Meet The Team

From athletes to tech junkies, from music lovers to dancers, we’re a pretty lively bunch here at Odyssey. The one thing we share in common is our love of travel and our passion to ensure that we craft memorable experiences for our clients.

Nikhil Thakurdas

Nikhil is a marketing professional who holds an MBA degree in Marketing from Mumbai University. After stints in advertising and e-commerce, he has been running Odyssey as CEO since 2002. He has a general management role with a focus on business development, PR and marketing. Nikhil is an avid traveller and seizes all travel opportunities with gusto! He also enjoys music and is an ardent U2 fan. Nikhil actively plays badminton and has discovered a new found passion for golf over the last couple of years. He is currently working on a project to start group golf tours.

Aparna Thakurdas

Odyssey is Aparna’s first baby and together with Nikhil, she has masterminded the company’s direction and new ventures like CruiseBay, Luxury Trains and Luxury Getaways since the time she took over the reins of Odyssey in 2002. Aparna holds a masters degree in Tourism Management from Sheffield, UK and she is passionate about travel – she has the rare ability to sell any destination in the world as if she has been there first hand (she has been to over 150 cities in 25+ countries).

Sona Bhatia

Sona is an old hand (but not old!) at Odyssey having spent close to 14 out of her 22 year career in the travel industry with Odyssey. Affectionately known as ‘Mother Odyssey’, she is the mother to the team during office hours like teachers are to kids in school. As general manager of the company, she oversees the entire operations. Sona has completed her M.Com and D.T.L. and in her spare time, she enjoys reading, listening to music and travelling

Rajesh Ghighe

If Odyssey will be celebrating 25 years in 2017, Rajesh will be celebrating 20 years with Odyssey in the same year. He has seen Odyssey grow from a small company to where it is today and has played an integral part in the journey. Rajesh manages the accounts department and his hobbies include playing cricket, volleyball and travelling. He has a great sense of humour and gives the team enough reasons to laugh through the day.

Abhijit Jagdale

Abhijit also started his career with Odyssey in 2006 after completing his Diploma in Travel and Tourism. He manages the visa department as well as overseas travel insurance for our clients. He is a warehouse of information on all things visa related and is amazingly quick at his work. He works very well under stress, which in the visa department is often! This also makes him the best man for the job. His hobbies include playing cricket, travelling, music and dancing.

Neha Salve

Neha has completed her Bachelors of Management Studies from Mumbai University as well as IATA Consultant Level. Neha has over 11 years of experience in the travel industry including 4 years at Odyssey handling leisure tours. She currently manages the international leisure travel division at Odyssey. Her cool disposition, her extensive travel knowledge and her dimpled smile are a big hit with colleagues and clients. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, baking and reading.

Nidhi Bali

Nidhi has done her MBA in Marketing from LBS-IMT, Bareilly. She has been in the travel industry for more than 10 years and has a wealth of experience especially in outbound travel. She joined Odyssey in 2019 and manages the cruise division (CruiseBay). An avid traveller herself, she has been to 10 countries and on top of her bucket list is to travel on an expedition to Antarctica. She also likes cooking, listening to music & dancing.

Mitali Sudame

Mitali graduated with a BSc. Honors degree in International Tourism and Hospitality Management from the University of Sunderland and has worked at the Singapore Changi Airport previously. She is a swimmer, a PADI certified Scuba diver, an artist and a camping & adventure enthusiast with on field experience. Along with English and 3 regional languages, she can also converse in Spanish and knows German. Mitali looks after the international holiday plans for our discerning clients. Travelling, exploring and experiencing local culture & cuisines interests her the most.

Nilesh Gosal

Nilesh is the ‘chuppa rustum’ of the team – a silent, diligent worker in the office who transforms into a dude outside of it. Nilesh handles clients’ passport applications and works with Rajesh in the accounts team. He has over 10 years of experience in the travel industry including 4 years with Odyssey. He is pursuing his B.Com and hobbies include cricket, music and travelling.

Rutwik Mane

Rutwik started his career with Odyssey in February 2018 after completing his MBA in Tourism and Travel from IITTM, Gwalior. He looks after Corporate Sales and Business Development at Odyssey. He is a Silver Medalist at World’s Longest National Open Water Swimming Competition. He is also an adventure enthusiast and has completed his Basic Mountaineering Course from ABVIMAS. In his spare time, he loves cooking, reading books and listening music.

