Why should you break away?

An authority on India’s cultural and historical landscape and someone who specialises in Western India, the Gangetic plain, and the Northern Himalayas, Bharat has spent the better part of 25 years leading curious visitors around India, which is at least how much longer we hope he leads them for us.

Studying at the NIFT, Gandhinagar sparked a love for craft and textiles which led Sonal to Jaipur, where she runs Soul Roots, via which she develops garments, accessories, and more. Teaching at the renowned Kalaraksha Vidyalaya in Kutch helped Sonal discover a love for textiles that she translates into the experiences she leads for us.

An art advisor who’s worked with leading contemporary galleries across South Asia, Priyanshi helms the art advisory PSArts, building and managing art collections, and consulting on the South Asian Art Market. She is also the director of Indian Art Market, which works on reviving, restructuring, and connecting the regional art market, especially in regional languages in India. She has also contributed to books on art and has written pieces for leading publications.

For over three decades now, Durga has travelled across the warp and weft of various textile ecosystems. In that time, she’s gained an understanding of the traditional technologies used in the practice of textile crafts and handloom weaving that she’s very eager to share with all those who breakaway with her.

As if earning a PhD from IIM, Ahmedabad is not enough, Abrar designs heritage, neighbourhood, and community walks, old city markets walks, and craft and textile walks in Ahmedabad. Actively involved in creating sustainable business models in the Art & Heritage sectors, Abrar curates and leads breakaways around Gujarat.

Inspired by the sheer beauty of handmade products, Shabri discovered that the process is equally important especially to make consumption more conscious. She relocated from Pune to Bhuj where she works closely with the pastoralist communities and interprets their sartorial culture via Bajra, her clothing label.

Writer of travel guidebooks. Travel and food columnist. Literary critic. Blogger and author. Content developer. Chronicler of the colonial heritage of the Himalayas. Storyteller extraordinaire. We’re really glad for the agrarian upbringing that helped Puneet (as she’s fondly known) farm out into a wide range of passions that helped her breakaway.

Holder of a Master’s in Travel and Hospitality Management, Gulzar is a photographer who’s exhibited overseas. A passionate ethnographer and Western Himalayan Researcher, he speaks all languages of the region and has co-authored Journey Through Paradise (Kashmir, Ladakh & Jammu), a travel guide focusing on the history, culture and faith of each region.

Raised in Lucknow, Mehru fled its decay in the 70s by going to Mumbai and then Delhi before making her home in Vienna. But even though she left Lucknow, it didn’t leave her and she came back to the home of her heart in 2012 where she now leads trails that uncover the city’s textile and craft heritage at the unhurried pace it deserves.

An upbringing in Bombay, a design education in Ahmedabad, working and living in Bangalore, followed by a complete change-over and a new start in France were the stops on Suhail’s journey before this paper artiste stumbled across us in 2011.

Over 15 years of driving news at some of India’s leading newspapers have left Megha with the drive to often get away from it all. Basically, she was a breakawayer before she even met us. Today, she helms RoundGlass Sustain, a website that drives awareness of India’s rich biodiversity. Having been closely involved with Outlook’s Responsible Tourism initiative, she brings that awareness to all her interactions.

When Rajith discovered that his true goal was to travel India and get paid for it, he chucked up his corporate job in Mumbai and took a sabbatical across Kerala for two months. Meeting new people and organising heritage events led to the creation of Travelling Gecko, via whom he shows people how easy it is to breakaway.

Over a 30 year career, Sunaina has worked closely with women artisans in the villages of Punjab, which led to her helping revive Phulkari embroidery, a vivid form symbolic of Punjab. She’s also spent years promoting Khadi, the fabric that Mahatma Gandhi used to symbolise India’s independence struggle. These deep immersions have left Sunaina with a wealth of anecdotes and learnings on handicrafts, which she shares freely with travellers on her trails with us.

A planner and curator of museums, Poulomi has spent over two decades researching and documenting Indian arts, textiles, and heritage. She has worked deeply with museums like Bhau Daji Lad, the Bihar Museum, Buddha Smriti Park, and the Monetary Musuem and in 2020, she founded the oral history documentation project called The Museum Memories Project which invites memories of museums visited by individuals across the globe.

A tour guide licensed by the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Rajni is one of the few female guides in what is a male dominated profession. Originally from Delhi, she is now based in Jaipur from where she leads tours across North India. She speaks Italian and has earned a scholarship to Italy, which is just one more example of her love for travel and how it inspires her to go the extra mile.

Popularly known as Toopsi, Anindita worked for over four decades in one of the world’s largest schools before retiring as Add. Vice Principal and joining Sasha, a fair trade organisation in her hometown of Kolkata. She loves cooking and is always happy to teach to the interested. Perhaps the only thing she loves more than cooking is meeting new people and showing them new facets of Kolkata, which is what she does so lovingly for us.

A chance encounter on Facebook brought us together and before we knew it, Manan was scampering across the country, identifying new locations and creating new breakaways for you to savour. A travel writer and a copywriter, Manan hopes to one day be writing with the sand between his toes.

Hailing from the eternal city Banaras, Ankita’s work reflects the unique confluence of art, music, culture and literature that is her personality. Her publications of poetry have been very well received. She relentlessly contributes to promoting the seen and unseen heritage of Banaras and loves sharing her city with visitors. She’s passionate about the famed weavers of Banaras and has organised various fashion shows to showcase them and their craft. When not taking out guests to visit weavers, Ankita can be found writing songs and stories for the Indian film industry.

An architect, a graphic designer and a travel curator, Nishita was born and raised in Delhi, though she now sees all parts of the country as home. From the mountains of Ladakh to the beaches or Goa, she works and lives like a locally wherever she currently call home while ensuring that creativity and spirituality form the warp and weft of her explorations. Nishita enjoys hosting travellers and enabling immersive experiences for them during their journeys into new cultures and see travel as a way of engaging with diverse cultures in a way that helps one to learn from grow.

Sainath is a proud Hyderabadi who loves taking guests around the Deccan region of India. A Master’s in History, an MBA in Tourism & Travel Management and a PhD in Medieval Deccan History bear testament to him vast knowledge of the region.