After a 12+ year corporate stint, this lady gave it all up to travel! Having grown up in an Army cantonment with parents who traveled a lot, she was introduced to the world of traveling since she was just 40 days old! She has been blogging her travel experiences since 2004, with a huge fan following. IndiTales is the website that currently hosts all her travel saga. She is also the author of a bestseller called The Mouse Charmers – Digital Pioneers of India. Currently, she is a consultant for Business Innovation, lives in Goa, and living the life of her dreams. Introducing to you all, the ever-inspiring woman, bitten by a wanderlust bug – Anuradha Goyal.
Traveler By Instinct
My basic belief is that we are all travelers; born travelers by instinct. If you read the history of mankind we have always been travelers. Not all of us get to explore to that extent but some of us do. It’s an addiction and people like me would do it more often given the choice.
I like having a first-hand travel experience; which is why I first go interact with the local people. I’m inclined towards places which are historical, which have lived for a longer time. They have so many layers to be explored. But when I visit another country, I read up a bit so that I know what to see. I always leave space for some unstructured things to happen though!
I would love to travel around the world to see all the UNESCO world heritage sites. I want to walk around as much as possible when I’m exploring. I wish to feel the place and become a part of that place. My best stories happen when I get up in the morning and go for a walk!
The Speaking Place
When you are in Old Delhi, you can still see the signs of the forest that has been there, may be from the times of Mahabharata. You get to see some signs of each era, symbolizing how we have evolved, and it is fun to explore! You must keep your eyes open to the wisdom. While traveling if you close your mind and let all your senses absorb everything, the places speak to you. The mountains, rivers and jungles speak to you. Even a crowded street speaks to you!
Traveling Is Expensive – Myth Busted
Traveling can be as basic and as expensive as you want it to be. It depends on the goal of your travel. If you want to unwind in a luxury hotel you need more money. On the other hand if your focus is on exploring the place itself, then a small budget is sufficient. You can always try couch surfing, which is hopping from one home to another for a couple of days.
I love hosting people, so I have hosted people from 30 countries in my house. I have built a financial base for myself and I still work in the travel industry to earn my living. Hotel chains are ready to work with me. Traveling is not difficult. If you are lazy, everything is difficult, and you’ll find 101 reasons not to do it.
Backyard Travel
When I was in Pune, I went for a heritage walk with a friend of mine. When she walked with me, she said that she was unaware of the existence of those places in spite of being there for 8 years. Wherever I go, I hear this from people who have lived there, including tour guides. This shows how much potential our own cities have. Unfortunately, unless there’s a glamor quotient or brand value in travel, we don’t explore the places.
The Corporate Experience
When I started working, I had decided that I will quit at the age of 35 and I did quit. I had a good career and I was one of the top performers. I knew that after a while the work will become repetitive and monotonous. There would be nothing new. For me the need of basic existence is to learn something every day, and not to answer questions like- ‘Which core team are you a part of?’ and ‘How much do you earn?’
In the last few years, I’ve been out of the corporate world, and what I’ve learned in this recent span is so much that the 12 years of my corporate stint seems like the nursery class of my life! I’m standing on my own now without any brand name supporting me. When I worked at Infosys, just the brand name would help me get a lot of work done. It was instant recognition! But today, people know me for who I am and what I do. No one can take that away from me.
About Inditales
I started writing about traveling in 2004. My identity as a traveler came up after that. I moved to the IndiTales domain in 2014. I receive constant queries on my blog from readers about different places. But more than that people tell me about the new places. That’s my biggest learning. My readers know what I like and tell me to visit a particular place when they know I’m there. I have discovered more places through my readers than on my own! They give me lot of information, energy, encouragement, push, and inspiration that I need.
Tourism In India
Personally, I feel tourism has a lot of potential in India. My blog has also become a catalyst in generating employment in the tourism industry. I’ve addressed some careers in tourism, which people are not aware of. For instance, I’ve just written a post on how to be a naturalist. What are the options for one to be a naturalist? The tourism industry has a huge untapped potential. I hope I will be able to work with the Govt. of India to work on this more.
People usually travel to popular destinations like Agra, Delhi and Mumbai. Nobody thinks of going to Kolhapur for tourism! But if you go and explore that city it has so much of history, heritage, and nature. While it has a huge religious tourism angle, the cultural angle has not been explored at all. There are over 50 such cities I know of and million villages yet to be explored. This is an opportunity where people can find employment in their own villages and towns. By being in your own city and showcasing it to the world, you are interacting with the world and creating employment at the same time.
(This interview is written based on an audio transcript.)