KOCHI: The desire to escape from the mundane things prompted Indu Krishna to come up with Escape Now, a travel platform. There is a peculiarity about the venture started by the 32-year-old from Kochi, it caters exclusively to women.
The venture took shape in Indu’s brain on a September evening in 2015. Her friends were planning a trip to Leh. Everyone was gung-ho about the trip, but the guys in the group doused the excitement when they refused to take the girls along. “They said the girls are not cut out for adventures. They are not fit,” Indu says.
This attitude set Indu thinking and the idea to form an exclusive travel group for women germinated. Though everyone labelled the idea an utopian one, Indu went ahead and created a Facebook page for women travellers. “Gradually, the initiative grew and I resigned from my job to concentrate fully on developing it,” says Indu.
The initiative did grow and on March 8, 2016, the International Women’s day, Indu launched the website www.escapenow.in. She called her venture Escape Now. “The aim is to prompt women to escape from their daily routines and find some time for themselves,” she says. Her venture has till date organised fifteen trips across the country.
Indu says not everyone was optimistic about the success of the idea. “My friends were apprehensive whether women will be willing to go alone for adventurous trips. But they were proven wrong. Almost 60 women have utilised the services provided by Escape Now. More entries are coming in,” says Indu.
Escape Now’s popularity hinges on the trips they conduct to unexplored places. “The spots that we plan for the trips are unexplored ones. Also every journey is organised to be a unique one,” she says. In a recent trip, six women travelled to Goa. “Goa is a much visited place, but our trip was a special one since we explored unknown spots and that too on two-wheelers,” says Jeena Jacob, a journalist.
On the safety aspect of the all-women trips that her company conducts, Indu says, “Every trip is finalised after an exhaustive research is conducted either by me or my trusted colleagues.” The fact is endorsed by Sharika Sasidharan, an audiologist from Kannur, who loves to travel a lot. “The entire trip is meticulously planned. So there is no room for worries,” she says. For her ‘Escape’ presents with a chance to experiment and learn things by herself.
These trips, called Escapes, find takers even among married women. Sunitha Anilkumar, a 42-year-old school teacher, who has been on quite many escapes with Indu, says, “I went trekking, took bath in streams and watched the full-moon at mid-night from the hill-top. These are the things which I can never do when I am with my family.” In some cases the husbands take the initiative to send their better-halves on a much needed break, says Indu. “A man who works abroad once arranged a surprise escape for his wife who lives in Kerala. Surely, our venture is being recognised,” says Indu.
Indu’s Escape Now has proven that travel bug doesn’t bite only a particular gender. It is another approach to women empowerment, says Indu. The startup is now planning a ‘Monsoon Escape’, Spice Escapes and Spiritual Escapes besides trip to explore foreign countries in the future.