The first to map Konkan’s scenic routes
Angel: Parag Pimple, writer, editor, publisher Endorser: Dipti Pethe, writer
On motorcycle rides through Konkan in the Nineties, Parag Pimple was impressed at the variety of destinations people didn’t know about. So, long before Google Maps and with mobile phones having just arrived in India, he produced a series of six books called Saad Saagarachi (Call Of the Sea), filled with maps, route advice and local information for those wishing to visit Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. Using sketches and calculating distances using readings from his bike, he was the first to produce such road maps for tourists. Pimple, whose publishing house Bookmark Publications has published hundreds of other titles, also produced a coffee table book titled Divya, on Diveagar, a tiny coastal town, with the objective of promoting tourism activities there. “My book has spots that were undiscovered until now,” he said.
In 2014, he collaborated with MTDC and the collector of Sindhudurg for a coffee table book looking to pitch the district as an international tourist destination. Since 2020, Pimple has also steered an initiative for marine tourism off Diveagar, to a stone rock structure that is about 6 km from the coast. “In 2019, I wanted to take people to see the island. For two years, we explored the routes, the underwater currents, sought help from the maritime board, etc. In 2020, just before Covid, we took boats to a totally new destination from Bharadkhol village,)a fishing village where passengers can board the boats. This is 100% employment for locals,” he said. There is now a regular all-week boat service now to the rock, an island where Pimple and his staff conduct a onehour walking tour of fascinating marine life and corals.