Service years: 1971 - 1986
Late Dr KVC Narayanan Nair, freedom fighter and ayurveda practician, once travelled up north from the small town of Kozhikode/Calicut, Kerala for paying the final rites of his parents and to have darshan at the Kasi Viswanath Jyotirlinga Mandir, to the incredible city of the then Kasi (now Varanasi). His unfortunate experiences as a pilgrim to the old city of Kasi and the way he could manage to make it a successful pilgrimage made him decide to accompany all the fellow travelers who requested his guidance, every other time someone traveled up north from his hometown. From the journeys in 1971 to Kasi to the Devbhumi Haridwar to Chardham of Himalayas.. so continued the adventurous milestones of our founder. For 14 long years, the Yathra Guru, managed to continue his travel business single handedly.
Service years: 1985 – 2022 (Managing Director 1999 – 2022)
At a juncture where our Guru had to join hands to take Vivekananda Travels ahead, in 1985, he chooses his second son, Mr. C Narendran, to continue the legacy. Passionate in travel, sincere in work, committed to service, compassionate to the needy, his integrity and charismatic leadership skills took us, Vivekananda Travels, to the glory and heights which no other tour operators from the small-town Kozhikode & Kerala had ever touched before during his span of 37 years as the proprietor, partner & later (in 1999) the founding Chairman & Managing Director of Vivekananda Travels Private Limited. As part of instilling a travel culture in Kerala, Narendran was keen on tailormade short and long tours, that suits all pockets, purpose, catering to all walks of travelers. He is known for formulating itineraries that quickly popularizes itself for its efficiency. Expansion from pilgrim tours to national integrity tours, both pilgrim & holiday packages & servicing international holiday tours was under his leadership. Our verticals: Vivekananda Transport Company, Theertha Sarathy (Kerala’s first Malayalam travel magazine), The Dream Journey (English Version of Theertha Sarathy Magazine) were founded & managed under his leadership. From popularizing Sabarimala pilgrimage in Malabar to being the pioneer in organizing Holy Mt Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage & Shri Amarnath pilgrimage from Kerala, the success saga of a common man turned entrepreneur continues. The trust, the service, the safety, and the delight that Mr Narendran gift his fellow pilgrims and tourists took him to the heights of winning the Kerala State Award for the Best Tour Operators.
Service years: Since 2012
We strongly believe that it was as part of Late Mr Narendran’s visionary to continue his legacy, that he decided to take his life partnership, wife, Smt. Usha Narendran (Retired District Treasury Officer to the Government of Kerala) as his ‘management partnership’ in the year 2012, as CFO and Director to the company. We would rather say, ‘’when the man took charge of our field operations, he let his woman take care of his office’’. It was under her active intervention, that the office grew to a positive order.
We should never forget to mention that when the team was emotionally down with the sudden parting of our beloved leader, she was the phoenix to us. Our back bone and strength, her able command on business and hands on experience shows us the light.
Service years: Since 2018
We at Vivekananda, believe that Ms Gayathri, is a clone of her father Late Mr Narendran, the young mind & the new generation of our Vivekananda faternity. We now solidly believe in the blend of traditional journeys with most modern innovation & technology, under her leadership. Post graduating with Masters in Business Administration (Finance & Marketing) from PSG Institute of Management, Coimbatore, she began her corporate career through campus placements. Later acceding to Mr Narendran's wish of handing over our operations to her, she quit her corporate career to lead our team. It was again a part of Late Mr Narendran's visionary to bring in this young mind to our company and to give her a personal hands on training in managing this business for 4 long years. It was part of her sincere efforts & coordination with our vendors, that we could roll out our Online Seat Reservation & Management Portal in 2021, a completly custom made model that would cater to ease of operations, both for public and internal teams. It was Late Mr Narendran's long standing dream of going completely adaptive to the technological advancement and it's blend to tourism industry, Ms Gayathri has taken it a step ahead to make the entire office operations online, enabling god speed with respect to all operational activities within our offices. This has now resulted to ease of communication, transactions and doing business with Vivekananda today.
Dr Ganga, the elder of the two daughters to Late Mr Narendran & Mrs Usha, is a wanderlust turned doctor. She carrys the bloodline of her ancestors, both in the field of travel/tourism and medical practising. She completed her Bachelors in Ayurvedic Medicine & Surgery (B.A.M.S.) from J.S.S College of Ayurveda & Hospital, Mysore & her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from SDM College of Ayurveda & Hospital, Hassan. She is now practising as Paediatric Physician & Assitant Professor at Bapuji Ayurveda Medical College & Hospital, Chithradurga. Dr Ganga, is also the founder of Vedamithra - A digital blog's space for wellness through sharing of knowledge. She hopes that her small initiative, Vedamithra, will attract the mankind, to embrace the simple but powerful holistic science of medicine, to optimaly practice without losing it’s serenity & to make it a well acceptable and first line of choice in treatment, around the globe. Nevertheless, she finds her time amidst her busy schedule to accompany our groups on their travel as well.
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