A Few FUN Facts About TRAVEL PAJAMAS Online & Print Magazine
So yesterday while walking in the evening I was wondering what the hell has happened to the fun of traveling? While I do firmly believe and practice that to be able to do discretionary travel is a privilege, a blessing, from the benign Universe given to the chosen one. So that basically means you are blessed to be able to travel at will while for most of the people on earth travel is either a function of a dire need like traveling for job/family function or deeply ingrained in faith that motivates one to travel. A visit to the Kumbh Mela or any other shrine by Hindus & at least once in a lifetime performing Haj are examples of travel due to faith.
Then there are folks for whom travel is a process of seeing the world, meeting friends that they have never known existed in far off lands. But then with the advent of social media and Influencer Marketing in the travel domain the last bit of fun was extracted from travel and it actually became a ” JOB”, a FAM trip to be ” BAGGED”, a newspaper mention to be flaunted a Twitter campaign to be blasted, a Facebook group to be protected like a fiefdom with my way or highway kind of rules and last but not the least , a selfie from a famous place to be Instagrammed. All these could be fun but the moment all these are also the source of Income for the traveler then it is no longer an enlightening a fun experience it is just another Job only you are competing with a million other travelers / Instagrammers / Youtubers. Each of the younger person joining the bandwagon is more tech savvy. willing to jump higher, shed more clothes and go a mile extra than the person before him or her.
Sorry to say this but dear friends TRAVEL for the sake of social media and bagging contracts is not liberating or anything haloed as we may believe, actually, we have invented our own version of RAT RACE, just like I say in my Twitter bio. Yes I too am guilty as charged & part of the same Chooha Daud.
Anyways these are election times and a about 10 days ago I just posted a fun status on Facebook about me starting my own political party for travelers and calling it “Travel Pajamas”.
I received many fun responses and things fizzled off just like they always do on social media. Check the post here
So while walking yesterday I thought of taking the concept of Travel Pajamas a bit further and just for fun, I created this poster in Canva. I think it took me around 5 minutes to do this, which led to a few typos too. Which if you know me would know I don’t have a clue about spelling and grammar or punctuation for that matter. I am not proud of it, but I am not worried about it also 😛 . God bless the wonderful editors out there who have the patience of a Zen master topped with eagle eyes to spot even the minutest flaws in the written words.
After I posted the image on Facebook, I forgot about it. Today morning when I got up I realized I have received literally hundreds of messages congratulating me on the initiative. Many of the wonderful photographers and travel writers have offered to help me and write for the coming issue of the magazine. Initially, I was surprised that almost nobody got the April Fool’s prank, more so as many of my friends were aware of my starting the ” Travel Pajamas” political party joke earlier.
I went through the messages and I was totally amazed at the love, good wishes and trust people have showered. I did not have the heart to say that it was an April First Joke. So I want to thank each one of the wonderful people who has congratulated me on the same, and while now it is just a prank post, I do hope one day with support of the wonderful friends and family who support me in all my endeavors, serious or not so serious we may see in real life a ” Travel Pajamas” magazine. Special thanks to all those who have liked the name ” Travel Pajamas” 🙂
Once again thanks a lot for joining me in this fun and I apologize if I have hurt you or wasted your time. All I can say is ” Happy Fools Day or Fool’s day is the correct way?
Either way ” Bura Na Mano desi Hai 😛
But just like I said, you never know this ” Travel Pajamas” is something that may actually see the light of day sometime in future, so if you are still keen on collaborating you know how to reach me
🙂 🙂 🙂
thanks for sharing this nice post…..
Haha! that was a good one. These days people are almost forgetting the Fool’ day pranks. Back in school, I never used to believe even the normal things imagining it to be a prank. Thanks for for taking me back.
Hi Bhavya: Glad you enjoyed… but like I said you never know 🙂
OH!! what a let down! i love the name ‘Travel Pajamas’ and really hope this prank comes true.
🙂 You never know.. thanks 🙂
Hahaha! I like this desi Humour. 🙂
😛 😛 😛
Congratulations, Best wishes for TRAVEL PAJAMAS magazine.
Thanks 🙂