Utkarsh Srivastava

If someone asks me why I travel, the first thing that breaks out of me is this – to collect stories. To breathe in the world of someone else’s memory and charm. In all honesty, ever since I was put to sleep with the tale of The Little Red Riding Hood, I have lived stories. I have spent many childhood days, with my quilt around my neck, twirling it about like I was the little prince of the of the world with all of my kingdom unseen, but yet within my grasp. Stories give you that kind of thrill and power. With capes and inexhaustible faith in yourself comes the dream of being the invincible Superman. You want to fly around the globe and save people. Only that, the only way I knew of giving someone a safe haven was through stories – tales of lands faraway filled with a mystic charm of their own.

It wasn’t until my 9 to 5 corporate job, which are systemic in sucking the life out of you, that I realised that Batman is the cooler superhero and that dreams don’t realise on their own. You have to set out into unexplored horizons and see the world in an altogether different light. In one of the best decisions of my life, I quit my job, packed my bags and ventured “into the wild”.

Soul Trails is just one of those dreams that have planted themselves on the ground and are breaking into leaves and flowers and all things beautiful. It is my way of hoarding stories. Here, you will find not just about places and what to do but also about people, their traditions and cuisine, their myths and tales – with a twist of my first hand experiences and the stories about how the roads are not just means of journey to places, but a way to travel within and touch your soul!

So hi, I’m Utkarsh from New Delhi, India – an ex-corporate hamster, an environmentalist, an adventurer and a traveller. I believe that travelling can bring forth who and what you are, because, lamely put, wanderlust is a gateway to your own soul.