Why I left Bangalore to build Travella Stays in Kaziranga

Coming home to Assam, working with local communities, and finding a purpose in helping people experience the region.

BangaloreAssam

By JubinFounder of Travella Stays, Elixir Tea and Nativehill

4 min read

Portrait of Jubin Ahmed — Jubin Ahmed, founder of Travella Stays

The pull of home

A few years ago, I had a comfortable corporate life in Bangalore. I had a steady job and a familiar routine. Yet every time I came home to Assam, I felt drawn to the place and the people I had grown up knowing.

There was so much here that people outside the Northeast had barely seen. The landscapes were part of it, but so were the tea artisans, the farmers and the warmth of local communities. I wanted to build something that would help their stories reach further.

I left Bangalore and returned to Assam. That decision became the beginning of the work I do today.

It began with tea

My first venture was Elixir Tea. Working with local women artisans on small-batch Assam tea helped me share the care and craft behind a cup that many people take for granted.

Elixir Tea, small-batch Assam tea — Elixir Tea · small-batch Assam tea

Nativehill ingredients from hill farmers — Nativehill · ingredients from hill farmers across the Northeast

Then came Nativehill, through which we worked with hill farmers across the Northeast to bring regional ingredients to more kitchens.

Lakadong turmeric
Black pepper
Moringa

Both ventures helped me see home through the work of its people. Their knowledge deserved to be understood and valued.

Why I started Travella

Living and working in Kohora, I began noticing the difficulties travellers faced around Kaziranga. They arrived excited, but some struggled with confusing arrangements or unreliable booking help. Others never discovered the smaller cottages and tea-garden bungalows around them.

I wanted to make that experience easier. Travella grew from those everyday problems: helping guests understand their plans, bringing together people who knew the forest, and giving smaller stays a way to be discovered.

Kohora, Kaziranga · where Travella began

Travella safari jeeps waiting at the park gate in Kaziranga — Our jeeps, ready at the gate

A morning I still remember

One morning, a group arrived at the park gate for a safari they believed was confirmed. Their booking turned out to be invalid, and the number they had been given was unreachable. Their morning was slipping away.

Our team stepped in and arranged a jeep and a naturalist so they could still go into the forest. We did not want that disappointment to become their lasting memory of Assam.

When they returned, they were smiling.

The morning they thought they had lost had become something they would remember fondly.

That incident stayed with me. A journey can go wrong even when someone has tried to plan it carefully. At that moment, having people nearby who are willing to help makes all the difference.

The people behind the experience

Through tea, ingredients and travel, my work has kept bringing me back to people:

Women artisansElixir Tea
Hill farmersNativehill
Drivers, naturalists and hostsTravella

A good guide helps a visitor notice a bird they might otherwise miss. A thoughtful host helps someone feel at ease in an unfamiliar place. These small moments shape how people remember a journey.

Around Kaziranga, I found boutique cottages, tea bungalows and nature retreats that deserved to be seen. Bringing them together was a way to help travellers discover the people and places beyond the safari track.

The heart of it

What coming home means to me

I hope someone who visits Assam remembers more than a wildlife sighting. I hope they remember a conversation with a host, a local meal, or learning about the work behind their tea.

For me, Elixir Tea, Nativehill and Travella are connected by that same wish: to share more of the Northeast through the people who know it.

Leaving Bangalore brought me back to Assam. The work that followed gave me a way to contribute here. That is what I want to keep building: something rooted in this place, with care for the people who live here and those who come to experience it.

With love, from Assam,
JubinFounder, Travella Stays