An idea is what you need finally to escape from the norm. Delhiite Shireen Mehra did exactly that two years ago with amazing results. Shireen runs Women on Clouds, a company that organises custom-made holiday trips for women, including those beyond their 60s. A bubbly Shireen, when we meet at her basement office in Gulmohar Park, is quick to spiral back to the occasion that generated the idea, “My brother has a company that organises corporate travel trips, so when some of my friends suggested we go out on an all-women trip, I organised it. It became a huge success giving me the grand idea to take it up professionally.”
Being new to the field, Shireen focused on plugging all loopholes and looked into every detail to make her travellers comfortable, which, she now says, “has become the forte of Women on Clouds.” It thus “attracts not just younger women but older ones too, sometimes in groups, many times a lone old woman looking for company to travel.”
Says Shireen, “You might think taking older women on trips is a wearisome idea but I have not come across anything like that. In fact, I feel older women have more power of endurance than the younger lot. The particularly vulnerable age group is between 30 and 35, may be because the kind of lifestyle we lead, the food we eat, they all make us somewhat unhealthy and stressed out.” To back her argument she recalls how during a hill cycling trip once, “an elderly woman, of 60-65 years, had beaten us all in the game.”
“We young lot were very enthusiastic and started zipping but she was slow to start. After sometime, we all lost steam but she carried on.”
Shireen underlines that her trips particularly suit those elderly women who otherwise would not travel because they don’t have company. “On request, we also organise roommates for them. While some ask for roommates from the same city, some others prefer a companion of same age groups.”
Having now experienced that “elderly women are fun indeed”, Shireen is now doing the ground job to tailor trips for senior citizens, including men. She is looking at including those “who are in their 70s and 80s.” This is because “many older women tell us that they want to travel with their husbands, which is not possible now. Also now-a-days, a lot of children stay far away from their parents, they can’t give time to them but are keen to gift them a vacation where they know they will be safe and comfortable. Then there are those men who are lonely and would like to meet people of their age.”
Shireen knows that organising trips for senior citizens comes with a set of different problems, “a doctor has to be on 24-hour call, medicines have to be organised, wheelchairs might be required, etc.” She doesn’t want to make their trips hectic either. “Rather than weaving in a lot of sightseeing for them, I would like to organise easy activities which will bring the group together so that they continue to be in touch with each other even after the trip, something that my all-women trip has managed to do. My aim is to tailor the trips like a big family outing.”
The upcoming trips for elderly women are Khajuraho (Dec 3-6), Goa (New Year’s Eve), Puri (Jan 22-25), Naukuchiatal (Jan 27-30), Andamans (Jan 27-Feb 1).
Those interested can either check the website www.womenonclouds.com or e-mail to info@womenonclouds.com. You can also call at 011-26851308 for details.
