Travel Video "Follow not the path but a trail"

Filmed across 10 countries over two years!

India, Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal,United Arab Emirates, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Paris.

Two minute Video taken to inspire travel - Now & Forever.



Filmed and Edit by Shilpa Balakrishnan

soul shō

Instagram being handy on travel

As much of a descry it is, the term Instagram sounds akin to the word 'Instamatic', which sure does make one wonder if that is how the name was evolved.
The one substance I noticed the other day and a few times, is that even a western globetrotter move around clicking snapshots of landscapes and people, with an Instagram, which gives out the idea that the use of phones have much taken control over cameras in the name of social media

An innovation of a click with warmified texture effect and an instant upload sure wins the game.
Although, being a non-user myself, I couldn't help but wonder if this App is seeking a real player in the market or for that matter a real user considering the unlimited snapshots one can take and the equal number of 'unlimited' instant uploads one can perform.

The video below is one such example, it certainly was a belly-laugh to me :) .A typical instagram user would understand what this is ;)  Enjoy!

But like they say, the grass is not always green, a number of embeds on a web can leave ugly scars if they collapse, but whose to see this than Facebook that grabbed Instagram at an instant with the deal of a $1 billion in cash and stock and a plan to keep its service independently managed , leaving Twitter heart broken. No doubt, sentiments between Instagram and twitter would be an ongoing cry.
With a 100 million registered users, with the current rate its growing, and with hardly any state- of the - art competition, a question arises if Instagram would outpace facebook? Well, whatsoever and whosoever the winner, the application definitely seems like it does give an instalife to people.

About Me

Ola beautiful minds,

Just in case you are wondering the person behind satorisho, I’m Shilpa Balakrishnan, a dreamer,an artist, a globe trotter with an absolute lust for travel. I love pretty much everything that the world offers including the smallest of the little things, small things that doesn't matter to the universe itself. For me, Painting/sketching while travelling, Photography-ing everything i see is what an ideal travelling pattern would be.

I call myself a bohemian nomad for i have had wanderlust for as long as i can remember. I believe travelling can help find yourself and your routes for it conveniently allows you to forget all the insignificant things that happens to you in your daily life. An interesting book, a camera ,a sketch book, headphones for audio guide, are all what i need to wander and create tales to share and relive.

I feel when you start to sense the intense joy of getting out of your comfort zone, and doing things that not many people ought to do, appreciating nature and landscapes, curiousness about every little things, facing your fears, spending the bits and pieces of the left-over cash on airfare, finding adventure, in fact questioning existence of the entire universe itself, you begin to take life in a different manner and think less of worthless such as the little income you earn compared to your friends. And how it helps me? Well, credits to my moxie that i now feel there is always atleast a 1% solution to any impossibility.

Art is in my blood, I paint what I dream and see. Hence, to me travelling is inspirational for it allows me to canvas something so colorful , beautiful and real.

satorisho is a combination of art and travel blog .

An Art blog showcasing my art works, lessons, suggestions, tips. I also hope you have a constant look on our facebook page and website Yantra Art  which is a one stop art gallery by a team of artists including me.

A Travel blog sharing my Indian and global travel tales as a backpacker voyaging on a budget, tips/suggestion on how you can plan your travels, and oodles of pictures taken through my lens.
This blog is not just my self-discovery, this blog is created for you, to enlighten and  inspire you, for I have got way too much to tell about the world we know so little about.

I hope all of you chase what you love, create opportunities, make it happen, live and create more, cos' its just one life! 

Travel.Enlighten.Sketch.Inspire.Write

Chow,

Shilpa

Alias Satorisho

Are you an idealist (visionary mind) or a realist?

" Mahoganies that give way to open thoughts and life to dead minds" - by me

Its quite irrelevant that the populace are in the conceptual mind that a realist cannot be a star-gazer. Well, its the vivid imagination that gives a non- idealist the zest of life and the urge to hope, in a mundane routine.

As Picasso impeccably quotes "The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls", A clear Utopian, who believed that everything that is imagined can be real.
You see, the pattern of a human brain works in a profound manner, the right side of the brain controls the left side or vice-versa , simply bridging no gap amongst the aesthetic and a realist.

A hidden secret to the sentiments of a dreamer is that he creates inferences for few seconds, anticipates them for few days, explores them for weeks, thinks bout it for few months, and shares his thoughts, inspires himself and others for a lifetime

Most often than not, its a unfair game that most people manage to wait for an opportunity to captivate their dreams and a so-called bucket list, the trick to this is all about a 'yes' and just a courageous nod to wanting an extraordinary way of living, and as magic as it may sound the universe would bring them all closer at a lightning speed.

A traveler defines as a person who journeys, could be an artist - be - it musicians, actors, painters, sculptors and more, a traveler,a sportsmen, a biker, a fashion fiesta, truly live their life by realizing the immensity of their existence and reinventing themselves everyday, in two words - life travelers

On the contrary, the thing to having such a mind act is that it could be an addiction, the on going pact of looking ahead to more, the looped no-concern for sacrifices,the self- confidence of creating something,a disregard to the precised no's of the elders, a no - worry about having no - money, all in all only to believe in the immense thirst to follow one's bliss and passion, for its just ONE LIFE.

