Shilpa started Breakaway to share her love for travel with others, and the philosophy of the company is very much ‘Beyond the Brochure’ experiences, enabling guests to enrich themselves with the connections made during their travels. Here are her 15 Questions in 5 Minutes:
1. Who you are (naturally!)
I’m Shilpa, a Creative entrepreneur with business interests in fashion, lifestyle travel and good. Always curious and wanting to learn
2. What inspired you to create your business?
My love for travel. Fueled by the need to share a ‘Beyond the Brochure ‘ approach to travel in a India, we have so much to offer
3. An anecdote which epitomizes your India?
“We are like that only’
4. One thing that you can’t live without?
Indulgent as it might seem, me saying this: My cuppa strong filter coffee in the morning with an oat cookie gives me the pick me up to get going with my day
5. One thing that you hate?
Dishonesty, cockiness
6. If you could change one thing about India what would it be?
I would like to see a cleaner India, where people are conscious and mindful.
7. Who is your greatest inspiration?
I’m inspired by different people in different spaces. These are people who’ve taught me lessons from their own experience
8. What is your favourite quote?
“Greatness comes, not from being in a position, but from helping build some one else’s future “- Indra Nooyi
9. I have noticed huge changes in India over the last few years but what is the biggest change you have noticed in India over the last 10 years?
People are ‘ proud to be Indian’ in a way they weren’t 10 years ago. The biggest change I see of course is how women have taken charge of their lives and continue to renegotiate their space, at home, and in the workplace . And that… to me is big!
10. What do you think are the biggest challenges India faces over the next ten years?
Population control
Education of the girl child
Employment opportunities
Sensitivity and mindfulness around issues pertaining to water , environment and wasteful consumption
11. Which is the destination at the top of your bucket list?
Kashmir and Ladakh continue to be firmly entrenched
12. What is the one place you visited that you have NO desire to return to?
Puri in Orissa
13. Book or Movie?
The movie “Life is Beautiful”
14. Just for fun! I am doing a survey to find India’s most popular breakfast, what is yours?
Namak Ajwain ki Roti aur Chiniwala Dahi – not something you can find outside of a Punjabi home
15. In retrospect, what is the one thing you wish you could have told your 20 year-old self?
Be bold about who you are. Negotiate your space better and learn to ‘Ask’
