Jamshyd Sethna’s luxury travel company
caters to premium section foreign tourists
Feroza C. Jassawala
Snow topped mountains loom outside the window, but the room is warm and cozy. A wood fired stove in the corner fends off the chill. For extra comfort there’s a duvet on the luxurious bed and a cashmere blanket which lends a stylish finishing touch to the elegantly appointed room.
If one were in a high-end retreat in the Swiss Alps, these luxuries would come as no surprise. But this "paradise” is located in a village home high up in the Himalayas. Providing a different, unparalleled travel experience, the exclusive package is curated by the Shakti Himalaya Company of the Banyan Tours group, headed by maverick businessman, travel, art and music aficionado Jamshyd Sethna.
Dining room with a view in Kumaon
Jamshyd Sethna: exploring the country’s less travelled regions
Shakti 360 ° Leti-3 in Kumaon
Top: Shakti Ladakh Indus Farm House;
above, l: at dusk on a private terrace in Kumaon;
l: Shakti Himalaya Sikkim Khandu Village House
"We work with tour operators and agency partners to create and deliver precise itineraries for travellers who want to be immersed in the India holiday experience without compromising on comfort and authenticity,” states Sethna, a legend in the travel industry who established Banyan Tours, one of India’s leading destination specialist companies 24 years ago. "We offer holiday experiences and activities that make well-trodden destinations unique and remote ones exciting as well as safe with original itineraries.” Most mountain tours are combined with stays at luxury hotels in Delhi, Calcutta, Agra and Jaipur to comprise an exclusive 12 to 14 days’ vacation.
Headquartered in Delhi, Banyan Tours has seven offices throughout the country enabling quality and service standardization throughout India. The company focuses on handling exclusive travel arrangements for individuals, groups and corporates from the UK, North America, Australia and Europe, with 95% of their market comprising overseas clients. "We have arranged exclusive India tours for the personnel of the Smithsonian, Tate and Serpentine Art Galleries in the past and for the Museum of Modern Art in the immediate future,” states Sethna with pride.
"The cities are so oppressive. We need to travel into the wilderness, the country’s less travelled regions, more than ever,” believes Sethna. "Our customers don’t want to be behind high walls eating scallops,” observes the tour operator, adding, "they want nature, fantastic guiding, good Indian food, living among the (local) community!”
Sethna was conferred the Vanity Fair — Changing Your Mind Travel Award in 2019, saluting him for being among the "brave, brilliant individuals who are the ones literally changing our minds when we think of travel... (they) challenge die- hard travel habits, uncover new ways to see the world.”
"I wanted to change the way people could travel here,” he claims. In 2005, inspired by an unforgettable school Himalaya trekking trip he launched Shakti Himalaya. "Shakti Himalaya is tonic for the soul.” The traditional farmhouses in India’s remote mountainous regions of Kumaon, Sikkim and Ladakh were converted into luxury lodges for adventurous travellers. Guests enjoy immersive experiences in the rural villages in two to four-bedroom, retrofitted local houses complete with the creature comforts of boarding and lodging provided by a retinue of luxury cars, drivers, personal chefs, butlers, service and housekeeping staff as well as trained tour guides.
Shakti 360° Leti-2 in Kumaon
The boutique 13-lodge well-staffed operation combines the thrill of guided high altitude treks into snowcapped peaks, biking circuits, river rafting, village walks with the experience of festivals and picnics in remote villages in style and comfort, rather than in leaky tents. "We offer a lifestyle experience that is so different: breathing in pure mountain air, the sight of willows swaying in the breeze, the sunrise lighting up the apricot trees in blossom and the invigorating stillness of nature. This is India in its remote villages but not as you know it,” explains Sethna poetically.
The luxury travel experiences arranged by Sethna’s team are naturally sustainable as he works actively with the local communities in each area. The business generates direct income for the villagers of Sikkim, Ladakh and Kumaon without compromising their way of life. Shakti began with three village houses in the foothills of the Himalayas, followed by four luxury cottages at Shakti 360° Leti and more village houses in Sikkim and Ladakh now employing a total of 50 permanent trekking and hospitality staff across the various mountain units.