Akshay Baviskar

Akshay completed his Diploma in Travel & Tourism and started his career in Odyssey where he worked in the domestic travel department for 11 years from 2006 to 2017. He is back with Odyssey after a break, this time working with the international leisure team. Akshay loves playing cricket, trekking, listening to old Hindi movie songs, going on long drives and spending time with friends – his ideal weekend would be to combine them all! Akshay enjoys dabbling with new technologies.

Abhijit Ghodekar

Abhijit joined Odyssey in January 2015 and works together with the other Abhijit, leaving us pretty confused! He completed his Diploma in Travel and Tourism and is currently pursuing his B.Com degree. He works in the visa department and is referred to as Abhijit Jr by the team. His hobbies include playing football, travelling and learning about new destinations.

Sourabh Dalvi

Sourabh is the youngest member of our team and had started his career with Odyssey in December 2018 after completing his Diploma in Travel and Tourism. He is a part of the visa team and handles USA visas, other online visas and overseas travel insurance for clients. He loves photography and he is the official photographer at all Odyssey events. He loves pets and is also fond of dancing and travelling.

Rajesh Gantelu

Rajesh has worked in the travel industry for over 3 years and his role is to assist clients at VFS at the time of submission of Schengen visas. He enjoys travelling, listening to music and playing football.

Aniket Kulkarni

Aniket is part of the domestic team handling the ticketing requirements for our corporate clients. He has completed his B.A and Diploma in Travel & Tourism and can also speak German well. He loves travelling and is an adventure enthusiast. His hobbies include collecting rare coins, playing cricket, trekking, photography, & playing the tabla.

Prerana Kholkar

Prerana is the youngest member of our team. She started her career with Odyssey in Dec 2017 after completing her Diploma in Travel and Tourism and currently pursuing her Bachelor Degree in Tourism. She currently works in the domestic travel department and plans holidays all over India for our clients. Her hobbies include travelling, playing badminton and listening to music.

Tanmeet Singh

Tanmeet started his career with Odyssey over 10 years ago in 2002 while he was pursuing his Hospitality and Tourism course. He worked with Abhijit in the visa team for two years and then moved on to complete his degree and diploma. He worked in the hospitality industry for a few years and is now back in Odyssey in the visa department. Tanmeet loves baking & cooking and going on long drives (or rides). His other hobbies are listening to music and playing football.

Avanee Kolhatkar

Avanee is a Psychology graduate who entered the world of tourism in 2018 armed with an IATA certification in foundation & management level. She started off her journey as a visa executive but quickly gained experience in various other travel roles. She joined Odyssey in Dec 2021 as a travel consultant for selling holidays in India to our discerning clientele. Avanee loves to travel and has been to 9 countries so far and is looking forward to exploring the world. She loves to dance and has a keen interest in theatre.

Sahil Shaikh

Sahil completed his Diploma in Travel and Tourism and is currently pursuing his degree in B.Voc. Travel & Tourism. Sahil joined Odyssey in Mar 2022 and works in the CruiseBay team as a cruise consultant. His hobbies include travelling, driving, and learning about new destinations. He has a passion for learning about new destinations and has done specialist courses for more than 32 countries! And now he wants to travel to them all and experience them first hand.

Zainab Kamshetwala

Zainab holds a Diploma in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Management with Airport Operations and joined the international leisure team at Odyssey in 2022. Zainab is also our in-house Canva expert at Odyssey and also helps the team with creating videos and designing flyers. As an eager traveller herself, she has been to seven countries already with many more to explore. In her free time, she enjoys experimenting with food, ticking off books from my pages-long to-be-read list and painting and drawing mandala artwork.

Nisha Valunj

Nisha completed her Post Graduation with a Diploma in International Travel and Tourism. After working with VFS Global for close to 3 years, she joined the visa team at Odyssey. Nisha loves going on long drives and exploring cities around India.

Kirk D’Souza

Kirk has completed his Post Graduation with a Diploma in Travel and Tourism. He joined our team earlier this year and assists corporate clients with their travel plans within India. Making travel Vlogs has always been his passion. Kirk holds a 1st Dan black belt degree in full contact karate and he loves sports which includes basketball, football, badminton, gaming, hiking and biking.

Rahul Chavan

Rahul worked at VFS Global between June 2019 to Aug 2022 while he was pursuing his graduation. He joined Odyssey in Feb 2023 as a visa consultant and he is now pursuing his M. Com side by side. In his free time, Rahul likes to travel and enjoys swimming.

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