travel blog 2018 Archives

travel blog 2018

17 Mar 2018

Help the Hathi – Now..!

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Okay, so I accidentally happened to walk into by far the most colourful art installation in the city I have come across in recent times. Last fun street art scene was at Kala Ghoda, as it always is. But I was sad to see the Bollywood wall murals that Bandra had become famous for, now decaying and forgotten.

Back to the main story. So, I walked into the garden at Bandra Fort area and my eyes fell on a bunch of colourful elephants placed in the garden. I thought it must be some boring children’s park sh*t. But I casually decided to take a stroll anyways. One of them looked interesting. But on a closer inspection, I was blown away.

So, this exhibition was ( and it will be running until 18th March 2018 ) in view of spreading awareness for elephant conservation. We, the Homosapien take the award for being the most selfish creäture on earth, hands down. And these poor pachyderms bear the brunt of our deeds. As a result, there are few and few left each day. Unfortunately, people don’t realise this before buying ivory handicrafts, cutting trees and/or are completely unaware of the animal extinction problem, to begin with.Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed God is one of the most widely worshipped God’s in India. But perhaps not as popular as another God called ‘hypocrisy’ that India worships the most.

So, the message of conservation must be spread.

Elephant Family is a New York-based organisation that takes the responsibility of conserving Asian elephants in specific. And India has a big chunk in Asia. Hence it only makes sense to spread the word in a huge metropolitan city like Mumbai where lots and lots of people see, read and understand the message.

What is the message?
To encourage the building of 101 corridors or dedicated areas
in India where elephants can live unharmed.

It is not just the message, but the method that was chosen to spread the word is what I am excited about. Elephant Parade is a concept started in 2007 in Thailand by two people, Father-son duo Marc and Mike Spits. They got inspired after seeing the difficult life of Mosha, a baby elephant becoming handicap by stepping on a landmine. In elephant parade, many statues of elephants are made. Each is coloured and decorated/ designed with a particular theme in mind by experienced artists and sculptors like Arzan Khambatta and may more.

The elephant parade going on in Mumbai was inaugurated on 27th Feb and will go on until 18th March. The 101 colourful elephants can be seen all over South Mumbai places like Gateway of India, Siddhivinayak temple, Priyadarshini park, shopping malls etc, ending in Bandra Fort.

I absolutely loved the fact there are no restrictions on clicking pictures. One can click as many pictures and the organizers encourage you to spread them on social media. Also, one can bid for the statues and some part of the money goes for elephant conservation. One can also buy other merchandise related to the colourful artwork. In fact, these colourful pachyderms have their own Instagram account @elephantparadefan ( #helpthehathi, #elephantfamily, #101corridors ) and Facebook page. Check it out..!

Let me know what do you feel about the whole idea.

Peace.

26 Feb 2018

How to spot a Bhutanese (and why should we copy them).

Vishal T binge travel backpacking bhutan, bhutan, bhutan blog, bhutan culture, bhutan travel, binge wander, paro, road trip bhutan, thimpu, travel blog 2018, vishal tomar 0

I returned from Bhutan recently and I am in awe of their country.

Let’s see why.
I was skeptical about visiting a neighboring country (just as I was before Nepal, read here) because I believe it’s just like India. Its foreign travel for the namesake. Same culture, same food, similar habits, poverty, beggars, cunning taxi drivers, overpriced gimmicks for white tourists.
Nothing new for me.
But for the second time, after Nepal, I had an eye-opening jolt.
This country, Bhutan, is way different than ours. Though it’s our neighbor, still they have an enviable lifestyle.
Since it is mostly the people of a region that define a country rather than the rivers and mountains and buildings,

I tried to isolate certain habits of Bhutanese people that we can copy to make our lives much better here in India.

So, what are things we can learn from a Bhutanese fellow?

• A Bhutanese never honks unless he’s in an ambulance or a fire engine. Not even in traffic. Not even if he’s frustrated/ impatient. He understands the cars ahead of him cannot fly over other cars, just like his. They are also stuck for a reason. So chill up.

• A Bhutanese always maintains a safe distance from other cars and pedestrians. Like will-stop-20 feet away safe!

• A Bhutanese always crosses the road on a zebra crossing. He need not even look left or right. Just blindly walk as long as it is Zebra crossing. It mutual that the driver will stop at a zebra crossing. Even if no one is watching. Helping a damsel in distress in crossing road here? No thank you!

zebra crossing always.

All of Bhutan has no traffic signals. Just police personnel supervising junctions.

• In all of my week’s stay, I didn’t hear one single honking. Felt like a king when the car would stop for me to pass. And all this even when no police were watching.

• A Bhutanese always respects the law. Once I asked for a plastic bag, once for a pack of cigarettes. The shopkeeper shushed me down. Of course, I didn’t get any of those, but they were fearful that I was too loud in asking for banned items. They were scared someone might hear. That’s crazy by Indian standards!

• A Bhutanese will not open a shop on the footpath. The footpath is meant for safe walking and that’s how it will be used. Three cities. No hawkers, no encroachment, no road shops, corner tapri/ khokha, a stray temple, open manhole, pothole, puddle etc.
Real walkable footpath..!
Parking square alway

No Oppo/ Vivo signboards. No billboards obstructing the information signboard/crossing/ turning.

• Everyone parks in their designated square on the road. Without fail.

• The King was in attendance at one of the temples we were visiting, coincidentally. I was surprised to see no barricades, big convoy of cars, an army of guards. Nothing. I came to know about the King’s presence after a casual chat with the locals, who thought I was lucky to get his glimpse. So in short, minimal unnecessary pomp and show.

• There were no stray animals. Some dogs maybe. Where are their stray animals?

• No garbage dumps glorifying the city, like here in Mumbai/Bangalore/ Pune etc.

cleanest vegetable market ever.

• Everyone wears their national dress every day. It’s comfortable. It keeps them warm. They don’t have to. But they do it. Now that’s patriotism. They aren’t ashamed of it. No mad race to look like westerners.

• They don’t judge foreigners. At least not Indians. While conversing with local folks, I realized they are aware of all the bad things India is becoming popular for in the media. Corruption, crime, ignorance and what not. But still, it did not reflect on interpersonal behavior. Compared to the misunderstanding we have for oriental looking people in India. Or the frenzy of clicking a selfie with a white tourist. It was pretty matured in Bhutan.