The Moodie Davitt Roarport The Moodie Davitt Report is providing exclusive daily coverage of Wild Tiger’s Roar Trip, one of travel retail’s boldest CSR initiatives, via our special line extension, The Moodie Davitt Roarport. Via phone and social media, we’ll be with Gautom Menon and Paul George Vedanayagam on every stretch of their epic 65-day road trip from Kerala to Cannes and be there to greet them on the French Riviera when they arrive on the eve of the TFWA World Exhibition. We are unlikely to be alone. More news on that coming soon. Duty free retailers: If you’d like to meet Gautom and Paul along the way (see their destination course below) let us know at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com. |
RUSSIA. Now well-advanced on their epic journey towards Cannes, the Wild Tiger co-pilots Gautom Menon and Paul George Vedanayagam have reached Moscow for an action-packed day which is touched by sadness.
Moscow oozes artistry, history, majesty and turmoil at every corner. Its historic core is the Kremlim, the home of Russian President Vladimir Putin and scene of so many historic moments sinces the famous walls were constructed in 1485. Famous sites include Red Square, The Bolshoi Theatre, Gorky Park, Lenin’s Mausoleum and St Basil’s Cathedral, renowned for its colourful, onion-shaped domes.
The Wild Tiger team took in plenty of these sights, but first paid an early visit to the Indian embassy, housed in a magnificent heritage building in Moscow’s Tagansky District.
There was history of a different, more personal, kind too. One of the earliest Indian Ambassadors to Russia was the late KPS Menon – a member of Gautom’s paternal family – who represented his country between 1952 and 1961 – Mr Menon had been chosen by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, as the country’s first Foreign Secretary in 1948.
At the embassy, Ambassador Bala Venkatesh Varma encouraged his young Indian Foreign Service officers to join in a discussion on tiger conservation. According to Gautom, they were very keen to spread the word to Indians living in Russia.
A meeting with local media followed, with Gautom using the opportunity to spread even further his tiger conservation cause.
A successful morning was topped with “the finest Indian meal in Moscow” as Gautom and Paul George joined Anand Singh at the Darbar’s restaurant, which rates a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence.
That sparked another family-related memory for Gautom as Anand was employed by Gautom’s father in Moscow in the early 90s. He worked at Harley International, a company which traded in Indian tea and coffee. Today, as Gautom points out, Anand is one of the most successful businessmen of Indian origin in Russia and serves as Senior Vice President in Hindustani Samaj of Russia.
The Hindustani Samaj is the oldest Indian organisation in Russia. It was set up in 1957 and, according to the Indian Embassy website, has remained at the forefront of social and cultural life in Moscow. Talking to The Moodie Davitt Roarport, Gautom notes his family’s deep pride in Anand’s success.
From there the tearaway tiger twosome visited Regstaer Duty Free to meet with Vadim Sagiev, Elena Dudko and their colleagues.
Sadly, as Gautom reported, the mood was sombre as Vladimir, one of their most loved and long-serving colleagues had lost his life in a recent kayaking accident. However, the Regstaer team made a great effort to welcome the Wild Tiger duo and to hear about their campaign.
“The news about their colleague passing away made us realise that life is so fragile and that disaster can strike even when one is doing something they are so passionate about. Our hearts go out to the family of Vladimir and the employees and management of Regstaer,” Gautom says. He and Paul dedicated the day in honour of the loss of a good man in travel retail.
Next stop was the headquarters of the Amur Tiger Foundation, which was founded by Vladimir Putin in 2013.
Also known as Siberian tigers, the Amurs, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), were once found throughout the Russian Far East, northern China and the Korean peninsula. By the 1940s, hunting had driven the Amur tiger to the brink of extinction, with no more than 40 animals remaining in the wild. The subspecies was saved when Russia became the first country in the world to grant the tiger full protection.
Gautom and Paul George discussed best practices and fund-raising approaches with the Amur Tiger Foundation staff before taking photographs. Much to their surprise and delight, they were gifted a large portrait of a Siberian Tiger and offered, in return, a selection of Wild Tiger merchandise.
The day was capped with a typical Russian dinner in a new September bar very close to the Kremlin. Old and new friends mingled over a glass of Russian wine and, of course, the Wild Tiger twosome found time to take snaps in the Red Square, not forgetting their own, trusty ‘majestic’ TRiger, the Tata Hexa with plenty of tiger in its tank, that has purred and roared Gautom and Paul all the way from Kerala to Moscow. The Roartrip continues.
##RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation
HOW TO SUPPORT THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP
Via the official website – www.roartrip.in
Or:
Account Name: Roar Trip WTF
Account No: 6766903189
Bank Name: Indian Bank
Branch: Sivananda Colony Branch, Coimbatore – 641 012,
Tamil Nadu, India
IFS Code : IDIB000S075 /SWIFT: IDIBINBBCBE
Please encourage your colleagues, friends and family to consider doing so.
En route to Cannes, the daring duo will be meeting up with other travel retailers. Those wishing to ‘meet and greet’ them are encouraged to make contact. Yes, Gautom will be checking his email: gautom@wildtiger.in
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EARLIER ON THE WILD TIGER ROARTRIP…
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: India → Myanmar → Thailand → Laos → China → Krygyzstan → Kazakhstan
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: Stranded at the border but captivated by the view
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: Goodbye China, hello Kyrgyzstan as epic journey passes halfway
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: Mountains, deserts and the Great Wall of China
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: Landslides, Hotpot and Terracotta Warriors
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: New frontiers for The Roar Crew
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’: A tiger gets loose in Laos
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 13-15: Turning on the (King) Power in Bangkok
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 12: Crossing the Indo-Myanmar Friendship Bridge
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 9-11: “For their tomorrow, we gave our today”
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 7 & 8: The Tigers Who Came to Tea
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 5 & 6: Wild Tigers become Bengal Tigers
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Days 4 & 5: The team earn their stripes but not a tiger in sight
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 3: High times in Hyderabad
The Moodie Davitt ‘Roarport’ Day 2: Wild Tiger roars into Dufry Bengaluru
#RoarTrip, #Roarforourtigers, #KeralatoCannes, #WildTigerFoundation #TigerConservation
ABOUT WILD TIGER RUM: Kerala-based Wild Tiger is India’s first rum to be produced from a blend of molasses and cane spirit. The rum’s velvet tiger print stripe packaging reflects the fact that no two tigers share the same stripe pattern – so the stripe design of the sleeve has been designed and cut to ensure that no two bottles are alike.Wild Tiger made its Indian travel retail debut in February 2016 and is now available in 53 countries.
ABOUT WILD TIGER FOUNDATION (WTF): Wild Tiger Foundation is a CSR initiative by Wild Tiger Rum, which contributes 10% of its profits to the cause. It is a registered non-profit organisation headquartered in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India that focuses on the conservation of the tiger and its habitat by raising funds and creating awareness. It was founded in 2015 by drinks entrepreneur Gautom Menon and Coimbatore-based businessman Suprej Venkat.
The primary focus is the conservation of tigers and their habitats within the state of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, specifically Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. Wild Tiger Foundation acts as an influencer and an enabler.India had around 100,000 tigers in the mid-19th century. Today it has around 2,200, underlining the urgency of the conservation cause.
