Local and professional travel and tourism service provider. A to Z for Pondicherry, Auroville and all surrounding regions. Specialist in CULTURE, CRAFTS, NATURE, ADVENTURE, MUSIC, CUISINE, SPIRITUAL.programs Helpful in Community based, local, offbeat, immersive, hands on, interactive, meaningful, discerning travel.”
My name is VenkataSubramanian. G. People call me Venkat.
I was born and brought up in Pondicherry- did all my education from schooling, Bachelors in Commerce and MBA in tourism in Pondicherry. After a short time at investment banking at Bangalore. I returned to Pondicherry to play a role in local tourism. The two year program at the Pondicherry university shaped my endeavors in such a way that my creative thoughts were put to action. My first baby step was at The TravelMate – There I learnt basics, approaches, ethics and ideals of the tourism industry – I worked as a Travel consultant, I was networking at local level for Pondicherry’s very own compelling travel guide book Repos. Travel Mate was my launch pad. With my successful launch and learnings, I worked for a pioneering responsible tourism company called The Blue Yonder at various capacities for 3 years – There the idea of tourism was building travel experiences surrounding a social impact project sharing stories and resilience of communities. I was exposed to the ideas of sustainable, responsible and community based travel pan India.
Further, It was of my liking to build circuits in and around pondicherry with my learnings from previous organisation. I worked for Aura, a place at the beach, Pondicherry. It is part of Sri Aurobindo Society – have curated circuits with various local craftsmen who are practising their art for generations. I help to share their stories to travellers visiting Pondicherry through the travel desk. At my helm at AURA – I have conducted various special interest programs in and around pondicherry- I have – to my content, documented and synthesized the communities beyond the boulevard area of pondicherry. I have conducted various special interest programs like Sacred grove walk, Masi magam festival walk, Bahour – The rice bowl Trail, Bioregion experience, Forest trail in and around pondicherry. I have also anchored 30 episodes for a local TV channel during Corona time- it had 4 segments – my segment is for 15-20 mins – I highlighted different personalities and lesser known information about Pondicherry.
My areas of interest are Culture, heritage, crafts, stories, social impact, sustainability and community prime, nature based areas and conservation, people and personalities, Carbon neutrality & climate resilience.
Now I have started my own travel unit called – Pondicherry Beach Escapes and the story starts now.