LET’S BREAK BARRIERS…ROCK THE WORLD

Published in the Sunday Vijay Karnataka on 14 July, 2024

Let’s make time for ourselves and show some self-love. Our family's happiness begins with our own joy. So let’s go! Travel! Explore! Celebrate life... Celebrate womanhood!

Our concern is not about what we should be doing on December 31st or where we should be on January 1st. At that moment, we are enjoying a tranquil holiday, and our destination is our own home. After numerous journeys undertaken throughout the year, it feels good to welcome the New Year by offering obeisance to the deity in its abode at our home. We have been on travel spree for three out of the five months at the beginning of this year. And therefore, there couldn’t be a better destination than our home for the summer months. Another important thing to note is that to celebrate Christmas and New Year, at least five thousand Veena World guests travel to different destinations domestically and internationally. While Veena World tour managers accompany them, backing them 24x7 office team. And therefore, even though we don’t need to look into the day-to- day operations, we prefer staying back in the Mumbai office during the peak holiday seasons of summer (April-May-June), Diwali, and Christmas. No matter where or what problem arises, it becomes easier to solve it immediately by co-ordinating with each other. In times of trouble, we need everyone’s help and coordination, which is why we remain together.
A few days ago, we were watching the movie ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ on Netflix. Even after more than a decade of its theatrical release, this movie continues to cast a spell on us. Shot exclusive in Spain, this movie is indeed very close to our hearts. The quote ‘Darr Ke Aagey Jeet Hai’ (Beyond our fears lies the victory) from this movie has really appealed to me. It conveys living life happily, enjoying it to the fullest, not burdening your mind, and not being afraid. Let's face fear and banish it from our lives forever. Face it and overcome it.

In fact, 'Darr ke aage jeet hai' is also an iconic tagline from one of the soft drink advertisements. Nowadays, we are avoiding soft drinks and packaged foods as we have become conscious enough and adapting a healthy lifestyle for ourselves and our loved ones. Staying healthy in mind and body forms the base of Veena World’s Women’s Special tours. Let's laugh, dance, sing, run, jump, indulge, cross the borders of home, village, city, state, and country, step ahead with confidence, and make life happy. Let’s make our lives and our homes, happier than ever!

Earlier, I used to go meet women on our Women's Special Tours travelling across destinations – from Leh Ladakh to London, Shimla to San Francisco, Australia to America. Wherever Women's Special Tours were organized, I used to be there. I travelled a lot but never got tired because on every tour, the women enjoyed themselves in their own way. The excitement among women travelling on these tours filled me with renewed zest and zeal. There was no limit to my joy in seeing the transformation of women draped in a nine-yard saree trying out a five-year saree, the one who is used to draping around and five-yard saree trying out palazzo, and so on and so forth… Churidar to Jeans, Jeans to Skirts, wearing chic swimming costumes and splashing into the pool, and more. I want to express my gratitude to all these women because they renewed my vigour and added more meaning to my life and business. Beyond the accounting of a business, these Veena World Women’s Special tours rendered it a unique kind of satisfaction that we always seek for in our work. Over the years, watching women break barriers and enjoy themselves freely, gave me the satisfaction of having contributed, even in a small way, to fulfilling a need of the society.

It took many years to come out of the taboo of ‘How can I travel alone? What will people say?’. On every tour, I used to say the same thing during conversations with women: we know educating and empowering a girl is empowering the society, likewise, making a girl happy holds the secret to the joy of the entire household. This is an attempt to make this girl happy through tourism. Don’t put yourself into guilt. You need to step out of your house and enjoy; you owe this to yourself. Tourism is our charger. You should charge yourself at least once every three months, six months, or a year and then face life with a smile.

Women gradually overcame the guilty feeling. Our next aim was to bring about a change in the perspective of families, who was till then perceiving a women’s travel in a different way. We didn’t want to force anything on anyone, whatsoever. Saint Augustine has said, ‘The world is a book and those who don’t travel read only a page of it’, and we couldn’t agree more. Women have begun travelling alone big time now. And this positive change in them has started resonating with their family members too. The ones who were once upon a time strong critics of this concept themselves starting travelling on these tours. Eventually the family realised the importance of lending some me-time to the lady of the house and now the situation is such that, people are actually gifting Veena World Women’s Special tours to the women in their lives.

I introduced the concept of Women’s Special tours some seventeen years ago, i.e. in 2006, made it successful and after the foundation of Veena World, we have Women’s Special tours departing every week, at times even every day to destination across India and around the world and I must say, women on these tours are indeed having the time of their lives.      They are truly indulging themselves, showing self-love, clicking pictures to their heart’s content, pampering themselves and almost living life Queen Size on tours. Well, while all this was happening, the Veena World Women's Special has never compromised on decency and elegance, and this is one of the main reasons why Veena World has been operating as many of these tours successfully, across the globe.

Seventeen years later, i.e. last year, we started bringing in some more changes in the Women’s Special tours for the better. Rafting, Kayaking, Hiking, Trekking, Desert Safari, Wildlife Safari, Jet Boat Ride, Sunset Cruise, and Scientific Massage have been included wherever possible. Alongside Indian food, local delights have also been added to the menu. Earlier, we used to insist on serving Indian food everywhere, but now, due to the availability of worldwide cuisines in India itself, we all have developed a taste for global cuisine, and that resulted in the rising demand for getting authentic local delicacies of the destinations we are visiting, added to the menu. And we this brought about the needful changes. Women’s Special tours became ever the more happening thanks to various new added experiences, adventure activities, fashion shows, ramp walks, and other activities. The number of girlfriends groups and family girl gang groups that came on these popular tours eventually began to increase. And yes, even if you join in solo, you need not worry, because Veena World guarantees to give you a room partner at no extra charge at all.

So girls, come, let’s travel explore celebrate life around the world, Veena World style! Let’s pump up our confidence, broaden our horizons, have fun, and make magical memories to last a lifetime. Let’s rediscover ourselves sometimes by the blue waters in ​​Mauritius, at times along atop the Himalayas in Leh Ladakh, at times in the land of liberty - America, at times in the pomp of the English royalty, at times amidst the stunning nature’s bliss in Europe and at times on a beach in Thailand. Let’s break free and unleash our true selves. It’s time we broke barriers and rocked the world!
Let's break barriers and rock the world!

Weekly newspaper articles penned by Veena Patil, Sunila Patil, and Neil Patil can also be found on the Veena World website - www.veenaworld.com.