Food, materials and general supplies are sourced from the local communities, supporting craftsmen and employing its staff all year round. Village houses are leased and not bought, ensuring that owners maintain both income and involvement for a more sustainable future. Houses are renovated using local textiles, laborers and craftsmen to carry out the work. Developing greenhouses, changing crop patterns and generating local employment is Shakti’s positive contribution to the locals.
"With a majority of the team from the local region, the understanding of the delicate relationship of the community along with their instinctive hospitality and warmth makes the Shakti team very endearing to the guests. It’s quite extraordinary what a Shakti chef can turn out with a small wood burning oven, locally grown ingredients and a little imagination,” reveals the entrepreneur.
Shakti operates walking tours "to show people where I’d been and what I’d seen as a young boy,” Sethna shares. Tours are customized to suit individual guests who are accompanied by their own private guides. They stay in different villages, trek between properties through villages festooned with Buddhist prayer flags and farmers herding yaks or in fields of barley. Visitors interact with the mountain folk and soak up the spectacular landscapes from spreading walnut orchards to high altitude deserts replete with turquoise lakes, visits to schools and monasteries.
When Sethna launched his first Kumaon village walks in 2005, he was convinced a market existed and found himself ahead of the competition. "I was sure we would find people who liked this product. We just had to discover how to reach them.”
Developing each walk required significant investment. It was necessary to renovate village houses as there was no alternative accommodation and to train local villagers to become hospitality professionals. These remote regions were also short on culinary traditions. "Today one can have an authentic biryani or enjoy a hollandaise sauce 5,000 m above sea level,” a proud Sethna proclaims.
In Kumaon, Sethna has created Shakti 360° Leti. A stay here is a popular add-on to the Kumaon village walk, with relaxation activities like yoga and meditation available on request! Even if Shakti does not break even, Sethna is committed to keep his idiosyncratic mountain vision alive.
"In our business, success is temporary. We are only as good as the last successful holiday we managed,” confesses Sethna candidly.
"I am lucky to have three efficient ladies managing my business. They are executive director Lucy Davison, managing director Shonali Dutta and Rachna Ahluwalia who handles accounts and finance. My team permits me to indulge in my other interests and only spend six hours at work when I am in Delhi!” states the businessman happily.
Sethna describes himself as a "skilled manager of men,” innovative businessman, passionate about the arts and an avid photographer.
When quizzed on his future plans, the businessman responds that he wishes to expand his boutique stay facilities further into the picturesque Nubra Valley and Zanskar areas in Ladakh, as well as in West Sikkim. Sethna hopes to expand his business from the overseas travel market, increase his employee base beyond 150 and company turnover well above the current Rs 100 crores.
"We are beyond competition in this specialty luxury holiday space with our quality of service,” states the proud Parsi. "Banyan Tours sells 2,500+ holidays a year. Word of mouth publicity, participation in several international trade shows and regular overseas sales calls will enhance our customer base from the UK and North America.
"The banyan is our national tree. It is a source of shade and shelter for pilgrims. It has strength and durability. It spreads and takes firm root. These qualities are the tenets of my company, aptly named after my favorite tree,” explains Sethna. "As a child, I used to climb up the roots of the several banyan trees in my grandparents’ garden in Deolali, settle down on a branch and read,’’ he reminisces.
Mountain mystique
Born in Bombay on November 3, 1952 to Nergish and Rusi Sethna, Jamshyd was an only child. After his early schooling at Bombay’s Cathedral and John Connon School, he spent eight years as a boarder at St Paul’s in Darjeeling. His passion for the mountains grew during his school days in Darjeeling. "The Kanchenjunga loomed right in front of the school’s chapel. I have internalized its beauty and can visualize the mountain at any time,” he confesses. Rusi was an automobile engineer who also ran a freelance insurance business, while Nergish hailed from Jabalpur and worked as a stewardess with Tata Airlines and later with Air India.
The young student returned to Bombay and procured his BA degree in English Literature and Psychology in 1974 from St Xavier’s College. James Finlay offered Jamshyd his first job in the Assam tea plantations where he worked from 1974 to 1977. He returned to Bombay in March 1977, tired of life on the tea estate.
He joined the shipping firm of Mackinnon Mackenzie and Company Limited in 1977 and then joined Travel Corporation of India (TCI) where he rose to the post of general manager after honing his skills under Adi Katgara.
