“If you havent seen it, you can’t sell it.” This was the philosophy that was told to me when I first started in the travel industry. To see it is not just to know it, but it’s also to experience it, to feel it. Product knowledge is vital, particularly when you really want to feature…
India: Knowing a Little Bit About a Lot Goes a Long Way
Face book today reminded me of this post below. It made me think. I started specialising in India as a destination in 1998. We had a policy; if you hadn’t seen it, you couldn’t sell it. I would travel to India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal 2-3 times a year to ‘learn’ the destination in…
Discovering India Differently: Eco Lodges in Corbett National Park
My jaw hit the hideously over-patterned carpet. There he stood, microphone in hand bleating out something entirely unrecognisable, both for his apparent ability to change key four times in three notes, and the fact that the volume was set so high as to distort anything that was forced, hurricane like, out of the speakers, the…
The Mistress That Is India
India can’t be instantly appreciated, nor can she be rushed. She will reveal herself in her own time, she will move at her own pace. You can’t demand from her nor hurry her along. India is magical, baffling, confusing and unfathomable and frustrating. She is captivating and beguiling, fascinating, awe inspiring but most of…
Discovering Amritsar Differently
The year was 2017 and in 18 years of being a specialist in travel to India, I had never visited Amritsar. Why was this? I have no idea. Maybe because before living in India, I always had to travel for work, and that meant initially discovering and latterly revisiting the most popular ‘tourist’ destinations. Since…
Cultural Intelligence, leadership and travel
I’ve started a senior leader’s course with Common Purpose, as part of this we listen to a Ted X talk on Cultural Intelligence with Julia Middleton, its founder. This talk Ended with, ‘I want to be a leader because I want to change things.’ Which immediately resonated with me as it relates so much to…
The People of India Project – Shilpa Sharma
Shilpa started Breakaway to share her love for travel with others, and the philosophy of the company is very much ‘Beyond the Brochure’ experiences, enabling guests to enrich themselves with the connections made during their travels. Here are her 15 Questions in 5 Minutes: Who you are (naturally!) I’m Shilpa, a Creative entrepreneur with business interests in…
The People of India Project – Gaurav Bhatnagar
I first met Gaurav at the Outlook Traveller Responsible Tourism Awards in Delhi where he was a gold medalist! He is the inspirational figure behind The Folk Tales, which started in 2013 with the aim of offering travelers a chance to experience life in rural India by integrating tourism with socially and environmentally responsible initiatives…
The People of India Project – Sanjay Thakur
Sanjay and I had been in contact for some time but I first got to meet him by chance whilst consulting with a DMC in Delhi on a day when he was visiting. I didn’t know much about the NE of India at that stage, I’d seen some itineraries over the years but they…
The World’s Tallest, Highest, wettest, most buoyant, gruesome and most bizarre, only in India!
Yesterday there was an article in the Guardian, bakers and chefs in the southern state of Kerala had baked what they said was the world’s longest cake at (approx.) 6.5kms, I suppose the actual length depends on how many hungry people there wer around! But it got me thinking, where in the world can you…
People of India Project: Sameer Shisodia
I’m not sure how Sameer and I first connected. We’ve chatted about this and come to the conclusion that social media will have played a part, sharing similar passions is another. He is one of those people that one just inherently knows that, despite having few meetings in the flesh, we’re from the same tribe…
The Mysteries of Mountains
Ghostly, ethereal Layer upon interwoven layer of mountains Shrouded in a gossamer mist Haunting, mysterious. Standing proud or hunched? Kind or cruel? Smugglers, nomads, shepherds, Centuries of stories Love? Maybe But bravery, grief, hardship, sorrow then death Hidden in their rugged and steadfast embrace. The view, this view induces gazing Wistful Pondering The mysteries of…
Kaziranga, Assam, National Park and UNESCO Site
OK, I am certainly not in the top many thousands of people who have visited and after just 4 nights/5 days, I can hardly call myself an expert but, having being totally immersed in India as my specialist subject for the last 20 years, and having just visited Assam, I realised just how little I…
The Rasoi on Wheels, feeding the homeless of Delhi
I wanted to share some positivity and an experience I had this morning. A few months ago, whilst researching things to do in Delhi, we came across Rasoi on Wheels. Intrigued by what we had read, we contacted them and arranged a meeting and we’re, quite frankly, blown away. The calm demeanour of Atul Kapur…
Olfactory India. Can the character of a city be determined by its’ aroma?
