The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : The art of discovering places Tourism trail

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Tuesday, Sep 30, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

The art of discovering places Tourism trail

John L. Paul

KOCHI: Life has been more than a long and interesting tale for Hugh and Colleen Gantzer, travel writers. Their German names have often landed them in knotty situations.

From hosts looking out for the “blonde German and fair man” at the airport, to hotel receptionists asking for their passports, they have quite many interesting episodes to narrate. The couple are Anglo-Indians, with Mr. Hugh’s great great grandfather being a Dane. They have travelled to most Indian States and to a good number of countries abroad, arming themselves with valuable information.

Their foray into travel writing was in the early 1970’s, when Mr Hugh (now a retired Commander from the Indian Navy) was working with the legal wing at the Southern Naval Command, Kochi. “Picturesque Kerala moulded us as travel writers,” said Ms Colleen, who spoke of how they used to travel across the State in their scooter. “We used to put our bag containing clothes and other essentials on the scooter, with our four-year-old son atop it. Friends like Jose Dominic of the ‘cghearth’ and the Tharakans guided us about interesting locales.”

Finally, Mr. Hugh left the Navy and took to travel writing in a big way. The couple decided to hew out their own path in the field, which was then mostly confined to “what to eat and how to get there”. “Our aim was to convey that it is all about the art of discovering the magic of ordinary people, places and things,” said Mr Hugh, a native of Uttarakhand.

In 1974, the couple wrote a guide book on Kerala for the ITDC, which was never published. In another year, they wrote a series of articles for the ‘Illustrated Weekly’, the first one on Kerala. Once they became established names in magazines and newspapers, different States began to invite them to visit locales and write on them. They also prepared travel documentaries for Doordarshan.

“We give no guarantee to the hosts that we would write only the good aspects of a destination or hotel. After all, we do not make a living by travelling, but by writing on travelling. There have been instances of hotels that advertise as being located facing the beach, being at a ‘huffing distance’ of the beach,” said a laughing Mr Hugh.

Having experienced first hand different locales within and outside India, the couple say in unison that foreigners give top priority to societal hygiene, something which is last on the list of most Indians. Ms Colleen narrated two incidents which changed the perception of Malayalees as an arrogant set of people.

“My car had a flat tyre on two occasions in Kochi, both on busy roads. Not knowing the language and how to replace the tyre, I grew nervous. On seeing this, some attimari (headload) workers, who are not very popular among people, rushed to help change the tyre and even redirected traffic.”

Their latest book ‘Looking Beyond’, containing travelogues on places within the country and outside, was released at the recently-held Kerala Travel Mart in Kochi.

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