Journalism of Courage
Four decades ago,Vasanti Ghaisas had her first brush with travel on a trip with her husband. The new scenes,the people,the unusual food,Ghaisas fell in love with it all. It was a love that only continued to grow with every trip that she took with her husband,until they had covered every state in the country. Every state except for Jharkhand, corrects Ghaisas.
After sixteen years of travelling,Ghaisas had amassed so much knowledge about world culture,that she’d often get calls from people asking for holiday recommendations. In those days,there were no computers or internet,and researching for a trip was not easy. It wasn’t easy finding out what the weather will be like at a place in a particular season,or which are the best places for sightseeing, says Ghaisas. It struck her that she was quite well-placed to help travel buffs with suggestions and recommendations from her years of travel. So in 1988 on her wedding anniversary she set up Paryatak Mitr Mandal,or Travellers’ Meet,a group which would bring together travel aficionados and first-timers so they could all share their knowledge and experiences.
When Ghaisas began the group,she put out newspaper appeals for people to attend the first meet and over 150 people turned up. In the years since,she continues to meet and help more people and families plan their trips,and more than 1,000 families come to her for holiday ideas and advice. They meet once a year on World Tourism Day,when guest speakers are invited to make presentations on paces they have travelled to. One year it might be someone who has stayed at the South Pole,another year it could be someone who went to South America to study the Inca and Mayan traditons. This year,Ghaisas has invited a traveller who walked across the Gobi desert.
She is also excited about a new introduction to be made at the meet – a travel planning website,traveltoolset.com. The website has been developed by Shrirang Joshi,whose parents have been part for the group for several years. The website will also fulfils a similar function travellers can make itineraries for trips,add their Picasa photo account to it,and can even write a travelogue to go along with it. The website will help people to organise and plan their trips,and they can add their experiences in a blog along the way. And later,the same information can be of use to another person who wants to travel to the same place,” says Joshi.
