Ghumakkars of 2009

A great year of travel is coming to an end and we AT Ghumakkar are trying to imagine, what the new year is going to bring. With the dreaded recession mostly on the way out , airlines beginning to get full, industrial output and inflation both heading north, we are definitely heading towards more exciting times. Twenty-Ten is what the next year would be and the general perception that its going to bring more travel. Let it come. Amen.

Before I digress too much, let me hold my horses and bring to you the intent of this post. While winding up for 2009 and heading for our own well earned vacations, the team at Ghumakkar wanted to identify a select few who in our opinion have done their bit of traveling in 2009, shared their experiences with fellow community, been around for advice/suggestion and jabs , and love to be called Ghumakkars. It was tough to choose a few and it didn’t come easy, sometimes the discussions went too deep and personal that we decided to rather not do it. At the end, sanity returned and we did agree on a list which we all feel proud of. Our laze ensured that we do not get enough time to get our readers’ opinion and we fully understand our loss. We are sure that the next time something like this happens, it would have to be your with your active participation.

For lack of a better name, we agreed on the simplest and we are calling them ‘Ghumakkars of 2009’.

Please join me in congratulating Reema, Mahesh Semwal, Manisha Chitale, Arvind Padmanabhan and Manish Khamesra as the ‘Ghumakkars of 2009’. Clap, clap, clap.

Reema joined Ghumakkar in 2009 and took us to Kolkata, Vizag, Pune, Ellora, Lucknow etc in a very short time. A lot of these places included stuff which were new to Ghumakkar. Her Ghumakkar profile says : An Indian. A Gemini. An Engineering Lecturer. A Blogger. A Traveler. Check out her page here and to read more of her stuff, read her random thoughts here. Congratulations Reema.

It would be difficult to list down all the places which Mahesh has taken us since he joined in May,2009. He introduced China to this community and is been an active Ghumakkar sharing the largest number of experiences in last six months. Though his profession in “Molecular Diagnostics Products” keeps him busy, he ensures that he squeezes in some ghumakkari during his business trips. Congratulations Mahesh.

Manisha Chitale came on board early this year and took us to memorable heritage journey. At times making us wonder that whether these are true or pure imagination. Read her ‘clouds of tranquility’ to know more on what I am taking. Here’s her Ghumakkar profile page. Probably her expression did the key and we hope to read much more in coming years. Congratulations Manisha.

Arvind joined us late last year and introduced us to places which Ghumakkar’s traditionally do not cover. Solo travels, logged in detail, so non-touristy that he was easy to pick to be a Ghumakkar for 2009. His first backpacking trip was to Thailand 1997 and he has been traveling since then. Check out his complete stories here and we wish that he takes us to more places in twenty-ten. Congratulations Arvind.

Manish Khamesra is very hard to miss. He is been there since Day 1 and been a pillar of strength to all of us. He reads every single story and when he writes, his logs are more inspirational than just being informative. Ghumakkar is not complete without you. Being an old accomplice in his travel deeds, I would let our readers write more on you. Congratulations Manish Khamesra.

A small token of appreciation is on the way. I would close the note with seasons greetings. May twenty-ten brings you all the happiness and all the travel. As I often say, traveling builds tolerance, lets help people travel more by sharing our travel experiences and make this world a peaceful place.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

25 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *