by Anita Mendiratta | Jan 24, 2015
Just 5 years ago it would have seemed beyond belief, beyond border approvals, beyond principle.
And then the world changed – Myanmar (Burma)’s doors of possibility – politically, economically, logistically, philosophically – were thrown open. For millions around the world, never in their lifetime did they expect to see the day that Aung San Suu Kyi would walk through her front door as a free woman. And for millions of travellers, never did they think they would be able to walk through Myanmar’s front door as a warmly welcomed visitor.
Yet today, just a matter of a 5 short years later, it is all possible.
And at this moment, it is happening with accelerated momentum and elevated excitement.
This week the ASEAN region’s leaders in tourism gather in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital, for the 2015 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF – http://www.atf-2015.com/). Ten economies making up one of the powerful growing regions in the world. Through the presence of the highest level of VVIP leadership from across the region – Hon. Ministers of Tourism from Thailand, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Laos, Indonesia and India, along with Vietnam, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and others from across the region, accompanied by the UNWTO, WTTC and PATA, the future of regional tourism will be shaped.
Together they unite as leaders working in unity for collective, cooperative ASEAN growth and development rather that competition.
And together, they make clear their welcome Myanmar as one of the ASEAN community, one more nation and destination to benefit from the exemplary ‘all for one’ approach of ASEAN.
For all VVIP attendees at ATF – heads of tourism authorities, Government leaders in tourism, global and regional tourism bodies – this year’s annual reunion of tourism leaders will be, as always, an opportunity to advance discussions and commitments around tourism sector enablement and empowerment. It will be a chance to check in with one’s neighbours, reflecting on the year just past, sharing insights, learnings, and personal favourite stories. Within professional associations and collaborations, personal relationships are embedded. It will also be, as always, a chance to recalibrate and ready for all that is ahead, defining opportunities, deciding shared programmes, and detailing areas of caution.
And yet, permeating through this year’s ATF will no doubt be, for all attendees across all elves and ASEAN nations, a quiet yet powerful sense of “We are in Myanmar!”
This deeply personal, yet collectively shared, sense of awe is what should always be paused, always be absorbed, never be forgotten.
The world in which we live today, as wide and fragmented and challenged and stuck and overwhelming as it may appear at times, is changing every single moment. With these changes, doors are opening, eyes are opening, minds are opening, and hearts are opening!
We are here!
And because of this, our world is a place of blessed awe!
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Dec 18, 2014
To stand in a security line in any airport across the globe, between the period of December 16th and December 24th, is to feel the peak of pressure of a year gone by. Exponentially more people, going more places, in a rush, with stuff in tow, and little patience packed in carry-on. And nerves can be felt. People crowd, people get cross, patience thins and thins and thins. It is an annual event, a global migration of festive cheer yet chaos, a natural nomadic phenomena – we go excitedly to those we love, growling at those in between, too tired and tested to show consideration and compassion for strangers.
Peak travel period, peak pressure, a peak into how anxiously people across the globe look to travel to ensure their hope are realised. And yet we growl! The routine of lining up to remove laptops, belts, shoes, liquids – a routine experienced hundreds of times through the year, just becomes irritating. Especially when those in front become bottlenecks. The reality of the complexity of heightened levels of passengers, more and more parents with distracted little people and plenty of little bottles and other bits and pieces to place in bins, becomes magnified and unable to me pacified. The possibility of pausing and pulling back more and more unlikely.
Which is why…..
‘Tis the season to reboot.
It is these trying times that bring out our true colours – the softest and most sparkly as we so hope to share, and yet often the darkest and most prickly that can even give ourselves a scare.
It happens, it’s natural, and it’s ok….as long as it is corrected, with patience and ideally kindness, “I’m sorry / Please, you first / Can I help you” is all we need to say. As foreign as that thought may be in that deeply trying travel moment.
Our ability to go from here to there, from work to play, from laptops to loves ones, in one simple flash of an itinerary, is a remarkable thing. We all get to where we ultimately need to. And we are so blessed to do so. This gift is something never to be forgotten. Will the travel season be testing? Absolutely. Will we make it through unscathed? No question about it.
The trick to surviving the pressure of year-end, especially for the business/busyness nomads of the world? Exhale, remind oneself of the blessing of the here, now, where to next and why….and move forward.
However busy air traffic control, Santa never fails to deliver.
Merry travels to all, and to all a good flight.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2014
by Anita Mendiratta | Nov 19, 2014
It has been called a stream of unflattering adjectives – “offensive”, “clumsy”, “patronising”, “self-indulgent”, “idiotic”. It has been called “un-African” and “inaccurate”.
What it has not been called, once, is “ineffective“.
Whatever Band Aid 30 is being called, what it unmistakable is that it is a calling. And the direct response to a call for help from the United Nations to Sir Bob Geldof as, desperately needing funds to step up the scale and scope of fight on Ebola’s epidemic spread across West Africa and the world, they knew their call would be answered. And it has been – quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUzHVIDCbMM#t=20 Within the first 24 hours of release, over 200,000 copies of the single were sold (at GBP 0.99/copy, which equates to US$ 1.55/copy), not to mention outright lump sum donations to the Band Aid 30 appeal (and others).
Still the firestorm around the song continues. As time passes, criticism grows, and adjectives become more fiery. But so too does the epidemic grow, and risk, and the losses, and the fear, and the heartache.
