Celebrating the country's quest to explore, National Geographic Channel announces the launch of Mission Explorer, a hunt to identify and felicitate individuals who by following their passion have achieved the extraordinary. Rupinder Kaur reports
The extraordinary tales of ordinary people across various neck of the woods often go unnoticed. They might be small heroes because of their own initiatives whose stories need to travel in order to inspire and give hope. These individuals often venture into uncharted territories with almost no support but manage to emerge unscathed with their fists raised in the air.
National Geographic Channel (NGC) recently announced the launch of Mission Explorer, a hunt for people who have made an impact by taking a leap ‘Beyond Boundaries’ under three categories — music and art, innovation and technology and nature and travel. The participant may upload a video of their story with a short description after which top 10 entries will be selected by the NGC panel, following which, the jury would choose the final three winners who also get to visit Machu Picchu.
The jury comprises of veteran electronica duo MIDIval Punditz; India’s first recognised woman surfer Ishita Malaviya; Tushar Agarwal and Sanjay (first Indians to achieve 90,000-km trip crossing almost 50 countries in the same car) and Arjun Venkatraman, who has assisted various communities, both in India and outside, to share information and reports within their community via technology.
We spoke to the uber cool surfer girl Ishita Malaviya who said, “NGC wanted me to share my story about how I decided to pursue something I'm passionate about and inspire others to do the same. I’m really excited to see the stories that come out through this.”
The 26-year-old started surfing eight-years-ago when she moved to Manipal to pursue her further studies. “My boyfriend and I discovered surfing over there. We had to sell pretty much everything we had to buy our first surfboard and it took over our lives because it is was so much fun and it is a healthy lifestyle. After this, I couldn’t imagine moving back to the city and do a 9-5 job and not be able to surf everyday. It was a major lifestyle decision for me,” she told us.
It was during her college days, when she met a German exchange student who was learning to surf with a bunch of surfers from California living in an ashram nearby. “He introduced us to them and they gave us a few lessons. We had to pretty much teach ourselves how to surf, we were watching YouTube videos. For two years, we just had like one board.”
In order to purchase more surf equipment, the duo started giving surf lessons to others. “Since then, we’ve been growing and also working very closely with the local community. Our school — The Shaka Surf Club is based in a small fishing village called Kodi Bengre which is near Udupi (Karnataka). When we went to the village, we realised that most of the fishermen themselves don't know how to swim. They live in fear and in India, there is a major fear of the ocean and surfing is a very exclusive sport and is expensive,” Malaviya said. She also wants the kids of the fishermen community to appreciate the resources they have.
Speaking at the event, Swati Mohan, business head of FOX International Channels (India), said, “Mission Explorer is celebrating the spirit of exploration and it is about curious minds. These people are the makers, viewers and the consumers of the channel and the brand which is all about wanting to learn more, see more and do more. A lot of people have crossed boundaries and have dared to take the plunge into the unknown and that is what makes them the explorers and if that spirit dies in people, we are not going to have National Geographic. We thought it was a good time to tell people that you’ve got a good idea, or an invention and you want to do something daring, we will support that mission.