M.P. Deepu

SeniorWorld is an online portal completely dedicated towards making life easy for the elderly. It retails senior-friendly products, provides them care packages and tailor-makes trips keeping in mind all their needs. We spoke to M.P. Deepu and Rahul Gupta, co-founders of SeniorWorld.

OT What is the inspiration behind SeniorWorld Is there any one incident or experience that led to the idea

Rahul Gupta I recently touched 50 and am part of a pretty large family. I saw that elders struggled with a lot of un-fulfilled needs, in addition to the basic stuff that one saw elders struggle with. We had a couple of ideas that we were evaluating, but we kept coming back to this one. Other than making good commercial sense, it was something more fulfilling and socially impactful. And like I keep telling my young co-founder, I wanted the eco-system to be more senior-friendly by the time I reached my seniorhood.

OT Tell us a bit about the custom-made travel packages for seniors. What do you keep in mind while conceptualising them

Rahul Gupta We place a lot of emphasis on care and comfort and there is a lot that goes into designing the travel experience. This includes the pace of the itinerary, the selection of places for sightseeing and quality of hotels, food, transport, etc. Our holidays are not just about the destination, they are also about being with like-minded people, sharing experiences and interests and forging new friendships. Our Silverwings holidays are escorted tours with tour managers from SeniorWorld accompanying seniors from the point of departure till they land back in the city. Other than providing care and facilitating travel arrangements, they also provide assistance in case of emergencies.Our tour leaders take medical history & emergency contact details from each guest before departure anda list of hospitals in each city & enroute with their contactnumbers is kept ready.

Overall our approach is that we are not taking a customer, but our elderly family members for a holiday, so we think and act accordingly.

OT Please narrate to us an interesting anecdote from one of your trip involving seniors.

Rahul Gupta All trips we have done have been full of wonderful moments. We have seen people strike and sustain beautiful friendships. We have an example of two gentlemenone from north India and the other south Indiawho became friends during one of our tours and are now travelling together on another holiday with us. We had an antakshri session on a bus trip where Anamika was sung in Hindi and then a Bengali version was presented impromptu by a retired colonel. One of our customers was totally overwhelmed when we celebrated her birthdayher daughter-in-law wrote to us saying that her mother-in-law told her that it was the best day of my life.

OT What's next for SeniorWorld What more do you plan to do in the realm of travel, and otherwise

M.P. Deepu SeniorWorld aims to keep engaging its patrons with newer amenities and services. As for travel, newer destinations are being added to our itinerary. Plans of expansion to other cities are in the pipeline. Also, a line of senior-specific travel accessories would be launched to ease the inconvenience of travellingsuch as medicine box, document holders and so on.

OT Is there something you would recommend to people participating in one of your trips that would help in enhancing their trip experience

M.P. Deepu We urge our patrons to bring out the child in them. Often with age, we lose confidence over our abilities and hence leave numerous wishes unfulfilled. Through SeniorWorld, we want you to rediscover yourself. To transform yearning wishes into reality is what SeniorWorld empowers the young-at-heart to do.