This gives a thought to my personal inference, With only AED 6k  in my account and with the intention of asking no money from my folks, I once straightened my backbone and walked up to my mother and 'asked' (like a goody daughter) if I could fly to Srilanka alone, and the answer was a forthright NO irrespective of the following dramas i created at home. But my yearning for what i was looking for hadn't stopped there. I continued the respective theoretical acts for the rest of the months only to explore new places on google and act upon it .Not-to-my revelation i turned out to be an entertainer to my family :P. But all in vain, it all worked right through my gut instinct. Nevertheless  they have learnt my passion for it and now encourages me to take far rides:) .. 

Travel through Pyramids: an Egyptian wonder

It was a cold November 2010, when I made my visit to Egypt, in particularly Cairo. Since I have been a zealot of monuments and its history, I wandered about dealing with my curiosity about the Great Pyramids..

About a few miles drive from the hotel to Giza, stood the first stone constructed three most famous buildings in the world - the Great Pyramids of Giza -Pyramid of Khofu(the biggest Egyptian  pyramid*), Pyramid of Khafra, Pyramid of Menkaure and alongside small Queens pyramids, on a night 'sort of' expedition to catch a sight of these chivalrous monoliths and explore the hidden stories of the ancient through a two hour audio- lighting presentation. As much as it resonates way - too 'formal' or boring, it truly wasnt. The sounds were sole mimics of the men and the womenfolks of the ancient dialogued through a story, which was a thorough piece of entertainment and learning.
* I was told that father Khofu built the triangular monolith with no thoughts of making it seem  high, but son Khafra placed his pyramid on the highest spot on the plateau, projecting an optical illusion that made his taller than father khofus pyramid, although it is 33 feet shorter( um, i guess).

The next day, inspite my dot 6:am schedule to enter the Pyramid Khofu ,the even minute of the bleak chances decolorized. You see, the thing about being a typical tourist is that you have no choice than to depend on a number of latitudes including a beautiful tour guide that ofcourse did make the lazy tourist men amongst us happy almost like a quokka on six- legs looking for its feast.

I couldn't help but notice, tourists seemed to have developed a term what you call as CPPS (customized pyramid photography strategies), it would be either holding the pyramid by your palm or a single pyramid would be in the middle of your two hands kept parallel to each other, and if its a two- player, each hand of the two component will be raised above the pyramid, in the shape of a triangle. Little did i know with due course, I did the same too .

Nevertheless, subsequent to buying the tickets to enter the Khafra pyramid,we managed to crawl down low ceilings, much with a sight of any mummy or none at all!

Apparently, all of the 'fancy antiquities' were kept at the Cairo museum to preserve the Egyptian treasures against being stolen,(well in the case of a mummy I wonder what one could do with it  )..
The same day post the pyramids around the evening, I went about walking close to my hotel to the
Mariette Pasha street, towards the huge two storeyed, 107 halled Cairo Museum, a house to the worlds most precious antiques and statues. I ogled quite a bit around the Tutankhamen hall(at a pay) and later at its mummy to find any differences among the ones in the 'Royal mummy room'  but in vain.
The descry of 'Papyrus' is quite intriguing which impelled me into buying a one of a kind 'Nefertiti' sewed into the Papyrus.
I retired my day with a good Egyptian seafood that included hamour and was quite a scrumptious treat added to the luxurious service provided by the hotel.
I started my next day with an English B&B with the plan of visiting some of the much talked about architecture of Egypt.

The hanging Church , a famous Coptic church with its nave suspended over a passage, with a wooden roof in the shape of a Noah's Ark. I walked inside towards a bunch of localities having their prayers,and in most corners were a man surrounded by a bunch of day-trippers on guide tours talking about the artistic influence of the church and how it manages to hang. This, at a glance would make any passer-by have incorrect notions, that these are loving devotions assembling in groups for the love of God.

The buildings of cairo are not so pretty to look at from the outside. With my personal instinct, i suppose that this helps the localities residing in Cairo to avert tax

The hotel close to River Nile had me love my jersey cold evenings even the more, the same night we took the Nile cruise with much seen bellydancing  and everyone taking a snapshot with the bellydancer, well that includes us.

They say when you visit Egypt, the one thing you shouldn't miss out on is the desert, but considering I have lived in a desert called Dubai for 23 years, I quite perkily love the idea of missing out on deserts and camels at any place in the world;) ..

Much to a tragedy,the smell of a sore sand speculates that the tourism rate in Egypt will probably be declining in the near years because of the demonstrator chaos and what not, leaving a threat to the archaeological sites and a wait to visit later may require a bit of a chutzpah .Rather than regretting your reluctance, pack your bags and make a trip NOW because you simply do not want to be the one who missed out on seeing one of the seven wonders of the world! :)