OK, the title may cause some sniggers. ‘’OMG, India stinks!’’ declare all the people who have never been there, the same ones who are convinced that all you will be confronted with are an overwhelming wave of poverty and will be struck down imminently, never to recover, with Delhi Belly as soon as one foot…
The People of India Project – Thomas Ramapuram
I think it was way back when, sometime in 2002 that I decided that the usual drag in Kerala was beginning to suffer from overtourism and I decided to venture north to see what lay beyond, I had to travel in August and it was wet! A couple of weeks in and a bedraggled and…
The Indian Train Experience
Some people, in fact many people, have the notion that train travel in India is romantic. It is not. Interesting, entertaining, and an excellent way of witnessing culture up close and personal, yes, but romantic, no. Basic is a word that springs to mind. If cleanliness is important, then it is best to find another…
People of India Project – Shubham Thakur
I first met Shubham when he was working at Wasabi by Morimoto at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi. I had the privilege to be dining with Marryam H Reshii who was, shall we say, ‘researching,’ for the Times of India Food Awards. Needless to say, all those elements combined to ensure that we had…
Snapshots: Hanging with the Girls at Tia Village, the Impressions We Leave behind
I’d spent some time with a couple of ladies who were sitting by the prayer wheel in Tia Village Ladakh. Initially they didn’t want her photo taking and that was fine. I chatted with them via my guide to learn a bit more about their lives. The lady in black had walked to the village…
MP & UP tourism going head to head?
In a destination competition between MP and UP for me, without even having to think, the outright winner would be MP. And yet, I am one for giving the underdog a chance. Let’s face it where UP lacks in numbers of monuments, it more than makes up for in fame and fortune. It has THE…
Not the bloody Taj Mahal!
I am being controversial but honest, the Taj Mahal? It’s not all that. There you go, I have finally not only said it aloud, but put it in print and out there on the worldwideweb for all to see. I have had to visit it many times (forced by my career choice) but this ‘familiarity’…
If we cant visit India then she must come to us 2: 12 More Movies about this extraordinary country.
Hello hello hello, Following the sucess of part one of this series (of 2) I couldn’t not post all the wonderful recommendations that were sent to me by all gang over on FB. So here we have it, part two of, “If we can’t visit India, she must come to us,’ 12 More movies about…
From Mundane to Magical in Three Simple Words…..
India, where one must always expect the unexpected. A fact I remind myself of daily but one which she reminds me of hourly. I was traveling recently in Gujarat and was told that our next stop would be a museum. I have experienced countless museums in India. Many, even in mainstream destinations, are pretty woeful,…
If We Can’t Visit India, She Must Come To Us -13 Films About This Extraordinary Country
The man at customs on my most recent trip to India (and the friendliest customs man I’ve ever met) asked me if I liked India, I replied in the affirmative and asked him why he should ask me. His reply, ‘This is your 39th visit since 2007.’ My reponse, ‘Well, I guess that answers your…
Storytelling East vs West, A Cathartic Process or Escapism?
Sometime in 2015/6 I recently went to a reading by famous Indian play write, Girish Karnad who started his performance by saying something that in all my years, I didn’t know about India; ‘In the west it is the audience who goes through the cathartic process of a story; whether it is a play or…
An Interview With India’s Centre for Soft Power, Why Tourism Needs to Move Beyond The Taj Mahal.
India’s Tourism needs to move beyond the Taj Mahal Sudarshan Ramabadran March 25, 2019 An economic impact report (2018) by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has said that India is expected to establish itself as the third largest travel and tourism economy by 2028 in terms of direct and total GDP and that…
The Raika Journey Begins
They call it serendipity. I’d been struggling with a brutal rash for three days, from my scalp down to the soles of my feet. This is something that never happens to me, I’m not even sure I had nappy rash as a baby! I’d tried creams and antihistamines to no avail, I’d been unable to…
People of India – Yasmin Kidwai
As part of my ongoing People of India Project, I would like to introduce, documentary film maker and fashionister, Yasmin Kidwai. We first met eight years ago when she was making a documentary on expats living in India and more recently at the Indore Lit Fest where we were both speakers, but played hooky for a…
Solo Female Travel, the kindness of strangers and using common sense.
There’s been a lot written about this over recent years, I’ve read some articles, disregarded others and didn’t honestly pay that much attention to it. Foolishly perhaps, given the growth in this as a ‘business.’ Then, a couple of years ago, someone who had written many articles on the subject contacted me for an interview…
Shedding The Outer Goddess
It’s not often I go on for the woe is me, me me me, inner peace and finding myself and all that malarkey but right now, facts need to be faced. I arrived back in India three years ago having kicked a three-year illness in the ass. This background is not asking for sympathy, merely providing perspective….
The Moment It All Began – Tamil Nadu
Back in 1998 I made my first trip to India. I had been asked by three investors to set up a travel company for them, they had decided on south India and I was despatched to recce with the aim of determining the product, then, writing the brochure and launching the company. The initial plan…
Why India?
