CHENNAI: What if a trip could give you more than just a break from routine? What if it could leave you staring at Saturn through a telescope at night, listening to stories about the Cholas in the morning and waking up to bird calls in a forest somewhere in between? That is the idea behind Starvoirs, a city-based travel collective that blends astronomy with nature, storytelling, music and culture.
Founded by Bhavanandhi, a former banker who left his corporate career to pursue his passion for stargazing, the venture is slowly building a community of travellers who want experiences that go beyond sightseeing.
Bhavanandhi’s introduction to the night sky happened in 2013 when a friend invited him on a camping trip to Nagalapuram, around 70 kilometres from Chennai. Until then, he knew very little about astronomy.
“That night, my friend showed me Jupiter and Saturn. I couldn’t believe you could actually see them with your naked eyes. It completely changed the way I looked at the sky,” he recalls.
The experience stayed with him long after the trip ended. During weekdays, he continued working at a bank. But weekends became reserved for camping trips, astronomy sessions and long drives in search of darker skies.
“I started reading more books about stargazing and travelling specifically for astronomy. For almost five years, that became my routine,” he says.
In 2018, he quit banking and pursued the interest full-time. A few years later, Starvoirs was born. Today, the collective has a six-member team organising astronomy-led trips across India, including destinations such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and several locations within Tamil Nadu.
But the trips are not just about telescopes and planets. Bhavanandhi wanted to create experiences where people could connect with a place throughout the day and not just during the night.
“Stargazing is one part of it. We wanted travellers to engage with the landscape, local culture and people as well. So every trip comes with a mix of activities. During the day, there could be trekking, birdwatching, village walks, storytelling sessions or interactions with local communities. At night, travellers gather under open skies for astronomy sessions. Most trips are timed around new moon phases, when the skies are darker and stars are more visible,” he explains.
One of their upcoming July trips will include sessions with historian Anirudh Kanisetti, who will speak about the Cholas and South Indian history during the daytime, before the group moves into stargazing sessions later in the night.
The collective has also been experimenting with unusual collaborations that combine travel with art and literature. Recently, Starvoirs organised a stargazing and book discussion session with author Sowmiya Ashok around her book The Dig: Keeladi and the Politics of India’s Past.
Music has become another important part of their journeys. Over the years, the group has collaborated with musicians including Chinmayi, Pradeep Kumar, Kalyani Nair, Haricharan and Kaber Vasuki.
“The musicians travel with us and perform in intimate spaces, usually outdoors and under the night sky. Travellers also get to interact with them personally, which makes the experience special,” says Bhavanandhi.
The team has also hosted storytelling and podcast collaborations with creators such as Vijay Varadharaj of the Temple Monkeys podcast. While collaborations change depending on the trip, the central idea always remains the same: bringing people closer to nature and slowing them down.
Over the years, Bhavanandhi has noticed growing interest in stargazing and nature-led travel.
“We see parents bringing children for camping, solo women travellers joining trips and people from completely different professions coming together,” he says.
For him, the most meaningful part of the journey has been the people he has met along the way.
“You meet travellers from different backgrounds and those conversations stay with you. I think these experiences have changed me as a person too,” he concludes.