That time of the year where we pause to look back and see how we enriched ourselves this year. Looking back at 2015, this is how the year went by. A slow start that picked up pace towards the end.
Looking back at 2015
I grew up in the foothills of Himalayas in Chandigarh, but it was after ages that the Himalayas called me back. I spent two weeks in Himachal this summer – driving through Spiti Valley – crossing the most difficult roads with stones falling from the top, wading through fast flowing nullahs and stopping my the most pristine of the lakes. Towards the end of the year, I got to visit Gulmarg and Srinagar – both these places were on my wish list for a long time but I must admit this visit just added a long list of destinations to be visited in and around Srinagar.
I re-visited Agra and Taj Mahal and the highlight of the year was visiting Bundi and Chittorgarh. A small trip to Hubli-Dharwad gave me so much to write about Western Chalukyan Temples, Musicians like Dr. Gangubai Hangal and Dr. Mallikarjun Mansur. The year actually began with visiting Bijapur and admiring the Gol Gumbaj. Then came a small trip to Byndoor where I met incredible Chandravathi.
We kept exploring Goa throughout the year discovering lesser-known facets like Bonderam, Dev Deepawali, Arvalem waterfalls or a ride on the backwaters. A highlight though was the full moon night walk on South Goa beaches.
I got to explore Jordan for the first time and I discovered some new parts of rural Thailand their Tai Yuan community.
Travel Blog
2015 was a year when I looked at this blog with some professional seriousness. All these years it has been a platform for my expression, for sharing the joys of traveling, connecting with fellow travelers and learning from them about new destinations or the new way to look at old destinations. It has been a place where I experienced magic like with the story of a Bihar boy or when unknown people wrote to me about how their lives were impacted.
However, in the last couple of years, I saw a commercial interest in the blog and travel blogging emerging as a career option that many youngsters took up voluntarily. So this year, I decided to open IndiTales for commercial associations. I did a couple of small campaigns with some leading brands in the travel domain. I was invited by many tourism boards and hospitality brands to visit their destinations and properties. So, a decent beginning and hope to take it forward in 2016.
Speaker at Conferences
This was a year when I attended a few conferences – mostly as a speaker except one. Some of them are
- Nation Innovation Summit, Mumbai spoke on ‘I for Innovation’.
- Startup Capitals Conference, New Delhi spoke on my book ‘The Mouse Charmers’.
- Startup Capitals Conference, Bangalore spoke on my book ‘The Mouse Charmers’.
- Gurgaon Story – Spoke on the ‘Backyard travels’.
- LitfestX on again ‘I for Innovation’.
- Goa Arts & Literature Festival – moderated a session on ‘Travel Writing’.
2015 began with ‘Innovator of the Year’ award at National Innovation Summit in Mumbai and ended with ‘Best Digital Content’ award for Inditales at Digital Women Awards by SheThePeople TV and Axis Bank.
Those were the highlights of my 2015, tell me where did you travel in 2015.
Have a peaceful 2016.
Good to learn about your journeys in 2015. Wish you a fulfilling and peaceful 2016.
Thank you so much Ranjit and wish you too a very Happy 2016.
Happy New Year!!
a good finish 2 the year.
as u asked i will present my travel places and xperiences later.
Happy New year Dr Karthik.
May god bless you with more interesting visits and lots of stories along-with in 2016.
Thank you so much Ravi Ji – that is the best blessing you can give me.
happy new year Anuradha goyal. i am also from chandigarh but living now in andhra pradesh. hope to recieve more updates from you
Thank you Amarvir and wish you too a very happy 2016. Please subscribe to the newsletter and you would receive updates withe very post and sometimes some surprise gifts too 🙂
This is an interestjng blogpost. In the beginning, You have sharedabiyt toughest roads you treaded on, and then shared the accolades you got. 🙂
A nice way to convey that the path to accomplishments passes through hardships. I like your style of writing.
Thanks Saket, that is a brilliant observation. I did not think of it this way while writing, but now that you say, it seems logical.
That’s an amazing year for you. Hope you secure many more accolades under your sleeve in the new year. 🙂 🙂
Thanks Jatin. Wish you too a very travel happy new year.
Glad to be part of some of the journey you undertook in the year gone by as your co-traveller
Alka, am so glad we did that Spiro trip together and became friends for life.
Wish you all a wonderful and a prosperous new-year!!! 2015 was an awesome year for our company and I hope the same with you as well. As a leading financial & investment advisory group our aim is to increase your revenue and ground on the perfect pitch of investment. This proposal is about a wonderful opportunity for people to invest in India’s best hill station, Kodaikanal. Starting from senior citizens to middle aged people this investment idea will turn as a path breaker for your future generations.
An inspirational post for entry bloggers like me. Happy new year Anuradha and wishing many more successes ahead!!
Thanks Abinaya. Wish you too a successful 2016. Stay connected.
Thanks for an inspiring post like this. Although I have been blogging for about ten years, I am new to travel blogging. I just launched a travel blog. Unlike you, I actually started it with the objective of monetizing it. I already have some other blogs in education that earn me a good income. So starting a travel blog made a lot of business sense to me. But now that I have started working on it, I have also realized that I now enjoy writing more than I ever did. More than travel, my blog is about India – my biggest passion. Hope to take it forward.
Happy that you liked the post Manjusha. I am still trying to figure out how to make money from the blog, for me it is a passion child – and now my mission is to promote India tourism through IndiTales.
Stay Connected.