EXCHANGING WORDS WITH DANISH MIR

1. Hello Mr Mir, Kindly introduce yourself to our readers ?

Warm greeting to all the lovely readers! I am Danish Mir, the Founder and director at kashmirbasket.com. I hail from a village called Rohama in Kashmir which is 75 kms from Srinagar city. My heart yearns to travel, explore new and exotic places, to understand ways of life and to meet with people across the borders. Apart from these, I love driving and helping the start-up people with their business as far as I can.

2. Being a law student, what made you think about “Kashmir Basket” and “GoKash Adventures”?

To be honest, I feel Law was written in my destiny without me planning for it ever!! 😀 Initially, I was thinking of doing BBA instead of Law but the fee structure being too high, I was devoid of having gained that degree and ended up with Law. While at college, for the love of social work, I happened to meet loads of people who are fascinated by the natural beauty, traditions and culture of Kashmir. And hence many of them acknowledge me about their love for Kashmiri products from Craft to Tourism, fruits to dry fruits and later on my visit to Kashmir I used to get long list of things that I was supposed to get on my return. These times worked in churning my mind towards the business Kashmir products did and the idea to starting the online store for same ignited my mind. Since it was first generation I was having no experience I joined Wipro where I learned most of the skills. Talking about “GoKash Adventures”, it came as something unplanned!! I was trying to get a loan for Kashmirbasket.com as I had spent all the money to initiate it. But many other aspects were left out until we give it a kick-start launch and in this phase of May 2014, Kashmir experienced the flood. These floods couldn’t extinguish the fire burning inside me and without wasting any more time I started to bring in use my experience of managing tours and trips and came up with “GoKash Adventures”. With not agreeing to wait longer for loans, I visited Jammu & Kashmir tourism department and they helped me out with the places to explore in order to have a deep understanding about the tourism industry. I experienced skiing on the snow clad mountains under the blue sky which ignited the travel bug in me! And there was no turning back… I decided to do that and I went for snow skiing. It was fun skiing during winters at Kashmir! Am sure the experience of skiing in an area where you can see only ice till your vision reaches with a blue sky to your company shall surely give goose bumps and an adrenaline rush. With working hard came the rush for adventuring hard, and it all took me around 6 months to come up with the best adventure and travel packages. This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing people working with me and supporting me- The Creative Head at kashmirbasket.com/
Nilofar Rehman and her team who is managing my company websites. Theyhave been there and done that and always delivered the best! I find “GoKash Adventures” just to offer the affordable travel packages and services also to generate revenue from it to support my online portal which I hope to grow it sooner In sha Allah.

3. What challenges did you face with starting of “Kashmir Basket?”

“Challenges”, I would rather call it “Milestones”. Challenge is a something that you don’t like to do, yet you have to do! But milestones in life are the laernings that make us strong on facing the lovable odds. Starting up has been the milestone and raising funds has been the core issue! Nothing in this world comes for free but freedom! When it comes to facing things, It’s the faith we build in a customer’s heart is half the battle won. I am glad and grateful for the support, belief and freedom from family and friends for turning my dream to reality. With even more support and love, we shall be launching the 3rd venture soon enough- may be you’ll witness it in September 2015 itself.

4. What do you love the most among the two? ” Kashmir Basket ” Or ” Go Kash Adventures ? “

This is like asking a parent, which child he loves more!! For me, both my ventures are the result of great efforts and hold equal place at heart. But coming to the other phase, “Kashmir Basket” is a dream venture while “GoKash Adventures” gives me a boost and keeps me moving ahead. I am extremely positive about the success of “GoKash Advenntures” due to the response and love it has received on just launching!

5. Tell us about “Go Kash Adventures ? “

” ​The right tour for the right traveller ” .

” GoKash Adventures” shares a common love of adventure, but life­altering experiences come in a variety of flavours. Travel Styles collect tours based around common themes together. No matter what kind of traveller you are, we’ve got a tour (or a dozen) that’ll fit you just right. Classic, Comfort, Adventures, Active, Local, Culture.
Corporate, Family, Bikers Groups and Students.
” Go Kash Adventures ” is the brand name owned by Unique Holidays and tours based in Srinagar, an adventure travel establish of erring the planet’s most awe-inspiring selection of affordable small group tours, safaris and expeditions, exotic kashmiri cuisine and local transport to put travellers on a first name basis with the planet’s people, cultures, landscapes and wildlife. Go kash adventures will give you an adventure tour and outback experience you’ve always dreamed of. We’ll show you some of the most spectacular scenery in jammu and Kashmir ; from the tranquil beauty of Srinagar , Leh , Ladakh , Sonamarg , the pahalgam and Gulmarg .

6. What are the places ” Go Kash Adventures ” covered and will cover in future ?

As for now we have covered whole Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh. Since Kashmir has supported lots of offers in adventure and we are planning to reach over to the beautiful places that take one close to nature- like Ooty, Kerela, Mysore, etc in the coming future.

7. Who are the people you think will love to be a part of “Go Kash Adventures?”

I have observed the youngsters to possess great amount of adernile rush and love for adventure. Along with that, the exclusive adventure packages have a lot to offer to families, corporate, students and also photography enthusiasts who get great opportunities to learn and practise photography of this beautiful land created by the almighty.

8. We would like to highlight your special offers. Kindly share with our readers.

We are happy to announce that our new website of “Go Kash Adventures” is launched today. We have launching offer for everyone to see Kashmir at just 5500 INR Per person 4 nights and 5 days including breakfast, dinner and transport. Jump, run, ski or go cycling and click the link!
http://www.gokashadventures.com

9. Your message for upcoming entrepreneurs.

Giving advice would make me sound a lot more experienced yet I would just share the courage, hope, phase of failures, standing up again, your love leaving your side, making tough decisions, patience, following your dream till the end and making it successful to the day where you can share your story with the world is an entrepreneur’s life. With no doubt is this easy. But make sure you have someone in life who believes in you and your idea and keeps pushing you or sometimes even kicks you 😉

They say, there is always a woman behind a man’s success,
But for me there were two! 😉
Anita Tejwani and Holly Lemesurier​.

They have succeeded in keeping me up always and have believed on me, my dreams and my goals. Without their support and motivation, achieving these levels seems difficult.

Special thanks to you- Nidhi for your time and efforts. You’re awesome!

CONTACT NUMBER :  9967366561

MAIL ID :  dansihmir34@gmail.com

FACEBOOK PROFILE LINK :

www.facebook.com/gokashadventures

TWITTER :  https://twitter.com/goladakh

LINK TO WEBSITES :
www.gokashadventures.com

www.kashmirbasket.com

It was fun interviewing you Danish Mir ☺

– Nidhi