He is always on the move – literally – whether it is regarding work of his company Kesari Tours, or exploring the world pursuing his passion for travel, or about promoting the Marathi movies that he produces, or running a Marathon or grabbing a bite of his favourite sea food meal – Himanshu Patil, Director, Kesari Tours and Vice President, OTOAI, is nothing short of “energy” on the go. A man who has been handling group tours since the age of 16, he has the ‘travel bug’ running in his body alongside blood and the milestones that he has achieved in the last three decades have been nothing short of miraculous. Now that he is enjoying his “Fabulous 40s”, here’s a look at his colourful journey so far…
Priyanka Saxena Ray
For me, Himanshu is a fun industry colleague, who always has a joke to share. We often meet during the trade events and enjoy a good laugh together. It was not until I sat down with him for a formal interview did I realise the magnitude of his business and his passion for exploring the world and of course, running. Born and brought up in a humble family in Maharashtra, his early years were spent in a small place called Mathane, till he moved to Mumbai at the age of 8. His father was a partner with a leading travel agency and it was much later in 1983 that he started his own travel company ‘Kesari Tours’. Youngest of the four siblings, Himanshu too, like his brothers and sisters started getting involved in his father’s business much early in life.
“Initially, most of our business comprised curating trips to the Kashmir as it was a hot-selling destination at that time. We would take as many as 10 coaches to the region on a trip. I conducted my first group tour to Kashmir when I was 16. When in 1989 Kashmir started developing problems, we started looking for other holiday options and shifted focus to Shimla, Darjeeling, Nainital, Kullu – basically we were concentrating on domestic travel only at that time. Soon enough people whom we would take on domestic holidays started enquiring about international holidays as well. They would come up to us and say that we like your services and would like to travel internationally also with you. Thus it was a mutual decision of the entire family and Kesari Tours started curating international holidays in 1995 and never looked back since,” he reminisces.
While initially the company focussed primarily on selling holidays to South-East Asia, it took them just a couple of years to start handling big international tours with large number of people. In 2013, the split happened in this family run business and the siblings parted ways. While the eldest went on to form her own company, the remaining three stuck together at Kesari Tours. The business at Kesari continued to grow and flourish and Himanshu felt it was time to do something new. “I knew people in the film industry and thought to try my hand at Marathi film producing. While the first venture that I produced did not do well, the second movie – ‘Take Care. Goodnight.’ Did well and was the state government’s nomination to Cannes as well,” he shares.
A true travel aficionado, Himanshu was bitten by ‘explore the world’ bug much early in life and as a result, he has seen more than 100 countries so far! Even though he has seen majority of the world, he continues to pursue his desire to discover new places every year and he best likes exploring these place on ‘self-drive’. Not the one to concentrate on restricting his knowledge and experience to self, Himanshu is one of the founding members of OTOAI (Outbound Tour Operators Association of India) and continues to serve the outbound travel industry in the capacity of Vice President.
Realising that sitting in office for long hours and extensive travelling schedule is making his life devoid of any exercising, Himanshu started his routine of “morning walk”, which soon turned into “morning jog”. “I never realised I had it in me until I started doing it myself. Running is very liberating for me. While I keep running the local Marathons, there are 6 major world marathons, out of which I have done 3 – Berlin, New York and Chicago. I am running Tokyo in March and London Marathon on April 28. By 2020, I will complete all 6,” he adds.
A complete Gemini who gives people ample space to be the way they are, Himanshu has lived his life on his terms and continues to do so. Going by the mantra to ‘Live for Today’, he enjoys the finer aspects of life and would like his daughter, the apple of his eye, to do the same. With Kashmir and Innsbruck as his favourite holiday destinations, Himanshu still has North Pole to tick off his wish list. Well, seeing the pace at which he is moving forward in life, we don’t think there will be much left in his ‘wish-list’ soon!