Energies and emotions are being pulled away from where focus needs to be – giving. As expressed by Forbes magazine, “Band Aid 30 backlash is fair, but damaging.”
As recently created by ONE, waiting is not an option, action is needed, now. http://act.one.org/sign/ebola_psa_us?source=twDC84511192014
Whatever the sentiment towards Band Aid 30, the fact remains is that it has raised huge awareness and emotion around the Ebola crisis, and once again shown how the global community can respond, immediately, whether with commentary of teary praise or attack.
Love it. Hate it. It’s not about the rights and wrongs of the lyrics. It’s not about the musicians. It’s not about supporting one side of the argument or the other.
Whatever the judgement of the song, credit where due – the donations are happening. It’s about the call. And our ability to respond to the call, helping to bring the epidemic to an end by hitting the ‘Donate” button on websites taking part in the fight against Ebola.
Love it. Hate it. Just please click here: http://www.msf.org/donate
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2014
by Anita Mendiratta | Oct 23, 2014
Slowly, methodically, thoughtfully, she reads out, word by word, punctuation by punctuation, her analysis of the past seven months.
Without pressure or prejudice, she takes her time to make certain her thought process, her reason for awaited final words, are clear. Knowing full well the overwhelming weight of her words, on her shoulders, and on the country, she focuses on what will most likely be her career’s most important and remembered moments. In her written words, she is also writing her history.
The thickness of silence of those watching in the courtroom, and the millions holding their breathe watching through televisions, tablets and other tech across the world, is deafening. Her judgement, her singularly determined sentencing, will have ripples across the lives of millions.
She is Judge Thokozile Masipa, “My Lady” to millions following one of 2014, and the sporting world’s, most high profile and heartbreaking cases.
Front and centre, the accused. A broken man, a shattered icon, a fallen star – Oscar Pistorius
Surrounding him, families whose lives have also been broken, one losing their daughter Reeva because of his actions….another losing their son Oscar, again because of his own actions. There have been countless casualties coming out of that tragic moment that early morning of Valentine’s Day 2013 – broken hearts, broken hopes, broken futures.
Still, with intense presence and grace she sits, up above the courtroom, concentrating on her words and the comprehension of same by those around her. Unswayed by the hectic media interest glued to her every breathe, the harrowing task of determining the fate of a now-fallen South African hero, and unprecedented high profile of the case, Judge Masipa found a centre ground between a complex array of extremes: celebrity and community, past fame and future pain, lost and losing, hurt and healing. Remarkably, a centre ground accepted as justice servedby the families on both sides of the spectrum.
So many things could have gone wrong. So many accusations could have been made. So many concerns were voiced upfront as the trial began. Racism. Celebrity. Favour. Unfairness.
And yet now, as the nation and world look forward, with Oscar Pistorius serving the beginnings of his 5year jail sentence, the sadness of a role model now jailed is lessened by the reality of a new role model who has emerged for the nation to embrace as a source of pride, inspiration and identity: Judge Masipa.
With her own remarkable story of faith, vision and determination, she too has become reason to believe in South Africa as a place of miracles, making the impossible possible, as captured in CNN’s profile of her life, http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/09/10/pkg-curnow-judge-profile.cnn.html
As one star burns out, another rises and shines brightly.
And as the first anniversary of President Mandela’s passing nears, in Judge Masipa the signs are strong that his legacy is still, thankfully, alive.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2014
by Anita Mendiratta | Sep 28, 2014
“Welcome to ____, Helen Mirren.”
Those were the words making their way across the radio to thousands of listeners across the city early one morning while they quietly made their way to work. Words meant to fill listeners with a sense of pride and curiosity around the visiting VIP. Words being shared even before the city’s arriving guest had even made it to her hotel.
Before she could even get out of the airport her photo was out, shared to many a friend and follower through Instagram and Facebook, caveated that she was sans makeup (no doubt as an overnight flight). With best of intent, the radio announcer as wishing to welcome the VIP guest to the city.
However….
In doing so, and as welcoming as the radio announcer may have been wishing to be, in an instant the potential private get-away of a public face was ended. Anonymity was no longer. Privacy was past tense.
The social media age in which we live today is an incredibly exciting, engaging one. It allows people near and far to ‘connect’ in ways never experiences before – geographically, emotionally, ideologically, instantly.
Suddenly a mobile device becomes power in one’s hands.
And with this great power, as the credo goes, comes great responsibility. Thoughts suddenly need to be entertained, with oneself, centered around one question: “is it ok?”
Privacy vs exposure
Celebrity vs anonymity
Restriction vs entitlement
Which begs the question: does owning a camera mean it is acceptable to access another person’s personal space?
There is no external, single answer. This is an internal question that one needs to work through, for oneself. From both sides – as the onlooker, and as the subject. How would one feel if the tables were turned?
As social media embeds itself in the lives and lifestyles of the global community, with it will emerge mindfulness and manners. And with that will come a fascinating new global ‘code’.
Still, at the essence of ‘social’, be it within the media context or otherwise, is people coming together. When temptation sets in to capture a moment, any moment, as with all human engagement, the question to be taken to heart should ultimately be: ‘is it bringing us closer together, or pushing is apart?’
Whether subject or observer everyone is someone, of worth, of importance.
And deserving of respect of face, place and space.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2014
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