Identifying the need for a travel company to customize luxury travel for individuals and special groups visiting India, Jamshyd started his enterprise from an office at Meher Mansions, Napean Sea Road in Bombay in 1996. An immediate need for offices in Delhi, Goa and Cochin arose as clients needed to be met by the company’s staff to provide standardized host services all over the country. The Madras and Calcutta branches commenced operations in 2004 and 2009 respectively, and the Jaipur branch in 2013.
"I wanted to earn better and create something no one else was doing,” reveals Jamshyd of his break from TCI to start his own travel company. Word-of-mouth publicity, his experience, reputation and contacts of 17 years in the travel trade helped him set up a flourishing agency. However, the volume travel business did not interest him. So he used his skills in the international market to develop new contacts and create a niche luxury travel business attracting premium foreign tourists to India.
Jamshyd credits his friend and management consultant Homi Aibara for helping him organize and conduct his business in the initial years. In 1996, the young entrepreneur hypothecated his parents’ shares to the Zoroastrian Bank for a loan of Rs 35 lakhs to begin the new enterprise. "I soon received a large advance from a client in Scandinavia,” recalls Sethna. "So I paid off the loan in a year and never borrowed again! Homi continued to be involved — I never took a decision without his guidance — till his sad and untimely passing” in 2015.
The successful businessman is an early riser. His morning schedule comprises walking and feeding his two Beagle dogs, reading several newspapers over steaming hot coffee, "recoiling from the viciousness of social media,” exercising and then driving for an hour to work at his office in Gurgaon.
Jamshyd enjoys travelling overseas to meet customers, entertain, connect with business leaders and participate in trade fairs. When the mountains beckon, the mountain man travels to his retreats at least six times a year.
Jamshyd married well-known Bombay theater artiste and jazz dancer Farida Pedder in 1983. After the birth of their daughter Maia in 1988, he studied psychoanalysis, another abiding interest.
Tragedy struck the young couple within six months of the launch of Banyan Tours when Jamshyd lost Farida to an illness in December 1996. He bravely continued to run his travel business, bring up his young daughter and counsel patients as a psychotherapist in Bombay. His grueling 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. work schedule and "focus on others to help resolve their difficulties helped me cope with my personal loss,” he confides.
When Maia moved to the UK to pursue English and drama in the University of East Anglia in 2006, the doting father stopped his psychotherapy practice in Bombay and relocated to the UK to be with her. He ran his travel business from the UK until his return to India in 2009 to rebuild his travel company after the Bombay terror attacks and the ensuing recession. In 2009 Jamshyd relocated to Delhi and expanded Banyan Tours and Shakti from his new home base. Maia followed him to Delhi to help her father run Shakti Himalaya until her marriage to Bombay based lawyer Aditya Malhotra. She currently runs a successful digital marketing platform, Maia Sethna Digital, works in fashion and has a large Instagram following. She still helps with Shakti’s social media and Banyan’s local hospitality.
A gourmet, self-taught cook, Jamshyd enjoys rustling up exotic meals for friends at home. He has a passion for research on art and cuisines and can regale one with the history of the advent of garam masala into the Indian kitchen or the Portuguese influence on Parsi cooking.
Speaking on entrepreneurship within the Parsi community, the businessman states that Parsis are very trustworthy. "They will honor a commitment even if it is injurious to them. They give their all to their work. The Parsi love for food, music, kindness to animals and eccentric sense of humor are legendary,” he laughs.
"My Zoroastrian background has influenced my business values,” states Jamshyd. "I am forthright, straightforward and honest in my dealings with people. My Parsi upbringing has instilled in me a love for nature, music, art, peace and stillness…
"Any form of blinkered orthodoxy is oppressive. Parsi orthodoxy has not benefitted anybody. Parsi women are well educated, but marry late. The pillars of society should support our mobeds and agiaries and also make an effort to ensure inclusion of those married outside the community,” is his opinion regarding our community today.
Jamshyd’s advice to budding entrepreneurs, "Do something you are passionate about. Work hard and intelligently. Nothing comes easy. Ethical practice and a strong sense of our Parsi integrity will ease your entrepreneurial journey.”