GARSHOM PRAVASI RATNA AWARD 2021

Mr Saji Markose is a Dark Tourist, an award winning travelogue writer, a TV debate panelist and a social activist. His passion is dark tourism and he identifies himself as the first dark tourist from Kerala. Dark tourism is about visiting genocide museums, war cemeteries, sites of death, tragedy and suffering. The purpose of dark tourism is to memorialize the victims and receive awareness and education to ensure the hope that it never happens again.

Mr Saji Markose is a Senior Project Manager & Technical Advisor to Ministry of Housing, Kingdom of Bahrain. He is a social activist, writer, orator, chenda percussionist. He has visited 56 countries as a dark tourist. Based on the experience from the visited genocide sites, he gives lectures against racism and hatred. He was the Executive Committee member of Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam, one of the biggest organizations of Non-resident Keralities. He was the Literary wing Secretary & the General convenor of the International Book fair in Baharain organized by the Samajam. Considering his contributions to the Indian Community in Bahrain, the Bahrain Government appointed him as their nominee to the Executive Committee of the Indian School Bahrain, which is the biggest community school in Bahrain where 12000 students study every year.

As a travelogue presenter on 104.2 FM Radio of Bahrain, he presented a programme introducing 44 historical and interesting places in Kerala. As a visiting Lecturer, he often lectures to the Post Graduate & research students on various cultural subjects such as transnational Migration, Dark Tourism etc.