The to do list for small businesses An entrepreneuer has different roles to play, this is a known fact and folks who choose this path are aware of the same.  A decade back  if you are good at what you are, you get known and accepted, and you had to focus on just getting better. These days besides being good at your line of work you have to be a good writer, phtographer, accountant, brand manager, website developer etc. The to do list of an average day is something like this -  Click amazing pictures for your social media promotions Think of amazing content for your blog Add fresh pages to your website Tally accounts and get all the billing done Prepare presentations for your sales meetings Design new products for promotions Keep up with the operations and make sure guests are satisfied Address griviances  Manage finaces  The list keeps growing, if you are working in a small team like we do all the above tasks happen ba...

Being part of start up's has now become acceptable and aspirational, lets spare a thought for the tireless and enterprising tribe of entrepreneurs of the 80's and 90's. We are privileged to be part of an era which has seen the likes of Flipkart and Ola, there is acceptability and encouragement from the most unlikely corners for a new venture and idea. The narrative has changed for the better just recently for budding entrepreneurs. Rewind a couple of decades back and the world was so different. Even if you had a brilliant idea and the skills and capabilities to build a business the circumstances were not encouraging. Recently I saw a Malayalam movie - "Varavelp" starring Mohanlal. The movie which released in  1989 tells a story which effectively depicts the challenges of starting up in the 90's. The Plot Murali (Mohanlal) returns home after 07 years in the gulf. His 2 brothers and their families are very excited to see him after all his job in the gulf was th...

Five Reasons To Do The Goa Food Trail... Goa may be India’s party capital but to dismiss it as just that would be criminally unjust to its mellower side. Away from crowded beaches, crazy binges and exorbitant resorts hides another Goa, a world within a world, where time has slowed down and the old-world charm has not faded. Speaking of a world within a world, there’s more to Goan food than sea food, sausages and recheado. A small but proud Saraswat community has kept alive its vegetarian culinary heritage with dishes such as muskachi bhaaji (drumstick flower curry), Keli Kappa (plantain wedges or chips),  alu che ros (a coconut-based dish) and, of course, the famous sol kadhi (kokum and coconut drink). So, why not combine these two lesser-known facets of the tiny state to give you an experience that is both bespoke and memorable. Here are five reasons you should embark on the Goa Food Trail with Indigo Holidays: 1. GOA, BUT NOT QUITE GOA: Give the beaches of Calan...

The teenage years are described in Wikipedia as “ years in which rapid physical growth and psychological changes occur. A long process that begins with a surge in hormone production, which in turn causes a number of changes” Now that is too many changes happening at the same time. No wonder the teenage years are considered volatile and temperamental. Tough times lie ahead for us as we have someone in our midst who is stepping into its teens. Happy Birthday Indigo Holidays , you are 13 years now. March 07 th 2003 was when our company was registered in Mapusa, Goa. Since then we have been celebrating every year on March 07 th , a time just to get together and have fun for surviving another year in this tough, competitive and ever changing travel industry. Not much of a political person but our former prime minister has been referred to as an "Accidental Prime Minister". We think the title - "Accidental Entrepreneur"is just apt for us. We are not the lot wh...

I am a firm believer that magic created in certain destinations should not be replicated else where. With magic I mostly refer to food. For example, I would never order a Goan fish curry and rice outside Goa, similarly there are many street food joints in Goa that are known for Wada - Pav but I have never had the courage to have them there. Some how Wada - Pav is synonymous to Mumbai and how ever good the taste it is not complete without having it on a busy road in Mumbai, with lots of crowd, noise, honking and chaos. Certain dishes and delicacies are complete only at certain locales. In our annual visit to Kerala (our home town) the early morning's I look forward to Kattan Kappi (Black Coffee) also known just as "Kattan". Some how the urge to have them never kicks inn while at home in Goa or Mumbai. It is not all about the coffee but the whole package of having a hot glass of kattan while watching elders reading Malayalam Manorama and discussing the news in the thinna...

Every day we wake up to bright sunlight or to a buzz from our phones, but for the first time in my life I had a privilege ;) to be woken up by Mr.   Kumar Sanu   .His nasal vocals were piercing into my drums and then... there were cries and shouts from the neighbours/fellow passengers calling out “arre   bandh karo yaar ” but Mr.Sanu   was adamant and the shouts got even louder.Then came a THUDDD...the floors trembled and the walls shook, our bus had jumped over a speed breaker and what followed was silence.The shouting neighbours, the roaring bus and of course Mr.Sanu everything stopped. The cleaner boy came announcing “ sabko uthaane ke liye gaana zor se bajaana padtha hain ”. Slowly the bus came back to life and the journey resumed. The grey strip of NH3, which had perfectly hosted our drive from   Mumbai   to Indore, now looked like a swirling serpent with sun lit farms on either side. Here I am, with my friends, on our way to the...

In as complex and diverse country as ours, Goa joined late, well a good 14 years after India was independent.   “Estado da India” (Portuguese state of India) became a union territory and later a full-fledged state. Influenced by over 450 years of Portuguese rule and Latin culture, Goa presents a somewhat different representation of India. It was not long before tourists started pouring in to experience the unique lifestyle and culture the state had to offer along with the pristine beaches.   Hippies from Europe where the first to arrive in the late 60’s with their alternative way of life inspired by ideas of the peace, love and travel, In Goa they felt free from the cultural morals & also fell in love with this tropical paradise. The Goans were indifferent to the new guests, they were too laid back to bother, if at all they were only curious about these semi naked whites. Small gatherings of hippies playing guitar and smoking pot started getting famous, more &...