India Travels (and more) with Sidhartha!

Sometimes, travelling is not about physical adventures in the wild, or sunbathing on a tropical island, nor about high athletics achievements from city to city, on a bike or in a sport car.

In fact,  Sometimes, travelling means wandering around, just listening to the sounds and discussions around you, share thoughts and precious moments with the people you casually encounter, enjoying the colours and the forms of the Nature that surrounds you.

Sidhartha Satpathy is one of those travellers, and he made his blook out of his travel blog. Today, we offer you to explore with us his work and his thoughts about those experiences!

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A statue of a mythological demon in India

“The beautiful Mythological demon lord Ravana, carrying the three worlds on his head. A beautiful stone carving on the walls of Halebidu in Karnataka, India. The carvings would give you a feeling of being so lively that they could come out and stand in front of you.”

St. Mary's island on the western parts of India

“The beautiful St. Mary’s island on the western part of India. A shore filled with shells, making it very unique in the vast coastal belt of India.”

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– First, tell us about yourself : You, your passions, your hobbies, your projects…

I basically would call myself as a wonderer. Someone who loves to explore the many aspects of life. I started to travelling a little late in my life but today it an integral part of me. I love to travel through various modes of transport. My interest and passion apart from Travel is in Photography and writing. Writing is mostly about my travels but I also write stories. So far written four short stories. Hope to write more as they unfold for me. I love to be in the lap of nature and that has intrigued me always. So most of my projects are on Travel & nature. I am planning for doing a small work on the artisans at Odisha (Eastern state of India).

Farmer taking his buffalos to the fields in India

“Farmer taking his buffalos to the fields. A very common sight in the hinterlands of Odisha.”

Cashew factory women in India

“At the Cashew factory where, despite of the difficult working conditions, there is a smile and warmth that floats around with the women who work there. They chatted up and had fun in the short time that we were there.”

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– What is your blog about? Why? Do you have other blogs? If so, what do they talk about?

I have done a few trips outside India (my motherland) but I love this country for its diversity. India is so diverse that most of the time we only get to know the parts of the country that is well shared and spoken about on the net. My website / blog (www.staryeyestravel.com) that I currently use is a travelogue. I travel to places that are of little known but carries a lot of history, architecture and geography. This blog is just a year old and I am in the process of putting in more as things unfold. I am also working on capturing my past travels.

I also have another blog page (www.ssidhi.blogspot.in). This I started eight years back with an objective to share what ever I feel or experience. Today it is focused more on stories, poetry, some of the happenings around me. Though I have currently linked it up with the main webpage but keep it separate and that gives me the space to compartmentalise and structure my thoughts.

Sidhartha's son trying the manual nut opening in India

“My little one was having a try at the manual nut opening process. Though the manual process is prevalent but these machines have started to speed up the process.”

Sidhartha in a field in India

“Me in the midst of a lusty farm land, the lands that feed the millions in our country” 

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– Why did you want to turn your India blog into a book?

Off course, web is something that one would last for ever and will be accessible to a lot of people around the world. But a book gives it a personalised feeling. The photographs on my page are all mine and I had taken care in shooting and putting them up along with my free flow of thoughts. So getting it printed and seeing them come to life is amazing. It is a treasure of places which I can share it with my friends in a physical form. It is amazing to see the content in a form that I could hold it, read it, feel it.

Put simply I just treasure it.

– How did you find out about BlookUp?

Oh, that was on FB. I have been thinking about getting my content printed and BlookUp just happened. ☺

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Winter in Chantilly, France

“The wilderness in some of the backyards at Chantilly, France. They are breath taking and one could spend months just soaking it up all”

Eiffel Tower view from Sacre Coeur

“The Eiffel Tower viewed from the Sacré Cœur. A delight for a traveller to watch the wonders from one part of the city to another while travelling.”

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– What are the positive and negative points of the making of your blook?

Positives:

– It is simply beautiful. I love the concept and the way it has come up.
– It is very easy to use and the transfer of content is very easy.
– Additionally what I liked was that all my hyperlinks could also be printed up.
– The paper quality of the blook is amazing.

Some thing that I would love to have:

– Realised that other languages I cannot get it print. My poetry in Hindi language at the beginning of some of the blogs were just converted to webding (Square boxes) and that kills the crux of my blog. Could those just be picked up as image if not converted. (I knew what I was getting but I wanted the outcome. I may print and paste it for future usage)
– Somewhere the layout that I had in the page it just gets distorted. Though I would say to me it did not make much of an impact but it could be worth looking at.
– The hyperlinks could get numbered and the details shared at the end of the article.
– I can’t edit anything if I want to.
– The cover page designs, may need some looking through.They are dull.. need more creativity there.
– The website has french layover. There were times when I had to go to the google translator to get the meaning of words.

Having said so I must say, “You guys just stuck to the time of delivery and is very neat. Very prompt. I got the blook bang on time. Wow, and that having got it sent from France. No follow ups, nothing. Simply fantastic”.

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Col Saheb Island Water channels and palm trees

Col Saheb Island – “The beautiful water channels offers some pretty sights for one to enjoy and shoot around. With the dark clouds looming in the vicinity, it was a delight.”

Col Saheb Island Water channel

Col Saheb Island again – “A shot of the water channels, it is really the Venice of India with all its local flavours.”

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– Do you enjoy the final result? What does your family and friends think about your blook?

I am thrilled with the outcome. A book as such as a collection and coffee table is a wow. Friends and family members are trilled by the outcome. I have been taking it around and sharing it with others.

– Would you recommend BlookUp?

Oh yes. I certainly would be using it often for some of my future creations.

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Incense sticks burning

Chateau against a setting sun in Paris

Contrasts and colors of Sidhartha’s trips: At the top, incense sticks burning at one of the Col Saheb Island’s temples; At the bottom, a beautiful Chateau against a setting sun in Paris.

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Thank you Sidhartha for answering our questions and making us travel through your captions and stunning photos! We hope that the new features coming in the future for our tool will satisfy you when you have more travel stories to tell!

Want to share you blog and BlookUp stories too? Contact us at contact@blookup.com!