Shrinidhi has been on the blogging scene since the very beginning and has a huge readership in the arena of travel. Over the years he has blogged about travel, technology and what not. Exploring new shores being his passion, writing his past-time, he had no option but to come out with his first book – World Travel in low budget. The book is a practical guide to plan your own international trip, that too on a very low budget. We caught the Enidhi.net blogger in a chat with Talk To Tiger. Read on…

Hello Shrinidhi, can you tell us about you?
I am Shrinidhi Hande, engineer by education, business analyst by profession having worked in IT industry for about 14 years. However, it is the blogging that gave me my identity. I am known as ‘enidhi’ on most platforms and among friends. I also like tender coconut over soft drinks for which friends often tag me in any news related to tender coconut.

I am also known for honest and critical reviews of products and services I experience.  I have faced one legal notice by a brand trying to scare me into removing a negative review.

Where were you born? Tell me about your childhood, parents…
I was born in a town called Kota, Udupi district, Karnataka and studied in a boarding school from Class 6 to 12, called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya where in class 9, I spent in Madhya Pradesh’s Pandana (Khandwa district) under student exchange program. My father is a retired school head master and mother is a retired bank employee.

What and where did you study? Any influences that inspired you to write?
I studied mechanical engineering in Bengaluru. Life has changed a lot since then. Inspiration to read and write was there from childhood, inspired from my mother.

What were your dreams like when you were a kid?
They don’t matter now. Dreams evolve over time. When I was kid I was fascinated by the fact that everyone in the bus was giving money to the conductor and I thought I can make lots of money if I become a bus conductor.

What was your thought process behind the book?
When people think of an international tour, they face lot of challenges-visa, tickets, how to get veg food, where to stay, how to get around and so on. Those who find it difficult to plan on their own or do not know how to plan on their own often look to take commercial holiday packages which are very expensive. This book is designed to help people plan international trips on their own, without having to take commercial tour packages. The book would help them plan entire trip on their own and save lots of money in the process.

What kind of research you had to do for the book?
Most of the tips used in the book has come from personal experience of travelling to 39 countries over 9 years. I had written multiple blog posts on some of these topics which I could refer during the book.

How did you come up with that name for your book?
I wanted to keep it very simple and purposeful. World travel in low budget effectively summarizes what the book is about. Checked if same title exists by searching online. Didn’t find any existing titles, hence freezed on the title.

It is very practical. What can your readers expect from the book?
This book shares 100s of tips on all aspects of international travel- cheap flight tickets, visa, managing veg food, stay, local explorations, safety aspects and so on. Even if they make use of one or two tips effectively they get to save 1000s of rupees, providing instant returns on the money spent on the book.

Tell me your best experience after your book came out!
One person said they will order 20+ copies of my book and use it as birthday gift to all their friends for next one year and their gift selection problem is sorted.

Please tell me how do you prepare yourself to write. How do you beat writers block?
I keep ideating the points to be covered whenever I am idle- like in a traffic jam or waiting for my meals. With key points sorted, need to elaborate on them when I sit down to write. Usually early morning hours are the best.

Now that your first book is out, what are the future plans?
I am working on a fiction.

Any message, tips for aspiring authors? An author’s secret?
Read a lot before you set out to write. It is important to reach to right audience. For example my book is about international budget travel. Only those who have some intentions of planning an international trip in future will benefit from it. For such people, they stand to save 1000s of rupees on their next trip if tips given in the book are used effectively, thus providing massive returns on their time and money spent on the book. If someone who has no plans of going abroad buys it, he/she may not appreciate the contents and will never use any of it. Doesn’t serve anyone’s purpose even if book is sold cheap.

Any quote from the book that is your favourite?
“read books or travel the world”

Thank you Shrinidhi for joining us! All the best for your book! Keep traveling and writing.

You can buy the book here – World Travel in low budget.
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