KOZHIKODE: This International Tourism Day on September 27, Sankara Narayanan Puthalath from Chelannur Kozhikode could be the talking point because of his wanderlust rather than its theme Sustainable tourism- a tool for development. He has been labeled by his family and friends as “a crazy fellow” for taking lakhs as loans from different banks exclusively to see the world. “The two options that I had when I made my first foreign trip was either to buy a plot in front of my house or make my first dream trip”, said Sankara Narayanan.
“The family tried a lot to convince me to buy that land but I firmly took the decision not to buy the plot and fly to Malaysia instead. I took Rs 1 Lakh some 30 years back from Kerala State Financial Enterprises (KSFE) and flew to Malaysia, and it was the first occasion I travelled in a flight.” Since then, there was no looking back for this man in his 50s. After paying back his first loan from KSFE, he made it a habit of taking loans from different banks and financial companies to see more countries. It took more than 2 years for Sankara Narayanan to make his second foreign trip as paying back Rs 1 lakh some 30 years back was a difficult task for him.
He made his second trip to Colombo, France and Germany and during 2005 he covered Dubai and Abu Dhabi. A year later, he made the decision to fly to Bangkok after managing to source money. Later he once again made his second visit to UAE and covered almost all the countries under it. In 2010, Sankara Narayanan visited Thailand and Amsterdam. “My next destination is USA and New York will be my first stop. Solo trips are often fun to do with no restrictions or tensions. Wherever I go, Kozhikode always remains the best as the love and importance that this place has given me cannot be replaced by any other”, he added.
