BHARATI PAWASKAR
Based in Goa, they are a bunch of young soulful travellers who explore not only the corners of their home state but often cross borders too. Being close to nature gives them a kick, a nostalgic hangover that dwells for a long time, if not forever. Actually the euphoria lives until their next trip to the wild. Being in the lap of nature gives them peace and tranquility and to experience that again and again, they keep travelling to newer places. Sometimes they travel solo, sometimes in company of two, three or more, in bigger groups of like-minded enthusiasts.
Representing an entire batch of generation that seeks joy in travelling to places and adding to their life experiences, making it richer. And many of them enjoy sharing and documenting their personal experiences of travelling. One such ardent traveler is Geetesh Gawas. A mechanical engineer turned traveler, a blogger and a videographer from Porvorim 24-year-Geetesh quit his 9 to 5 job. It was out of sheer frustration that he could not devote time to travelling whenever he felt like backpacking and leaving. His visit to Torda creek taught him that no matter what time of the day and season of the year it is, the beauty of this place never fades away. And Geetesh wanted to capture whatever he could through the eyes of his lenses.
Geetesh narrates stories ‘The Local Bus Stories’ in pictures which appear on his Facebook , Instagram, and blog. When it comes to exploring some unknown destination, his like-minded friends give him company. Ameeta Kunkolkar is one of such ever-ready travel buddies. Both, Ameeta and Geetesh are active on Istagram, uploading pictures of nature inspired sojourns.
On the caves of Goa, which are scattered at several places - Harwale, Rivon, Lamgaon etc, Ameeta opens up on her Instagram page, “These caves are largely unknown and are situated in the midst of nature. One may have to ask around a bit to get the right direction. There is so much to offer in Goa and if you are up for it, you will never be satiated.” The poet in her is kindled during her visits to picturesque places - “Sometimes when you are traveling, you come across sights that you know you will never see again. A leafless tree, a patch of grass, a carpet of wild flowers “ they are so inviting that you hop out from the car hoping to capture their beauty forever in your camera, but somewhere deep in your heart you know that probably, it will never be enough.”
Sharing about his love for travelling, Geetesh admits that he detested being dictated terms by a boss, who decided the fate and date of his journeys or who held the right to cancel his leaves. After quitting his job one fine day, Geetesh pursued his hobby of travelling and shooting full time .
Geetesh documented his journeys and experiences. Later he teamed up with ‘Soul Travelling’ which creates unique experiences in tourism with a core team of Varun Hegde, Kedar Borkar, Clyde Tellis, Mayuresh Narvekar, Maison Dias and Allister Tellis who started their first trail in November 2017 with Margao city walk. He did ‘Keep it secret’, ‘Safarnama’, Rachol and Shiroda tours for them while the shoot for ‘Houses of Goa’ is currently on.
Travelling should be a part of one’s life and not just sightseeing. ‘Soul Travelling’ brings together people from diverse fields - artists, historians, content writers, marketing professionals, lawyers, teachers and locals from the area where the trail is happening. They also collaborate with Tallulah D’Silva, Prajal Sakhardande, Sanjeev Sardesai, Dr Subodh Kerkar, Rujuta Borkar, Mayuresh Khandeparkar, Bhavesh Velingkar and the like.
“So far we have done 500 plus trails and experiences across Goa and 300 plus E-Bike trails as experience partners of B: Live. With select 20 plus locations across Goa we have catered to over 5000 people, and 50 per cent of them are Goans who hadn’t explored their backyards. Some are our repeat clients,” briefs Varun Hegde of ‘Soul Travelling’, an engineer who quit his IT job in Frankfurt, Germany to return to Goa for good.
“We wish to offer alternatives and unique, quality experiences to people. Goa is interesting, has its own blend of culture and traditions. The people are warm and friendly and that’s our biggest resource. We are trying to work with them to create a new narrative about the place which can counter the casinos and stuff and to give a new perspective to tourism,” says Varun.
He points out, “In Europe, people travel as a part of their lives. In India, it has mainly been sightseeing model where everything is planned beforehand. We can see now that people are slowly moving towards experience based tourism where they want to take more from a place than just seeing it “ interacting with the locals, taking memories and experiences what the place has to offer. Well, five-star hotels are great for leisure but not for experiences as yet. People want to make new friends while travelling and explore more, do it at homestays.”
Admitting that the team is doing quite okay, Varun states, “We want to create a platform where if students wish to choose this as a career, they are not financially insecure or scared. Even today, the salaries we offer are comparable to what an engineering graduate would get. Look at me, I was enjoying my job in Germany too and the lifestyle was different. Here, coming back home and creating this and working on this is a different kind of satisfaction. Making it a financially viable model is a fun challenge of its own.”
