Arvind Kamath Blog on Travel and Leisure

A trip that changed my life During my stint with IBM in 2012, I got an opportunity to visit Lima for a business meeting with Peru’s leading Bank. It was so ironical that I started my journey on my birthday and ended when my birthday was still on, despite a long 30 hours journey changing 2 flights with 2 stopovers covering about 12,000 miles.  This trip was destined to change my life from the time I boarded a cab from my home to the Bengaluru Airport. While conversing with the cabbie, I was surprised to learn, that he joined an airport taxi company after he struggled to make a mark in his chosen profession. Shastri was a Hindu Priest offering ritual services but could not earn enough money to feed his extended family thanks to declining patronage and his inability to gain a strong foothold in a profession that is already controlled by few senior Priests. Being a junior in the fold, he had to depend on his seniors to earn his income and perform odd jobs to keep his...

Trip to the mystical North East When Travelyaari announced the winners of a Travelog contest, I could not believe that I was declared the runner-up. Such pleasant surprises do not happen often, I said to myself. The prize was in the form of an all expense paid package trip for 2 to either Kaziranga or Alleppey or a hill station at Uttarakhand. I had no doubt in my mind about choosing Kaziranga  and my wife readily agreed. This was after all my maiden visit to the North East.  Just as my itinerary was being finalised, I thought since I am travelling all the way to the North East (about 3,000 kms), why not add mystical Meghalaya to our schedule. I had always learnt about Shillong being the Scotland of the East and Cherrapunjee as the wettest place on Earth....while here was a golden opportunity to visit these 2 places. The trip was planned in early November, when the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary is open to the public after a gap of 6 months. Though locals say March-April ...

My encounter with Earthquakes  As I write this article, more than 10,000 people are feared to be killed in the major earthquake that hit Nepal on 25th April 2015.  Despite the best of technology available to mankind, did anyone predict this earthquake even a few hours before calamity struck this nation? Till date man has not been able to invent a warning system that signals the onset of an earthquake or tsunami unlike hurricane or cyclones, which are predicted days before they strike and with fancy names too.  When cyclone Phallin (classified as Category 1 hurricane) was scheduled to hit the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in October 2013, the various relief agencies in India worked overtime to evacuate  more than 550,000 people to safer areas thus preventing a major disaster. This was possible thanks to advanced technology that can track cyclones.  Such calamities remind us, that we are too small before Mother Nature’s fury....

India - A new leader emerges in Global Humanitarian Aid  We are exposed to a media, that focuses on identifying countries that has supported or not supported the NATO or US led forces. Has the media ever focused enough on countries that also come to the rescue of other nations when in crisis, both man made or natural ? Very rarely do we come across news,  that highlights the humanitarian effort carried on by nations protecting human lives, in foreign terrain. Till a few years ago, India had possibly the worst possible infrastructure available to tackle disasters within the country. A cyclone or earthquake in any part of India meant loss of thousands of human lives.  Moreover the rescue effort took its own sweet time with absolutely no strategy in place to tackle emergency requirement.  Cut to October 2013, when India was staring at cyclone Phailin, equivalent to a category 1 hurricane, the state of Odisha expected around 12 million...

When an opportunity came my way for a short business trip to China, I did not lose a moment to say “YES” I will travel. I wanted to explore this mystical land and experience for myself what China has in store for me especially after hearing not so good reviews about this country, from my friends. This trip did shatter lot of myths and perceptions about this great country. The Chinese are not so friendly with Indians; are very reserved ; they cannot speak English and you will have to use sign language; the cuisine is unpalatable so carry some food stuff from India if you don’t wish to starve etc etc My first touch point was the Immigration folks at the Beijing Airport. I could not believe my eyes when I cleared the immigration process in just 10 seconds flat with no questions asked !! This is unbelievable given the “not so friendly” status with our neighbor. Compared to this, the US and UK immigration folks ask lot of questions especially when they know I am not going to stay b...

The Week | On the Inca trail

On the Inca trail --- Machu Pichhu and Cusco City MachuPichhu, the name resonates with mystery, intrigue and of course one of the new Seven Wonders of the modern world. MachuPichhu in the native quechualanguage means “old mountain”. For me, i t was the journey of alifetime and a dream travel destination that was long awaited. Machu Picchu is today the top tourist destination in South America attracting global tourists. However few Indian touristsvisit this place perhaps due to the long distance involved or lack of awareness.But thanks to the super hit film “Robot”, in which Rajnikanth shakes a leg withAishwarya Rai on top of Machu Pichhu for a popular song inappropriately titled“Kilimanjaro”, Indians have started to realize the potential of this greatarchaeological site. (still from the movie Robot shot at Machu Pichhu in 2010 for the song "Kilimanjaro") Itravelled from Lima , the capital of Peru to Cusco City by flight. The flight lasting approximately 75 minutes offer...