Hello again Fellow Ghumakkars,
We have seen quite a few new authors at Ghumakkar in the last one month and a half. We hope that everyone is already feeling at home here. In case you missed their stories for some weird reason, take a look at their author pages:
Anup (Anup’s Author Page)
Deependra (Deependra’s Author Page)
Manish (Manish’s Author Page)
Naveen (Naveen’s Author Page)
Raghu (Raghu’s Author Page)
Shefali (Shefali’s Author Page)
Subhrajyoti (Subhrajyoti’s Author Page)
Sundeep (Sundeep’s Author Page)
Venkatt (Venkatt’s Author Page)
Congratulations for your brilliant debut stories. We wish you frequent and safe ghumakkari and hope to read a lot more stories from you.
With our community expanding with each passing day, I sometimes wonder what binds us together. In keeping with this train of thoughts, “Who are Ghumakkars?” I asked myself on my way back from Edinburgh last week.
“Ghumakkars are travellers.”
This is the first definition that came to my mind. But what does it take to travel? A sense of adventure, definitely, but also a curiosity to explore new places.
So “Ghumakkars are curious, adventurous travellers.”
But are they only travellers? One doesn’t need to think too much to come upon another essential trait of being a Ghumakkar. It is writing, isn’t it? One of my professors in his lectures remarked that one cannot ever become a writer – either you are a writer or you are not. Fortunately, we are all blessed with this zeal and talent. So if you have published even a single story, you are essentially a writer.
So, I came upon “Ghumakkars are curious, adventurous travel-writers.”
Why do we write? Is it only the vain desire to see our names next to our published stories? Well, to be honest, it is partially that. But there is definitely a more unselfish reason to it as well. When we visit a beautiful place, we miss our loved ones a lot. Simply because we want to share our joy with them. In fact, we want the whole world to witness the beauty we have been fortunate enough to stumble upon. And if anything goes wrong during a trip, we fervently wish that no one else has to go through the same experience. And what is the best way to ensure that – warning the world about it.
Hence, “Ghumakkars are curious, adventurous travel-writers who write to share their experiences with the world.”
And we have seen instances in the past when words of Ghumakkars have been taken seriously. When they complain about a place, someone listens. Ghumakkars aren’t people who can be taken lightly because they have the power of the pen and also the enthusiasm to make things better – be it a badly maintained park or a garbage dump beside a lake.
So, “Ghumakkars are curious, adventurous travel-writers who write to share their experiences with the world for the greater good of the society.”
By now it is a well established fact that travelling helps you evolve. If enough of us evolve, it will be equivalent to the evolution of homo sapients. And it is not only our species that we are concerned about. Lets not forget those wistful accounts of how rare tiger citings have become and exposure to places like that temple in Thailand that houses 85 tigers.
So, “Ghumakkars are curious, adventurous travel-writers who write to share their experiences with the world for the greater good of the society, evolution of Homo Sapiens, and betterment of other species.”
Unfortunately, the train journey from Edinburgh to Newcastle was only 1.5 hours long so I had to abandon this quest for defining Ghumakkars. But this is where you take it forward. If you think you can add to this definition or even if you agree that this definition is complete, feel free to leave a comment. Who knows where we will be 10 years hence but your name might be in an encyclopedia along with mine as the people who defined the enigmatic “Ghumakkars”.
Till the next time,
Vibha
Editor – Ghumakkar.com
Taking a break helps relieve the stress brought on by long hours of hard work. Check out the beach holiday specialists to find the best holiday deals 2011.