Team

The most important members of our team areour guides, but here's the rest of us!

Uday Pujari

SENIOR ACCOUNTS MANAGER

Uday was born and brought up in a village in Karnataka and graduated from University with a degree in commerce.

He has been in Mumbai for 8 years. He loves yoga, cricket, volleyball, swimming, listening to music, and reading the newspaper and about the various religions. Uday was recently married to his girlfriend of 3 years. He currently lives in Bandra with his wife. Uday and his wife hope to one day start an organization in Karnataka that will support and rehabilitate orphaned girls and rescued girls who were kidnapped or abused.

Asim Shaikh

TOUR GUIDE MANAGER

If you want to understand Reality Group, look no further than Asim's history with Reality!

Asim is our incredible Reception Centre Manager/ Community Centre Manager/ Tour Guide Manager / Tour Guide. He started at Reality as a part-time computer teacher in November 2009 and has taken on more and more responsibility ever since.

He loves his work because he interacts with the kids, it is challenging and he is never bored because there is always something new to do and learn. In the future, he can't see himself working anywhere else. Asim is particular grateful to Lee from Atma (NGO partner) for introducing him to Reality and to Jonny for being his guide and mentor.

Asim was born in Antop Hill in Mumbai, and still lives there with his wife, parents, two younger brothers, and new daughter.

Paul Whittle

CEO

Paul’s mother sometimes jokes that his first word was “passport”. Such was his interest in travel and learning about other cultures from a very young age. After graduating from university in his native UK he has since visited close to a hundred countries yet he still insists his wish list is longer now than when he started.

With over ten years working in the travel industry Paul initially started as an overland tour leader, then worked in management positions at several adventure tour operators before joining Reality Tours & Travel as our new CEO in January. In his own words eager to start trying to offer something back, having gained so much enjoyment from his own travel experiences over the years.

Evelyn D'Souza

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGER

Evelyn is our continually smiling Tour Operations Manager, who you will be in contact with when you book a tour.

Evelyn comes from a small village outside Mangalore called Beltangady. She likes to listen to music, reading and swimming. When she has some spare time, she loves to sit on the sea shore and watch the waves for hours!

Mayur Parmar

CARETAKER

Mayur is our non-stop caretaker of the Reception Centre, who never seems to spend more than 5 minutes in one place.

He is the youngest member of staff, and also the busiest, with a job description that can only be described as 'varied'.

And he doesn't go home and rest after work. He's studying for his 12th Standard exams, as well as Tally (accounts program) and Desktop Application.

When he does have free time, he likes to play Australian football, and in the future, he wants to play in the AFL!

He was born in Mumbai and stays in Dharavi with his family, originally from Gujarat

Ramesh Pujari

CARETAKER

Ramesh is our hardworking caretaker at the Reception Centre.

Ramesh's family lives in Byandor and he visits them or they come to Mumbai every six months. He enjoys watching Hindi and Kannada movies.

Nick Hamilton

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Nick is a French-American originally from Seattle, Washington who has spent the last 3 years living and travelling around the world from Seoul to Paris.

Nick originally discovered and fell in love with India on a trip in 2012. After 18 months in Paris working for a youth empowerment NGO, he couldn't resist any longer and decided to move to India to join the Reality Tours team and to continue to learn about Mumbai and India.

Nick is passionate about social business' potential to bring positive change in a sustainable manner. He is excited to work for a social business that also incorporates his interests of travel, international education, and development work. Outside of work, Nick enjoys traveling, playing soccer, camping in the mountains, and reading his kindle!

Krishna Pujari

CO-FOUNDER

Krishna originally moved from his home state of Karnataka to Mumbai to work in the restaurant business.

Krishna is from a village in Karnataka called Heranjalu. When he was 13, he came to Mumbai to work in various restaurants and cafeterias. During these years, Krishna also attended night school until he passed his final school exams.

Krishna loves meeting people and taking them on our tours. His favourite comment is "Oh, that's nice!" He loves playing cricket when he has time. Krishna is the glue between Reality Tours and our communities. He loves fish curry cooked by his Mum.

