I was reminded of the above incident after the recent fake news about locust swarm in Mumbai. Oh yes! I fell for it again. I was quick to shut all the windows in the house as well as those on the lift landing.

How often do we receive misinformation or worse still, disinformation? But wait. What is misinformation and disinformation? Do they mean the same thing? In a nutshell, the key difference between the two words lies in the “intent”. O.K. Let me explain. 

Misinformation is ‘false information that is spread regardless of intent to mislead’. In simple words, spreading information that is wrong but you don’t know it is wrong. For example, the locust swarms buzzing on social media. So much so that authorities had to clarify there was no such activity in the city (source). Receiving old/outdated information too can be a form of misinformation. 

Disinformation is ‘false or misleading information that is spread deliberately to deceive’. Needless to say, it is very powerful, destructive, and divisive, and is very often a tool of espionage. ][The case of the migrant workers chaos at Mumbai’s Bandra station in mid-April is credited to a viral video of a certain aspirant politician who instigated the mass exodus during the lockdown (source). A lot of news channels have been credited with being a pro-political party which questions the very fundamental basis of journalism – telling the truth as it is, just like a mirror. Is this disinformation? I will let you decide.

Soroush Vosoughi at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and colleagues followed the spread of 126,000 stories on Twitter only to conclude that fake news travels six times faster than the truth on Twitter and that humans, not bots, are primarily responsible for the spread of misleading information (source). With the onset of COVID-19, the amount of misinformation (and at times possibly disinformation) has risen exponentially. A large extent is courtesy unregulated social media platforms. It has become another virus that has plagued mankind. Governments around the world have been grappling with the question of how to stop the spread.

I don’t have the answer but I know that I would like to see more truth than distorted information. So the next time I want to hit the share/forward button, I will stop and think about the fake trail I could possibly be encouraging.

We had planned a holiday to East Europe which clearly evaporated in the summer heat. I was following up on the refund status of our tickets when I slipped into a contemplative mood.

Heat. Mosquitoes. Power cuts. Sunburn. Sweat. Water cuts. A typical Indian summer but who cares! Summer vacations have eternally been a source of everything good and exciting regardless of age, gender or strata of society.

Back in the 80s & 90s, summer vacations for most meant visiting one’s native place, which in most cases was a village/town. To be frank, there wasn’t much choice. The middle class then didn’t have the disposal income or credit like today’s generation. I was no different. Most of my childhood summer vacations were spent in Dapoli climbing trees, chasing away stray bulls and occasionally troops of monkeys, long walks, days out at the beach, guzzling mangoes, jackfruits and cashew apples. It also encompassed at least one visit to the doctor with a vow to be more careful.

Gradually, however, in the past couple of decades, the whole ethos of summer vacation has been upgraded. Overnight bus and train journeys replaced by short/long haul flights, suitcases by strollers, tiffin boxes by pre-booked meals, card and board games by in-flight entertainment. Economic boom made what was once considered luxury affordable and aggrandised every aspect of our vacation travel. The monotony of the destination was no longer limited to the boundaries of our country. Swiss even credit the Indian film industry for the exodus of Indian tourists with life size cutouts of Bollywood movie stars at key locations. The onset of any holiday season is announced with full page ads of package tours to destinations across the globe by tour operators. Ladies special, senior citizens exclusive, ethnic tours, you name the classification, there is a unique group tour available for you in the product line of most agents making you feel at home with ‘Ghar ka Khanna’ regardless of the country you are visiting. Some operators take it to the extreme when the photo of the bavarchee (Indian chef who travels with the group) is taller than the image of Eiffel Tower or Tower of Pisa in the ads. Long queues, fanny packs, overloaded trolleys with kids on top, groups wearing caps revealing the tour operators, tour managers with company flags are all warm reminders for other travellers at airports that summer holidays have started.

My vacations are a stark contrast to the ones I promote and sell. For one, I prefer to take the off beaten path. I enjoy looking for hidden gems. I also like to take things slow, spending enough time in each place to take in the sights and sounds. Favourite destination? It’s hard to compare as each city / country has its own quirks and charm. Usually the unique experiences are most memorable like hiking at Verdon Gorge, cooking lunch on a catamaran in the Mediterranean Sea, staying and helping out in a French vineyard, spending a birthday drifting around Tioman Island, a farm stay in Ratnagiri and descending the nine circles of hell in the Initiation Well of Quinta da Regaleira. Regardless of the location, serve me a sumptuous local dish and an indigenous beverage and I am sorted. I am happy to park all my thoughts, reservations and mild aversion to meat in order to soak up the local culture one morsel at a time.

This article was originally posted on Linkedin Pulse

A line from the epic monologue by Brad Pitt’s character in the movie ‘Fight Club’. I sincerely ate it up when I first saw the movie because let’s be honest, our generation has had the best life has to offer. The stories of struggle or the lack of opportunities told by parents or grandparents seemed unrelatable. Yet, here we are experiencing what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has coined as ‘The Great Lockdown’. No longer the middle children of history, are we?

We are in the middle of Lockdown 3.0. What started out as a Sunday in the house has definitely stretched like a soap opera. From clapping to pay homage for our frontline warriors, to lighting of diyas to show our solidarity, our Prime Minister has made every effort to make this limbo tolerable for the middle class. Woefully, in the travel space layoffs, pay-cuts, leave without pay and credit shells instead of refunds to customers have been the highlights of the lockdown so far. From pursers in the air to porters at airports and stations, everyone is grounded. The worst affected would be guides, drivers, bellboys, waiters etc. for whom a sizable chunk of earnings are through tips and commissions. Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) estimates 4-5 crore job losses directly or indirectly related to tourism with a loss of 1.58 lakh crore in the organized sector alone (source). World Economic Forum (WEF) has pegged 50 million jobs at risk in the global travel & tourism sector with a majority chunk of the number being in Asia alone (source).

So where is the silver lining in all of this which would compel my peers in the industry to be patient, persevere and take up the current crisis as a challenge? What would make the common man trust the airline / taxi driver/ hotel / agent in order to compel him to venture out again? I was personally grappling with such questions for the past month, only to find the answer in the most unlikely place. It was the perplexing sight on the news channels of people bursting crackers and queuing up not for a miracle vaccine but for alcohol. It reminded me that mankind has the ability to learn and move on. We Indians are amply blessed with both qualities, a realization I had when I walked to the hotel I worked at a day after the 26/11 attacks. In 2014 to fly Malaysian Airlines was considered a taboo by many corporates (source). A year later all was forgotten. Taj Mahal Palace hotel has not only withstood the 26/11 terrorist attack but also wars, recessions, the partition and national emergencies. Regardless of the ups and downs of the past three decades, Kashmir remains one of the top tourist destination for a leisure traveler.

The present situation may feel unreal, the future murky but remember this too shall pass and when it does we can proudly tell the future generations: ‘We had the Great Lockdown in our life time. We are not the middle children of history, you are’.

The above article was originally posted on Linkenin Pulse