Most of the 20th year of this century is behind us. The year 2020 will go down in history as the one in which the status quo is challenged like no other times and probably altered for ever. This Pandemic has affected us all and exposed the fault lines in our systems and governance, economies, and markets. This time we cannot turn our head away from the inequalities in the society. The vulnerable bear the brunt of job loss, hunger, and lack of opportunities. The privileged are shielded better as they have access to many resources like better healthcare, sanitation, easy loans etc.  This says a lot about the world we have built and the choices we have made over the centuries that has lead us to this point, It took a global crisis for us to pause and rethink and revaluate everything. Individuals to families, governments to businesses, one and all are contemplating better practices and processes that are more humane, local and sustainable which could lead to a future that is more equ...

  7 months down the line after Covid-19 struck; people are still struggling to cope with the new normal. Reminiscing about the life we had before, things we used to do and things we could have done better; are constant companions in my thoughts, as may be in the case of other people too.   As economies, industries and businesses across the globe are reeling under the pressure of the Covid-19 induced lockdown and the subsequent financial trauma; it is prudent for us to take steps to tide over this unprecedented situation.   People have relocated, lost jobs, and millions also have been furloughed for an unspecified amount of time & are desperately clinging on to hope and thinning finances with absolutely no clarity on the future.   As Government’s across the globe are taking drastic measures to contain the pandemic, human lives are on the edge by the day. Holed up inside the relative safety of our homes and safe jobs; keeping ourselves updated about the...

Over the years the popular culture in movies, series and stories have given us a regular dose of the worlds end game. From War to climate change to aliens and pandemics we have been entertained and intrigued by the imagination of a few. For this time, the virus won over the others to bring the world to a standstill. The winter chill was just breaking away and the ball was set rolling for all the summer plans, different plans for different people - that holidays, the protest, product launches, house renovations and many others. All of it were stonewalled by a virus. A highly contagious pandemic was upon us. It is like the world just suddenly stopped spinning. Being homebound we had to adjust to a new culture of working from home. With being at home and working from there coupled with the fears of getting the virus will change the travel behaviour for years to come. The service industry of travel, tourism and hospitality is very resilient. This sector has seen off economic rec...

It is not a good feeling when we know we are much more capable, have a lot more potential and yet are not achieving our best due to various reasons, all we need is a stronger collective will, which we seem to lack as a country. Tourism is a major engine of economic growth. Several countries have transformed their economies using their tourism potential to the fullest. Our great country is as fascinating as it gets for the world traveller. The diversity of landscape, language, cuisine, music, cultures, climates, religion etc is just astounding. India would be a country hard to miss for the discerning traveller, yet we are not even close to achieve our full potential in the tourism market. Our market share compared to many other developed countries are miniscule. Yes, we have made progress and we continue to do so every year and day but there is a long way ahead before we match the world leaders in tourist arrivals and growth. This even though the product we have to offer in terms...

A group of teenagers are on a college tour accompanied by their teachers. They travel through Paris and Vienna. Sounds very interesting particulary when one of the teenager is our friendly neighbourhood Spider Man. This was the narrative of the latest Avenger movie that we watched. It was all good and we were looking forward to a thrilling movie where the protagnist saves the World against all odds until a scenario we face on a daily basis at work features on the screen. So this group of teenagers are traveling through Europe and they reach Vienna from Paris. All along Spidy is doing his thing and saving the World. As the group arrives at their hotel in Vienna, they are welcomed into a crumbeled and delapilated hotel. The young students are not at all pleased and they take up the griviance with their teacher. Who pacifies them and tells them that he will get a refund from the travel company. Thats it, this scenario did it for us. We come to see movies like the Avengers to escap...

Some of the small joys of life that take us through a day is the number of shares and likes our post, picture or blog get. We keep fidgeting with our phone to see if there is some new interest in what we have expressed. While sometimes this could be the reason for added misery when we do not get enough traction as well, however we cannot resist the idea of sharing with the world our stories, thoughts and feelings.   As a small business in the travel segment, the first or second point of reference is always the website. When we started off in 2003 having a website was a big deal. We got our first website up after many delays, still remember the happiness of seeing our company on the World Wide Web, there was dial up internet back then and it took like forever to load, that somehow did not matter back in the day. As we grew in business, our website improved, the second time we made a website, it was by our friend who never charged us for the service. He was a professional ...

The to do list for small businesses An entrepreneuer has different roles to play, this is a known fact and folks who choose this path are aware of the same.  A decade back  if you are good at what you are, you get known and accepted, and you had to focus on just getting better. These days besides being good at your line of work you have to be a good writer, phtographer, accountant, brand manager, website developer etc. The to do list of an average day is something like this -  Click amazing pictures for your social media promotions Think of amazing content for your blog Add fresh pages to your website Tally accounts and get all the billing done Prepare presentations for your sales meetings Design new products for promotions Keep up with the operations and make sure guests are satisfied Address griviances  Manage finaces  The list keeps growing, if you are working in a small team like we do all the above tasks happen ba...