How does it feel to leave a steady and well-paying corporate job and go exploring the rural countryside for a living?
Well, Shailza Dasgupta did just that and she is loving every moment of it!
Here, we ask her how she goes about her new “job” and the challenges she faces.
Read on for more!
What inspired you to travel to the remotest villages in India? What drew you to them?
I feel lucky to be born in a country with so much varied geography, culture and people.
And if I cannot experience that, I will be the most unfortunate one.
This feeling to explore as much as I can, and as remote as possible, is what inspires me.
It’s the simplicity of locals in remote villages that attracts me.
We know that you co-founded Chalo Let’s Go and more recently, Homestays of India. Does it feel like being back in a regular job when you are managing them?
Absolutely not because of the following reasons – One, it’s my own work, my passion.
Two, it involves travel and writing. I enjoy doing both.
Three, I have time flexibility. I make my own schedule.
If I am bored of office tasks I plan a recce trip to discover homestays in remote corners of India.
You travel for around 200 days a year. How do you plan your tours? Do you plan it in advance, or just follow your feet?
Most of my personal trips are impromptu.
No advance planning. But the official tours are planned in advance.
I make the yearly trip schedule for Chalo Lets Go and announce it for other travellers to join in.
Tell us about some of the challenges that you faced while spending nights in the open desert.
Nights in the open desert are amazing and are worth any challenge.
I can go on describing its beauty like the gorgeous sunset, the halo around the full moon at midnight, the joy of sleeping under twinkling stars, waking up to the changing morning colors, and how the night turns into a beautiful day… !
But if I really have to tell you the challenges, it’s the biting cold at night and the fine sand that gets into almost everything and everywhere. And that’s it.
Of all the places you have travelled to, which is the one place that is the closest to your heart?
Tungnath- Chandrashila in Uttarakhand.
It’s a trek of 3-4 hrs. Staying up there at Tungnath, cut off from the whole world and experiencing the magic of nature when the sun sets, the changing colors of the evening sky is an out-of-the-world feeling.
I have experienced my life’s best sunrise at Chandrashila, when the sun appears slowly from behind the Nanda Devi creating a magical effect and beautifully lighting the whole valley.
You can read about my experience here.
If you were given a choice of eating only one dish for the rest of your life, what would it be?
This is a difficult one.
None I would say.
I love to try different cuisines and enjoy a variety of food.
It will be very difficult for me to survive on just one.
As we know, you give fellow travellers an opportunity to tag along with you. Is there any particular incident (good/bad) shared with any of them that stands apart from the rest?
Most of my travels with like-minded travellers have been amazing.
One trip I will never forget is the trip to Spiti with 4 elderly people, their ages ranging from 60-74 years.
I was so inspired to see their spirit and energy.
What I particularly liked in them was their discipline.
Getting up early in the morning, doing yoga and having warm water was a part of their routine even at an altitude of 15,000 ft.
This is what kept them going throughout the trip without any health issues.
One more thing I want to mention here is all of them carried a steel water bottle that they refilled at every place they stayed.
They did not buy a single mineral water bottle during these 10 days of travel.
This is something that everyone must learn from them.
What do you miss and don’t miss from your corporate life?
I miss my friends and the lunch interactions with them, and I miss the hefty pay check at the end of every month J
The formal meetings, the work pressure (not at all work places), the artificiality and some extra smart people who would do anything to rise in the corporate ladder are some things I don’t miss at all.
Have you ever faced an experience which has made you think of quitting travelling for good?
Nothing as yet.
I take all bad and good incidents as experiences that teach me something or the other.
So, no I have never thought of quitting travelling.
Travelling is so much a part of my life now.
If you were to give three suggestions to someone who is planning to leave a regular job and travel the world, what would they be?
One, ask yourself how badly you want it.
It should not just be the result of some difficult situation at work.
It has to come from inside, and you should quit only for the love of travel and nothing else.
Two, save a lot before quitting. Three, save as much as you can!
All pix courtesy Shailza
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