We didn't build this to run a company. We just didn't want you to only see Banaras — we wanted you to meet it.

We're husband and wife, and honestly, Banaras raised us both. Not a place we visited and fell for — somewhere we never really left, no matter where we've lived since.

Wherever we've gone, a part of this city has come with us. It shows up in small things — how we think about welcoming someone, what we still miss when we're away, how we talk about home.

This never started as a business, if we're being honest. It started with friends. Every time someone we knew was coming to Banaras, the same messages would land — what should we actually see, how much should a boat cost, where do you buy real silk without getting cheated. We'd write back the same long reply every single time, because we actually cared whether their trip went well.

At some point we realised the problem was never that good information about this city didn't exist — it's that no stranger could find it in one place, from someone who wasn't also trying to sell them something. So we just... opened up what we'd already been giving our friends for free.

We also have a daughter. She's three and a half, and she already asks more questions about this city than most grown visitors we meet. Watching her fall for the same ghats we grew up on is, honestly, a big part of why this matters to us the way it does now.

If you're reading this while planning a trip here — welcome. We mean that the way we'd mean it if you were a friend asking us directly, because that's genuinely where all of this started.

— Vanshali & Akshay
Co-founders, Banaras Theo Club