It’s a fact that most people who think of travelling to India don’t know much about it. They only know what they have heard about – which I understand is a ridiculous statement to make, but hear me out. People have heard of certain destinations and some monuments and these are what they ask for…
Let me tell you a secret about how I travel
Pre social media, there were dinner party destinations. The places people travelled to seemingly just so that they could drop the name at the next dinner party. 15 years ago, people would call and tell me they wanted to go to Bhutan, when I asked why, they were stumped. Everyone was talking about this last…
Neeralaya, Kulu, Himachal Pradesh- Chocolate Box Travel
Neeralaya, Kullu, Manali, Himachal Pradesh. ‘’Can this this really be India?’’ I wonder as I sit on the terrace of the most charming stone and timber built cottage, gazing out over immaculate and spacious gardens all overlooked by deodar-clad, forested hillsides? The only sounds are of the River Beas churning and gurgling by, the birds…
Lost in the jungle
Anyone who knows me will know that I have no sense of direction what-so-ever, and as I work in the travel industry, the irony is not lost on me. At a push, I could get lost in my own house, I certainly never turn the right way first time around on coming out of a…
Discovering Destinations Differently: Jaipur
Back when I was a tour operator in London, in the early 2000’s, we decided to make Jaipur a three night destination, we saw the need for people to slow travel down and this was a destination that offered a lot. Since then I’ve spent two years living in Jaipur and have worked with various…
People of India – The Young Naturalists – Surya Ramachandran
Who you are (naturally!) Difficult one with many answers but i’d say…Naturally..i’d say i’m a storyteller, a sports lover and most importantly, a proud south Indian who seems to want to spend 10 months of the year exploring the wild corners of north, north-east and central India. 2. What inspired you to become a…
Hotel Review: Amaryllis Kerala
There is something wonderfully indulgent about doing nothing. It’s something I have to admit being hopeless at and yet, a stay with Victor Bernard Dey and Ranjini Dey renders this avid explorer immobile every time. For eighteen years now I’ve been advocating their hospitality and it is unwavering in its warmth. Their’s has been a…
Kabini where Evolve Back is the way forward
Kabini where Evolve Back is the way forward. October 5, 2018 But what does it mean? I just don’t get it… I’ve heard this several times since Orange County Resorts changed their name to Evolve Back. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet but I got it immediately, to me it made perfect sense. This…
India, Perception vs Reality
Facebook, as it does, just threw up a post from two years ago. It was a post which at the time, got a lot of response from my friends and colleagues. It was a post which came about as a result of a casual chat with a fellow passenger on a flight to Abu Dhabi….
What I regained from a digital detox
I had been offered the privilege of spending two weeks in a Naturopathy Detox Spa. I needed it desperately for mind and body, yet even so, I sent frantic messages before accepting, will there be WiFi? You see the state of my mind? It’s all we seem bothered about these days. To be fair, it…
Detox Day Three, What The Brochure Never Tells You.
Could a detox spa treatment be akin to giving birth? As in, you forget how bad it was the first time until you are in the midst of it again. To what am I referring? What is known, by those in the know, as Day Three Syndrome. The caffeine, booze and chocolate/crisp/bacon buttie stocks in…
The Women of India – Radhika Kumari
Radhika is a product of Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer and an English Literature graduate from Delhi’s St. Stephens’ College. Radhika has been channelling her professional energies into the field of rural development for the last decade. She has focused her work on developing programs on poverty alleviation and non-farm livelihood enhancement. This responsibility implies…
Varanasi Part 2 in which it got a whole lot worse, before it got great!
The writers’ conference which I had enjoyed immensely had come to an end. The only bit I had hated was the hotel, The Ramada, it was my second stay in a Ramada hotel, and I can assure you, it will be my last. However, in terms of the city, we had been shown the bits…
The Women of India – Neha Arora
“Neha Arora, is the founder of Planet Abled, which provides accessible travel solutions for people with disabilities. She worked with companies like HCL, Nokia & Adobe before taking the plunge to start Planet Abled. Born to parents with disabilities she experienced challenges in travelling. One such experience, became the tipping point for her to leave her…
The Women of INDIA – Lakshmi Menon
In a valiant attempt to battle the scourge of plastic and the menace of disposable pens in particular, Lakshmi Menon set up PURE Living (Products Up-cycled Recycled and Economised), a Kerala-based social enterprise that makes disposable pens from paper, each one having a seed inside that can grow into a tree when disposed of. Not…
Jaipur Has Cleaned up it’s Act – Well Done INDIA
A shift is taking place. For years nothing happened except a worsening of a bad situation. I had started to wonder if there was any hope. I love India and have pledged the last 20 years of my life to promoting it far and wide but it was almost too much for me to bear….
Indian Experiences Launches New Website
After weeks of grafting behind the scenes, we are delighted to announce the new look Indian Experiences website! I’m even more delighted to have a brilliant team on board this “first of its kind,” consultancy to the Indian Travel Trade. Do check out the list of services we offer to both new companies wanting to…