by Anita Mendiratta | Apr 30, 2015
For all of the awe and analysis that comes with observing the evolution of the global travel and tourism industry, one truth remains at the core of the ‘why‘ of global travel: the world wants, and needs, to connect. And there is no greater force than travel and tourism to enable people of different places to find common interests, common bonds, common understanding.
Since 2015 began, so much has occurred to show just how divided the world we live in today is. Geography. Ideology. Politics. Economics.
And then something happens that causes a shaking of the global psyche, bringing us all together. Uniting us around a common value: a life lived.
Just days ago the Earth shook and Nepal fell. As the rubble rolled its way towards a stop-point the world stopped to catch its breath, and find ways to keep survivors strong, hopeful, breathing. It’s not about national efforts – it is about millions of people across nations coming together to help, simply because it is the right thing to do. Because ultimately we are one global community.
Today, at this point in the post-tragedy phase, here is where we are in terms of global response: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/25/world/nepal-earthquake-how-to-help/index.html
How can one help? this is the best way to find the best route of support: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/25/world/nepal-earthquake-how-to-help/index.html
However we respond, however we choose to show our support, may it create a deep sense of, above all, above all nations, we are one global community. And in times of crisis, we could only be so fortunate for the world to respond to our personal need in the same way.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/25/world/nepal-earthquake-how-to-help/index.html
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Mar 19, 2015
As the month of March began, the first anniversary of the disappearance of MH370 was just days away. One year on, not one concrete clue has emerged around what happened to the aircraft with its 239 souls on board. The one great aviation mystery of our generation still hangs heavy on our hearts and minds. One aircraft, one hurt, one enduring hope that maybe, just maybe, one day we will know…
Just a matter of days on, as the month has moved on, the eyes of the world were forced to suddenly shift. From Malaysia our eyes travelled to other points on the world map suddenly gripped by crisis. Often they were places unfamiliar to sight. Just this past weekend it was Vanuatu, a pure, picture-perfect, tiny island paradise forced into the headlines as Tropical Cyclone Pam forced her way through, leaving a path of destruction and despair not seen since the tragedy of 2013’s Super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban. http://reliefweb.int/report/vanuatu/infographic-tropical-cyclone-pam-march-2015. At once, the world’s eyes watched with anxiousness, seeing the hurt, looking for the signs of hope.
And then suddenly, like the switching of a television channel, and in fact through the switching of a television channel or refresh of a webpage, the eyes of the world travelled from the South Pacific to North Africa. Tunisia, the nation seen as the single success story of the Arab Spring, shaken to its core by a brutal terror attack in Tunis, one carefully targeting a high profile centre of culture and tourism. A single blow hits at the hearts of Tunisians and several nations, as 23 lives are lost (as of 19 03 2015 count) including those of 18 foreign tourists. Horror where once there was such hope. Today, the day after the nightmare the day before, the shadows still block the sun, the darkness and fear thick. The threats of “more” echoing.
Again. And Again. And again.
As the 2015 calendar moves through the months ahead, again and again the world’s eyes will be shifting to new locations of loss, learning of places and people whose lives are suddenly left in one overwhelming state of shock. More prayers will be said. More sadness will be felt. One world….united by one hurt.
Yet despite, or maybe it is because of, all of the physical separation of geography, and often separation of ideology, an invisible yet powerful unification is taking place. One world’s shared hurt, one without borders, is emerging as one shared need to hold on to hope.
Hope – the innate, deeply rooted need to believe that tomorrow will be a better day. And with that, tomorrow our world will be a better, safer, kinder place.
Some call such hope ‘audacity‘, some ‘naïveté‘, some ‘impossibility‘, some a reflection of being out of touch with reality.
And yet, the human spirit continues to hope, turning to those right next to us and across the globe to fuel its ability to endure. Because it has to.
It might not be tomorrow, but soon, no question about it, something else will happen to shift out focus, to shake our faith. Something will scare our inner child.
In that moment, once again, we will be forced to dig deep, turning our shock and chilled states of heart into a glue that binds us all together with a need to believe that tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, we will be better. Our world will be safer. The sun will break through the cloud.
One world, with the remarkable ability to turn one hurt into one unextinguishable hope….with all of its beautiful, borderless, breathing easy, bonds.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Feb 28, 2015
With the world around us opening more and more each day to personal exploration through travel, a natural excitement and energy bubbles up in the hearts and minds of passport, smartphone and credit card carrying nomads from far and wide. The ability to enter locations and lives, seeing sights, inhaling scents, and responding to smiles different from those of ‘home’, and gaining deeper understanding of not just other worlds but one’s worlds within – these are just some of the blessings of travel.
Yet, with all of the places to go, people to meet, foods to sample, handcrafts to purchase, views to absorb, photographs to post, and ticks to put against the lists, all too often the busy, busy pursuits of travel turns moments and memories into a blur. ‘Being there’ has become so packed with experiences to absorb, followed by a pressure to move on to make more memories happen, that all so easily it can result in missing out on making ‘real’ the here and now. The moments long dreamt of from afar continue to feel out there.
Sadly, the details that most deeply touch one’s heart and penetrate one’s memories, can become lost:
Listening to the lapping of water at the side of a boat as it sits peacefully on the waters of the Nile…
Spotting the tiny heads of Hype Park spring flowers courageously coming out of wintry ground in search of glimpses of sunshine even though the change of seasons is still weeks away…
Watching a local parent watching his young child carefully eat an ice cream cone, the little lad’s intensity of focus unwavering, unaware of the sweet mess looming…
Looking into the eyes of Luxor’s horses pausing for a break and brief feeding before their next guests arrive to be taken on a city tour via carriage…
Standing quietly in the darkness to find the faint yet formidable lines of the Great Pyramids of Giza, illuminated by a mere handful of stars above…
They are all out there. Tiny moments, precious moments, that bring to life dreams of travel.
For all of the picture-perfect images that can be captured by cameras, the perfect moments of travel go far beyond when they are captured by being still – listening to the silence as the scene is being absorbed. And feeling the heartbeat of the subject of one’s attention and affection, whether animate or not.
These are the lifelong, worldwide, travel inspired moments all around us, little gifts waiting to be uncovered each and every day.
There they are, to be discovered and held dear as deeply personal, favourite memories…..though only found and felt, by being still.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
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
