. Though she’s no stranger to snorkelling or scuba diving, this was something else. “You’re actually walking,” she says. “You’re not being pulled up by the water. It’s a very different feeling.”
Then came swimming with wild dolphins. “They just threw us in the sea!” she exclaims. Speedboats followed pods of about 20 dolphins, and when the moment was right, everyone jumped in. “We had to keep chasing them,” she says. “And when they surfaced, you jumped and swam alongside them; it was out of this world.”
The water adventures didn’t stop there. She parasailed over the Indian Ocean, learning to pull left or right to steer herself mid-air. A tube ride had her gripping for her life as an inflatable raft was dragged across the sea in wild, unpredictable turns. “If you let go, you’re flung into the water,” she says. “You’re literally praying your hand doesn’t slip.”
Tejasswi’s Travel Rulebook
● Research local specialties before you go — and shop accordingly
● Get your recommendations from locals, not from social media
● Don’t spend all your time in the hotel — try to live the way the locals do
Higher Ground
On land, the thrills continued. At an adventure park, she crossed a Nepalese Bridge suspended between two mountains. “There are two kinds,” she explains. “A metallic one and a wooden one. The wooden one is wobbly. Obviously, I chose that.” Halfway across, as the bridge swayed harder with each step, she realised there was no turning back. “When you’re in the middle of the bridge, there’s no one coming to help — you have to cross it on your own,” she says with a laugh.
This was followed by a zipline — renowned as the longest in the Indian Ocean — which sent her flying over valleys and treetops, head back, body stretched out as the landscape dipped and rose dramatically beneath her.
Like a Local
Beyond the adventure, Prakash embraced the island’s street food with equal enthusiasm. Dholl puri — a savoury cousin of the sweet Maharashtrian dish, puran poli — became an instant favourite. She feasted on raw fish, prepared Japanese-style, grilled clams at a beach barbecue, and sipped Phoenix, the local beer she insists is a must-try.
“I love talking to local people when I travel,” she says. “Ask them where to go. It doesn’t have to be bougie. It can be a hole-in-the-wall place.” Prakash makes it a point to live the way locals do rather than staying confined to a resort. “I don’t really care how the room is. I’m hardly in it,” she says.
Mauritius carries a strong Indian influence, with generations of Indian-origin families who have lived there for over 200 years. Her driver — a fifth-generation Mauritian of Indian descent — couldn’t even recall which part of India her ancestors came from. Yet the familiarity was undeniable. Many spoke Hindi fluently and enjoy Indian films. “Some of them had watched all my shows!” she says.
Tejasswi’s Mauritius Picks
● Swim with the dolphins
● Walk across the Nepalese Bridge
● Walk underwater
● Try the sea urchin
● Drink Phoenix beer
Take it Home
Whenever she travels, Prakash shops local. In Mauritius, that meant sugar in every variation produced from the island’s abundant sugarcane, local skincare, passionfruit-infused Mauritian rum, complete with seeds floating in the bottle. And, as always, a fridge magnet. “Every time I open my fridge, I like being reminded of all the places I’ve been,” she says. “It’s quite a full fridge.”
When asked what her one non-negotiable for a perfect trip is, she says, without skipping a beat, “What makes a good trip is you. If you have an open mind, if you are welcoming to new ideas, new cultures, new people, new languages, new food, new weather, then you can have a great trip anywhere.”
Now, as she moves seamlessly from island adventure back to long shooting days, Prakash is welcoming yet another chapter. She and her partner, actor Karan Kundrra, will be seen on Desi Bling, an upcoming reality show on Netflix. “I feel like many people from our industry seem to be a little surprised that we’re a part of the Desi Bling community now,” she says. “I’m really excited for the whole story to unfold.”
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