The Whale Life, a startup based in Hong Kong that provides curated experiences at sea, is the brainchild of Aasavri Talwar. A 24-year-old, born and brought up in New Delhi, Aasavri moved to Hong Kong about six years ago to study Industrial and Product Design at the HK Polytechnic University. After graduation, she moved to Hangzhou, China for work, only to return a few months later because she kept missing Hong Kong.

Explaining the concept she says, "Whilst in University, we had a project wherein we were supposed to design a watercraft. Incidentally, I designed a luxury spa yacht experience. The Whale Life is an extension of that very idea and it aspires to create and offer experiences that range from wellness and fitness to art, culture, entertainment and so on.

One expands their horizons only by increasing the number of experiences they’ve had. In most busy cities, it is quite easy to fall into a monotonous routine which stops the addition of new experiences. The Whale Life is introducing around 7-8 newly curated experiences in the coming months. That is sure to add some spice to the busy city lifestyle."

Curating the trips mainly involve encouraging people to experience their city as a tourist, or as a new set of eyes rather than falling into the monotony of everyday life.

The Whale Life is all about tapping into people and how they feel. Curating the trips mainly involve encouraging people to experience their city as a tourist, or as a new set of eyes rather than falling into the monotony of everyday life. Aasavri informs that even generally while experiencing something new, the reaction and emotion felt is also something new and different.

She adds, "That refreshing feeling is what we try to capture with The Whale Life events. For this year, we have laid out eight different events. The first one was the event on the 22nd April, 'Silence at Sea'. It was an 8-hour retreat on a boat, that encouraged the participants to detach from the fast paced city life and embrace the quietness. After the event, one of the participants called me up and said that he felt that he felt more alert of his other senses, he could taste the food better and the water tasted sweeter. We have a follow up to this, coming up in end of July."

Aasavri has been working on The Whale Life alongside a full-time job.

Aasavri says that she's  learning every step of the way, and each day is a new challenge. One of the key things she has learned so far is that you have to state the obvious and that details are important. Because the obvious is what people can relate to and are familiar and comfortable with. Which ultimately helps you connect with your user and surprise them with in a subtle way. She tells us how she works on The Whale Life, alongside a full-time job.

"It's all about time management. Although to be honest, I’m not as good at it yet, but I’m getting there. I try to squeeze in an hour before I leave for work for all the creative things and at least an hour after work for the admin. I use public transport for commuting to and from work, so that’s another 40 mins to an hour for emails, social media posts etc. The rest is mostly weekends."

The Whale Life has been getting a whole lot of supportive feedback since its inception and this encourages Aasavri to nurture the dream of developing it into an experience brand for South East Asia and India, wherein they provide different experiences to locals and vacation goers.

She concludes enthusiastically, "I haven't felt this creative in a while. I have a lot of ideas and I’m always on a look-out for people to collaborate with."