I recently hosted the ‘Accessibility walk, Meet & greet - Mumbai‘ as a part of the 8th anniversary Celebration of the Local Guides program by @NareshDarji , @TusharSuradkar and @KashifMisidia . This meet-up was also part of the#mapsforall meet-up series(which focuses on helping local businesses, map Accessibility information, learn, share tips & do fun Map edits to reflect Inclusivity for all). The meet-up started at Tikuji-ni-Wadi resort
at around 10.30 AM. The plan was to spend an hour to check out the Accessibility features, do Map edits , upload photos and Videos and then proceed to Bandra to meet our other Local Guide friends in Mumbai !
The Tikuji-ni-Wadi resort is an amusement park cum resort spread over an area of 20 acres and has a wide range of amusement park rides and water sports activities situated in the midst of lush greenery with chikoo or sapodilla trees all around. This is one of the go to places for group bookings during weekends, holidays or for one day picnics near Thane. I donned my Guiding Star cap and started walking to check out the accessibility features and started taking photos and videos keeping in mind the guidelines of the program. Here is the detailed review and photos showing accessible related information on Maps for this resort. While taking photos near the poolside I saw some pool rings in the shape of 8 reminding us of the amazing 8 years of our Local Guide program ! Happy 8 years to all of us !!! It felt great being reminded of the amazing virtual and physical meet-ups hosted , attended , the love , appreciation and friendship of the numerous Local Guides all around the world that I have met over the years , some of whom are now a part of my extended family ! Through this program I have met many like-minded and passionate people who are selflessly serving their communities and are happy by just helping others !
Here is a quick recap of things done at the meet-up :
- Click and upload photos and videos on Maps
- Answer question /answers and do Map edits
- Add Accessibility information in reviews and ‘Photo updates’ tab on Maps
- Speak to the management authorities about how adding a few more accessibility related features can boost their business as more customers would be willing to come to the resort. Currently most of the resort is wheelchair accessible but not entirely or end to end accessible. They do not have Accessible toilets and cafes with wheelchair access. They also charge rent for wheelchairs.
I really enjoyed the meet-up as I got to support the noble cause I love contributing towards - Accessibility , had an amazing walk (took all the required safety measures before going out !) and got a chance to help a local business by explaining to them how adding accessibility related features to this business can boost their business ! I also enjoyed some yummy food at the resort and had fun at some amusement park rides (because we are celebrating 8 years of this amazing program as well !!!) . After this I headed to the Google Contributors event where I was invited as one of the creative contributor along with many other creator contributors from across various platforms (the event was not related to a specific platform of content contribution) where I met some of our Local Guide friends too along with other content creators. Here is a glipmpse of the fun #CreatorContributors event organised by Google India ! This day made me realise the magnitude of our contributions , the kindness and love for helping others , our passion to selflessly support one another , the diversity and the warmth we share is what makes this program so amazing and unique ! The feeling of joy that came from meeting some of the virtually seen faces in person and getting a feeling as if we have known each other for ages was truly amazing ! Thank you Local Guide Program Team for giving us a platform to have such a strong bond ! The energy was contagiuos , a dreamy day I must say !!!