The Blue Yonder (TBY) is all about team work. We come from diverse backgrounds. Before TBY, some of us have been software engineers, media consultants, accountants, travel consultants, entrepreneurs and above all, travellers! Some of us were friends from childhood, but some others joined us during our journey and we remain connected now for a life time...for we believe, that Responsible Tourism is the way forward for India!

Always calm and composed, Anoop can show you around every nook and corner of the beautiful mountain region of Wayanad in North Kerala. Any traveller would love to be accompanied by a trusted and knowledgeable tracker and guide: from rainforest trekking to water fall trails to bamboo rafting. "Being able to show my world to people from different cultures and nationalities is an experience in itself."

We met Dayal Ram Nat about three years ago in a folk festival in Bangalore. Seeing the passion and vigour and the leader he was, our colleague Ekta called us up and said "We have to find more about this man, look at those eyes, there is a world in them!". Dayal is now our principal coordinator for community based tourism in Rajasthan. A resident of marble town of Makrana, Dayal has dedicated his life to revival of traditional art forms of Rajasthan, where he creatively uses them for promoting social causes and out-reach program. His skills as puppeteer  and his social activism is still a legend at Tilonia, the model village set up by social activist Bunker Roy and team.

Bharath Shetty brings in financial expertise and strategic thinking to The Blue Yonder. After his stint at Infosys Technologies and an MBA from Rotman School of Management, Toronto, he joined Intellecap where we was involved in development of business planning, valuation, strategy and research on financial aspects of businesses. Bharath joined TBY to pursue the organisations goal to be the change maker and wealth generator in rural economies of the developing world. He still finds ideal business partners and investors for green business in the country.
 

An avid traveller and founder of The Blue Yonder, Gopi has worked in areas ranging from Palliative Care, software marketing to disaster Management before kick-starting the Responsible Travel movement in India. He was recently chosen by Outlook Business amongst the '50 Social entrepreneurs who are making India better'. He set up International Centre for Responsible Tourism in India and is a regular contributor to many international conferences and workshops on Responsible tourism.

Linda Veråsdal joined us in 2007 as an intern to research on the spending habits of travellers in the beach destination of Gokarna, India. The study commissioned by ICRT India, became a thesis she defended for a Masters in Responsible Tourism (Greenwich University, UK). Based in Norway, Linda now represents The Blue Yonder in the Scandinavian market except Denmark. A staunch promoter of Responsible Tourism in developed markets, Linda runs Ethical Travel Portal and the information site Ansvarlig Turisme.

After working in the conventional travel industry for more than 15 years in Mumbai with one of the best known brands in the country, Sandeep joined our team last year. He brought in a balance to the team which was, until then working purely on passion. While applying for the job, Sandeep said, "From an industry that understood only room nights and number of 'pax', it was time that I explored areas where I could personally make a contribution to the lives of common people". Read his interview here.

Vinod joined our Wayanad office and later came to work in Bengaluru. The "nucleus" of The Blue Yonder, he plays multiple roles as situation demands and co-ordinates all operations in The Blue Yonder destinations. He misses being in the thick of actions at the ground level, but his subtle smile is always loaded, "as long as you're clear on achieving an objective, it doesn't matter what role you play and where you are based."

And our team doesn't end here, it extends to all the destinations we cover from folk musicians to sand miners, female mahout to ritualistic healers, environmentalists to serpent worshipers - we work together towards practising RT. Get to know the rest of our team personally , on your journeys to destinations we cover, and give them a chance to introduce themselves to you. This team travels with you!