Living her travel dream everyday with Nirvana Excursions – Nidhi Batra

Society is what you make of it. For me, the people that love me accept me for what I am is all that matters

Nidhi Batra was running her family business in the construction & hospitality sector when the travel enthusiast decided to leave it all and start up Nirvana Excursions with her husband. “I would travel with Viren all the time, and we realised that the travel companies do not put a lot of thought into the research they do. There are so many problems that we faced as travellers, and we wanted to solve the problem for all,” says Nidhi, the co-founder. Nirvana Excursions is a customised travel company providing travellers with an in-depth information about everything they should know when they are visiting a place.

I come across people who don’t give this profession it’s much needed respect but that doesn’t seem to affect me.

“Coming out of the luxury of the construction business and entering a time and labour intensive line like travel was not a very comforting and easy decision,” says Nidhi. But the pleasure of discussing exotic destinations around the world and getting a wow message from satisfied customers kept her and the team going. Born in a very supportive family, the co-founder feels lucky to be surrounded by people who give her strength to do what she likes. “When I decided to make my way into running a travel business with my husband my family happily told me to give my construction and hospitality business a back seat and set my career paths with my husband,” she adds with surprise.

I was always brought up in an atmosphere to listen only to my conscious and not base my decisions and choices as per what the society expects of me.

“Growing up, I realised I was inclined to cook and trying my hand at kitchen jobs because it was never a norm for me to know jobs around the house!” Nidhi remembers. The founder was raised in the family like her brother, and she believes that has helped her a lot. “The men in my family have treated me as equal. I have never come across any male relative who looked down on my career or told me to give it a back seat,” she adds happily. She advises all fathers, brothers and husbands to support the women in their family.

A woman is equally and sometimes much more capable than you are, the least you can do for her is make her believe in herself.

Nidhi has grown herself and Nirvana with all the positive energy from people around her. The company that started in 2013 with customised tours is now making headway into group tours as well. “My husband has been my biggest strength post marriage. He makes me feel confident by just believing in me. There are days when I can’t be there for my one year old but my husband tries to make time for him assuring me he’s doing fine,” she says.

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Nidhi too finds it difficult to pursue her hobbies. “I love cooking but I don’t get the time to do much of it. And meeting friends is almost impossible a lot of times, but I shuffle things around and squeeze time for it,” she adds.

You are successful if you have inner peace

As a message for future womenpreneurs, Nidhi says, “You are not less than anyone out there. Half your success is already achieved once you have decided to go for it.”