"THANK YOU   TripAdvisor ! "

Very few people in this world get to do what they love - as part of their profession.

…..and to be able to bundle it all together is a matter of great luck.

For me my first love is to catch people doing right - the second is to teach in hotels – third is to write – and the fourth is photography.

For many years I would do this as 4 separate streams – till something phenomenal happened to me around June 2014.

Through a well-wisher of mine- Sanjeev Mahajan, owner of Fortune Select Excalibur, Gurgaon. (I call it a magical stroke of luck). I came to know of something called Trip Advisor.

Till then I had only heard about TripAdvisor – but it was only in 2014 that I came to know about the power of this platform.

I started to pen my reviews on Trip Advisor from thereon - and one thing to led to another thereafter.

Soon I realised that it is a platform which is allowing me to connect with all my passions in one shot ..... I can write about the hotels I visit for my workshops…I can catch people doing right on my reviews ….and I can shoot pictures too. In the process I can also  contribute to the traveller community . Isn’t this amazing I thought to myself! 

As I write this blog I have 307 reviews on Trip Advisor now - 192 unique restaurants, 91 Hotels and 24 Aviation reviews. My reviews have been read by 1.35 lac people and I have had the good fortune of contributing 4000+ photographs on this platform. Sitting at 1.5 lac points I am a Level 6 contributor !

However I remain humble to this day - and I remain honest to my intentions and passions.

This story is not about my statistics – this is about how the universe comes together to help you – when you really want something earnestly.

This is also a story of my gratitude to Trip Advisor for allowing me to contribute on their platform, and to the hundreds of Chefs and members from the hotel industry who inspired me to write on them.

I feel very fortunate to be in this position.

Bakery Chef Ravinder Belwal of Fortune Select Excalibur crafted the cake showcased in this blog . Brand Master Chef Inder Dev from the same hotel orchestrated the ceremony. 

The cake cutting  was held on August 12, 2016  at Fortune Select Excalibur - which  also happens to be the hotel on which I wrote my first TripAdvisor review. ( Interestingly I had mentioned Chef Ravinder's name there too).

Text by: R Kesava Mallia in Hyderabad.

Pictures: Fortune Select Excalibur, Gurgaon.