October 27, 2025

-

Premium

"MY TRIP IS A FOR CATAPULT INDIA'S SPACE MISSION"

There is something about Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla that reminds you of cricketer Rahul Dravid at his peak. It's not just the handsome, clean-shaven, wavy-haired and weathered look. Or the compact physique, unflappable demeanour and air of quiet assurance. It is also their grit, determination and the rare quality to shoulder huge responsibilities with beguiling nonchalance. Both men have soared to great heights--one figuratively, the other literally--yet they exude the same incredible lightness of being. When Shukla entered a lift at a Mumbai hotel where he was to address a recent India Today Conclave, a lady inside was glued to her phone. When she did look up and saw Shukla, her eyes lit up, jaw dropped and she promptly requested a selfie. When he gracefully obliged, she told him, "You are our real superhero." Shukla truly is, though he is only now getting used to the adulation. It was his wife, Kamna, who first told him about the waves his space odyssey was making when he called her from the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting 400 km above Earth this June-July. With no internet or any other media in space, Shukla was hard- focused on the objectives of the mission, unaware of the outpouring of admiration back homeShux, as he is fondly called, is grateful that he was chosen to represent his 1.4 billion compatriots, becoming only the second Indian to orbit Earth. This was 41 years after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma spent a week aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in April 1984. However, Shukla created a record of his own--the first Indian astronaut to live and work aboard the ISS, the orbiting laboratory on which he spent 18 daysShukla had trained rigorously for five years alongside three other Indian Air Force pilots chosen by the Indian Space Research Organ-

The Young and the Spiritual

THEY ARE THE KIND OF COUPLE WHO BRUNCH AT KHAN MARKET AND SKI IN GULMARG. Ira Kapoor, 26, is a brand manager in Gurugram, while her partner, 27-yearold Karan Malhotra, is an investment analyst. For the first anniversary of their relationship, they chose Kedarnath. Not a hotel. Not a tasting menu. A steep, breathless ascent where the air thinned and conversations shrank to a bare minimum. Heels gave way to hiking boots. Buffets became whatever fit in their backpacks. They started before sunrise, ponchos rustling, phones on airplane mode, minds oddly alert. The last zigzags hurt. The bells grew louder. At the shrine, they stood still, eyes wet, palms warm. "We went out of curiosity," says Ira, "but found a kind of peace we didn't know we were missing." Now, they go yearlyThat impulse is spreading. Temples are drawing a surge of Gen Z seekers--driven by belonging, spiritual curiosity and the quiet pull of social currency. This movement is bolstered by tech: Char Dham registration sits on Uttarakhand's `Tourist Care' app; Tirupati's `TTD' app manages slotbooked darshan, rooms, sevas and donations; Kashi Vishwanath offers live aarti and e-bookings--replacing middlemen with digital gatewaysOperators feel the shift. Divine Trails, an adventure-led pilgrimage outfit that arranges Himalayan yatras and handles permits, porters and homestays, reports a steady rise in enquiries from younger travellers. Founder Dinesh Rathod says renovated corridors, faster roads and social media are pulling under-35s to popular circuits such as Kedarnath, Hemkund with the Valley of Flowers, the Char Dham and Adi Kailash in Uttarakhand. "At least a quarter to a third of new queries are from them," he says. Divine India Holidays, a temple-and-heritage tour company, sees the same tilt towards compact trips blending trekking, heritage and food. Founder Vineet Chaubey says, "Char Dham and Do Dham with nature addons are hot, as are Ramayana circuits and south India temple trails--people want culture, photos and a good thali in the same weekend." The numbers back it. IXIGO, an online travel company, says half of Mahakumbh Mela attendees in 2025 were under 30, with 26 per cent aged 20­25. Kantar TGI, a comprehensive consumer insights tool that surveyed 63,622 urban and rural Indians, shows that in 2024, one in four Indians travelled to a religious destination, with most travellers aged 25­44. Those aged 25­34 led the count in Haridwar, while the 35­44s predominated in AyodhyaBeyond visits, participation is deepening. Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which runs Akshardham temples worldwide, notes teenagers and young adults in weekly satsang sabhas across its network. Yash Sampat, a 33-yearold advocate from New Delhi, is among them (see case study `Spiritual ground-