“I’m a modern day explorer; I’m a traveller, lost in time, finding myself in space; I’m everyone, I’m no one....” muses Milan Cherian in his opening statement in the YouTube video, ‘Why Do You Travel,’ before the frames pan to arresting visuals, stills and clips, from across India, the scenes of his travels.
The short, time-lapse video, released last week, is the first of a series that the city-based musician, biker, graphic artist and freelance photographer, has planned as part of his new travel vlog, #ProjectDiscoverIndia.
“Some of us travel for pleasure, some for peace, some for freedom and some for adventure. The thing that binds all travellers is our love for travel. My idea with #ProjectDiscoverIndia is to inspire, to motivate people to travel. I want to create a world where a person’s wealth is defined by their travel stories and not by their bank balance. There is so much to see, explore and discover about this beautiful country of ours,” says Milan, a native of Chengannur, who has been living in the city, on and off, since his days as a student at Mar Baselios College of Engineering.
Pigeon flock near Hawa Mahal in Jaipur
The project actually started off as an Instagram account last September, following the youngster as he backpacked around the north of the country. It quickly became a hit with Instagrammers, who fell in love with his stylish shots of Rajasthan, Rishikesh and the like. “I wanted to capture those moments for posterity and create a visual atlas of the sights and sounds of India, particularly unexplored destinations and offbeat places within a tourist centre which only locals would know of,” he says, recalling how, with the help of a local storekeeper, he found a way up a less-trodden path to an isolated spot atop Amer Fort in Jaipur, where he managed to capture the sunset on camera. It’s this picture that appears on the thumbnail of the video. “Amer Fort was unbelievably crowded that day and I did not feel like going in. I got talking to a local and he told me about these steps – some 400/500 of them – from where you can get this spectacular birds eye view of the city. Then, on a trip to picturesque villages of Kasol, Tosh and Malana in Himachal Pradesh, people I met in a homestay pointed me in the direction of a little-known trail to Barshaini, through pine covered forests, again known only to the locals. This is exactly why I went on these trips; find places that let you experience a destination beyond the obvious and connect personally with the world around,” says Milan.
Milan Cherian
The first vlog is a capsule of Milan’s travels over the past six years. The 28-year-old got bit by wanderlust when he made a trip to Leh-Ladakh via Srinagar on his bike, covering about 5000 km in three weeks, back in 2012. “I was simply blown away by the experience of being up close and personal with people and places and exploring new cultures that I simply couldn’t stop. It changed my life. I used to be a graphic designer. Now I am a full-time traveller who takes up design assignments to fund my journeys,” says the self-taught photographer.
Tosh in Himachal Pradesh
Milan plans to release one vlog a month in the series on YouTube and is presently working on a web series on the same. Next up, he is going back to snow-capped Malana and Kheerganga and later to the Lakshadweep Islands.
“All the subsequent vlogs will have music by my buddy, singer Anoop Mohandas of Vidwan-fame. The project is a work in progress, expanding as I expand myself with my travels,” says Milan. Go, experience, record.
Going solo
Pack light and smart. Take only the essentials. Remember that you will have to haul around the extra weight during treks.
Make sure you have your address, contact number and blood group noted down somewhere in case of an emergency.
Try staying in backpacker hostels instead of fancy hotels. They are cheap and you get to meet other travellers and exchange stories.
Carry ample amount of water with you always. You will never know when dehydration hits.
Connect with the locals. They will help you and guide you when Google fails.
