Visitors at Solitude Farm at Auroville as part of the food trail held by The Soul Window
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bitten by the travel bug since forever, long-time friends Bonnie and Madhuri have always believed in the mantra of work, save, travel, repeat (in that order). And, it was with the same thought that the duo decided to start ‘The Soul Window’, a travel startup.
This Chennai-based enterprise curates sustainable travel experiences keeping in mind the personal preferences and budget of their clients. The highlight here is that they are one of the few in the business of responsible tourism, focusing on nature and community-conscious experiences.
“The Soul Window is a result of or rather, a cocktail of so many diverse ideas. We believe that travel is about opening different perspectives,” shares Madhuri.
“Also, we are not looking at tagging Soul Window as just a travel planner. Rather, we curate unique experiences of food, arts and everything else that is worth experiencing,” adds Bonnie.
Their most-recent project was a food discovery trail to Auroville, with a small group of 10 people. In collaboration with farmer-educator-musician, Krishna McKenzie of Solitude Farm in Auroville, they gave the travellers an experience of permaculture and natural farming. Contrary to agriculture where humans decide what to cultivate, when and where, permaculture is all about sustainable farming.
“We felt that this is important for people to know about this aspect of food: about where our food comes from and how it reaches our tables,” explains Madhuri.
Their next project, a home trail in Chennai (to be first in a series of the same), is all set to bring people of diverse communities and cultures together for a wholesome experience of food and lifestyle.
“The concept of home trails was initiated with the intention of breaking barriers and unintentional biases that we have grown up with”, says the duo. The Soul Window thus plans to work around interesting, meaningful adventures and experiences. “While it is a for-profit business, it isn’t money that drives us. We want our clients to experience different places and people and vice-versa. As spiritual as it may sound, we want them to take a journey to satiate the soul”, says Bonnie.
