The Mountains Are Calling. But What Happens When They Ask You to Stay Back?

People love to say the mountains are calling. For most of us, that means a long weekend, some photos, and a return to office life.

In 2018, Krunal Jajal set up a one-person tent in the mountains, thinking it was only for a short break. He had just quit his corporate job with no plan. “I didn’t know what to do,” he says, “but I knew what not to do.”

The break kept stretching. He lived in that tent for weeks, spent days in the remote jungle of Uttarakhand without human contact, and later volunteered at a village school where everything felt different from what he knew. “Each experience had a part in changing my view of life,” he says. It was enough to make him stay.

But staying meant survival. With almost no savings, he started working at cafés and backpacking hostels, sometimes cleaning washrooms, sometimes washing dishes. He even worked as a photographer for a trek guide. “I didn’t give a second thought to it. I just wanted to travel more.”

That hustle carried him to Spiti Valley, where he joined a small travel company. He ran their homestay, led treks, and organized group trips, often for minimal pay. But the work gave him meaning, and he stayed even through COVID. “It’s all I ever wanted in a company,” he says.

For a while, he lived by a rule: do not think about money until 25. Just roam. But milestones arrive, even in the mountains. As 25 came closer, he asked himself what next. “I liked what I was doing, so I decided to start my own travel company.”

That is how Uncle Nomad began in Old Manali. Today it curates treks, road trips, and homestay experiences across the Himalayas. “It was never my dream to start a company,” Krunal says. “But my way of living life took me to become a founder.”

Does the romance fade once you build a business there, or does it grow deeper because the mountains are no longer a backdrop, but your life’s work?