Chris Way

CO-FOUNDER

Chris' original inspiration for the tours came from witnessing the potential of slum tourism in the fevela's of Rio de Janeiro.

Chris is from the UK. He studied Business and Hispanic Studies at Birmingham University, and is a part-qualified chartered accountant.

Chris first came to India in 2002 to do four months of volunteer work at a school that served children living in a slum. When Chris had previously lived in Rio die Janeiro, Brazil, he had witnessed how tourism was beneficial for local communities. With this understanding, Chris relocated to India in 2004 to start the project that would become Reality Tours & Travel.

After eight years living in Mumbai, he decided to give up his duties at both Reality Tours and Gives to the experts as he says. Currently he helps a NGO in Manila, Philippines to set up a similar model of slum tours as well as searches for opportunities to expand the go.

Mission

Our goal is to provide authentic and thought-provoking local experiences through our tours and to use the profits to create change in our communities.

Vision

Our vision is a world where all tourism promotes cross-cultural understanding and local development.

Values

Helpfulness

We genuinely want you to have a great experience with us and we are committed to going the extra mile to ensure this. Our friendly guides are the key, have you met them yet?

Honesty

We give you advice that is in your best interest and we won't sell you anything that you don't want. If we make a mistake, we’ll admit it and compensate you for any inconvenience caused.

Reliability

We reply to emails quickly, communicate clearly, and turn up on time. It’s simple, really: we love India and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to as well!

Community

We believe in building strong communities and we are committed to working with and investing in the communities where we operate. Eighty percent of our post-tax profits fund Reality Gives, our sister-NGO that runs projects that create positive change in our communities. Learn morehere.

Value

We believe that all tours need to add value. Our tours would be difficult to do on your own. Whether it’s providing information you wouldn’t find in a guidebook, adding a twist to a well-known sight, or introducing you to hidden gems, our tours aim to help you get closer, understand better, and experience more. Learn more on our blog.

Authenticity

Our aim is to help you really get to know the places you visit. In India, like everywhere else, there are many things to celebrate, but also social issues to address. We want to help you to understand the full picture.

Our Model

We believe that tourism can and should be a force for local development. Reality Tours is a social business that uses a profit sharing model to fund our sister-NGO Reality Gives. Eighty percent of our post-tax profits go directly to Reality Gives which runs high quality education programs in areas where Reality Tours works.

Spreading the Model

We started in Dharavi but we are now using the same model for local development in New Delhi in the Sanjay Colony slum. We also consult with tour operators around the world to further increase our impact. For example, one of our co-founders, Chris Way, consulted with Smokey Tours in Manila, The Philippines to help them implement the same model.

Transparency

We strongly believe in transparency and accountability. As a result, we publish all of our accounts online.

Find out more >

Reality Gives

Learn more about Reality Gives, their programs and the other NGO’s that we work with on the Reality Gives website.

Feedback

From International Visitors

“An essential part of a visit to India. The most thought provoking thing I have ever seen. Compassionately done with 80% of profits going to the slum. A real eye opener!”

May 2014 via TripAdvisor

From Dharavi Residents

"Yes, we feel very good about this. They give 80% back to the community. It’s very useful, because children will get good education and they can do something in their life...It’s good, because they are earning money to help the people in the slum."

- 60 year old housewife from Maharashtra

From Reality Gives Program Participants

“As well as football we are learning leadership, responsibility, friendship, enjoyment and English.”

Mansi, 13, Girls Football Participant

From NGO Partners

"Cooperation among NGOs is never easy, but when we look at what CORP and Reality Gives have achieved in the last 2 years we can be proud. We function as a one team, triggering opportunities in both directions. Furthermore, more than 20 differently abled children and young adults attending our centre in Dharavi have today a much better quality of life thanks to the support received by Reality Gives."

From Students

"[T]he tour showed me that people here work hard to recycle any kind of material we are using every day and that really impressed me. I will try to reuse more things at home and also talk to my parents about it. I will also tell my friends at school about this tour."

- Arjun ,12, student at MET Rishikul Vidyalaya Bandra