January 14, 2020 • 36 mins
Every two years, actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia embarks on a 500-kilometer madcap adventure through the Indian countryside on behalf of Elephant Family, a charity that protects Asian elephants and their habitat. The five-day Travel to My Elephant Rally is anything but a typical fundraiser, with teams of supporters navigating, partying, and glamping their way via tuk-tuk, motorbike, and vintage cars — raising impressive sums along the way.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We set off on on the rally during the day
and just driving through towns, waving to people and seeing
the sites and seeing Rule India. And then it's a
grand celebration and a big dance party and dinner and
these things need to be celebrated properly. Right, You're you're
doing good and the people that are there are all
wild and crazy. Characters are stepping away from their daily
(00:26):
life to to to raise money to be part of
a movement, something, something creating good in the world. Welcome
to A Way to Go, a production of I Heart
Radio and Fathom. Hello and welcome back, or welcome to
if you're just finding us A Way to Go where
we talk to interesting people about why they travel. I'm
(00:48):
jaraln Gerba and I'm Pavio Rosatti and we're the co
founders of Fathom. Are interesting guests Today is Warris all Hualia,
the actor, designer, entrepreneur and humanitarian. Maybe you know war
Is from such movies as as I Am Love, The Dark,
Dealing Limited, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, all incidentally great
travel movies set in Milan, India, Germany. Or maybe you
(01:08):
know him from fashion collaborations with Gucci and Tory Birch,
to name just two of many. And if you live
in New York City, you may have even popped into
his latest project, House of Warris Botanicals in Chelsea, a
tea shop by day and zero Proof botanical bar by night.
And though your many creative projects takes you all around
the world, wars Um, that's not what we're going to
talk about today. No, not entirely. No. Today we're talking
(01:32):
about a trip you take every two years to India where,
along with one other people, you compete in a very friendly,
non competitive five hundred kilometer five day rally through the
Indian countryside. Warris, first of all, welcome. Second of all,
what is this about? Good morning, Good morning. Well, it's
(01:55):
it's about raising funds for elephants and trying to end loosely,
to jump right into it human wildlife conflict, but to
do it in an interesting way, to do it in
a fun way. I've spent most of my life trying
to find solutions for problems that face us, that face humanity,
(02:16):
but to but always approach them in with with laughter
and smiling and dancing. So that's that's kind of what
That's a short a short answer, Can you tell us
what what is the plight of the Asian elephant? Yeah? Absolutely, Wait,
I want to pause for a second, and I want
to say I think all this acting and designing business
is really good. But if you want to solve the
(02:38):
world's problems by dancing and making people smile, I think
you should run for Senate. Yes. Is that what they
do is how it is? You know, I think that's
what we should start doing in the set. It's the
it's the only it's the only option. It's the only way.
Um problems are going to exist. You know, conflict is
going to exist. We sort of have to accept that.
(03:00):
So that they but our approaches is flawed. And what
do they say when you keep using the same approach
and you keep doing the same thing but expect different results. Yes,
it's the definition of insanity, right, I mean, I don't
you know, it's just like hello, right, let's learn from
our history. Yes, we'll be condemned to repeat it. So sorry.
(03:20):
Back to Jerrelyn's questions. Tell us about the elephants. So,
the work with an organization called Elephant Family, and the
work they do is to preserve the Asian elephant along
with all the other little creatures that exist alongside with
the elephant and the we existed. You know. The most
(03:42):
common problem that people talk about is poaching. It's a
very simple problem to you know, to to see and
to put on a board or to understand. There's a
bad guy with a gun and there's a good you know,
and then there's the good guys. What the real problem is,
particularly in Asia, is that it's not that simple. The
bad guy is us, right, the bad guys us, because
(04:06):
it's the elephant and wildlife and the habitats and nature
in the forests fighting for their dear life against us
needing more resources, us needing more land, us needing more right,
that desire for building and cities growing, and so it's
it's the human population, the growth of the human population,
(04:27):
and you've got wild spaces fighting with developed spaces, and
so that's the biggest problem. And that's a harder problem
to tackle because it's you know, you you go, oh,
I'm the problem, right, Well, I'm you know, I'm I'm
the problem. How do you How do you deal with that?
And so the work is to protect as much of
that habitat from loss. So to summarize what you're saying,
(04:48):
it's not just the obvious problems that we think about
when we think about the evils when it comes to elephants,
but just the very realistic problem of humans and animals
are competing for the same space exactly, and so this
results in elephants trampling on farms and elephants just not
being able to do what comes naturally in their migration
(05:10):
patterns and things like that. Bingo. So let's pick origin
the ANIMALI Hills in South India where you've got tea estates,
coffee estates, cardamom growing, black pepper growing, and those were
the same roots that the elephants used to stay, called
elephant corridors, right, wildlife corridors. And you've got the elephant
(05:31):
going on their merry way at night, whatever time it is.
It's dark, there's no street lights, and they come across
a person, two people. The elephant is as frightened as
that person is. Unfortunately, the elephant is bigger, so you know,
when the elephant freaks out, you might get trampled, and
then you've got human wildlife conflict and then you and
(05:53):
then the village retaliates. The village goes after the elephant
or you know, perhaps the elephants eating your crops, so
that you know, gone through your through your little village.
You've settled your village on an elephant corridor. So no
one's really right, you know, because you need land, you
need space, you know. So it's difficult because there's no
real it's not as clear, it's not as black and white.
(06:16):
And so that's that's what happens. And you know, one
of the projects and we'll get to the we'll get
to the race um one of the projects that got
funded from the first race where we raised and I
keep saying race and it's not a race, and I
gotta keep reminding people, and by people I mean myself.
It's it's it's a rally. It's it's a friendly rally
that that turns kind of rightously competitive the last one
(06:40):
hour and it and it cannot happen again. But there's
a conservations down south who uses a very simple system
and SMS system to warn other warn people around the
town around the city of Elephants. So if you spot
an elephant, you just say there's an elephant here. And
it's changed the lives of over seventy thousand people in
(07:01):
those communities and it's decreased elephant human conflict. And is
that one of the projects that the organization you work
for has helped fund. Yes, okay, okay, So they're doing
different different projects and taking different measures to basically make
things act as a mediator between people and the elephants. Yeah,
looking for projects that are that are also community driven,
(07:22):
that also come from the bottom up, that involved the
community versus just here's your problem, we're going to come
fix it. It's more like it's solutions that are coming
from within the community, conservationists within that that work there,
that work within that space, and that that involved the community.
Another one of the thing projects we funded was moving
a village that that had settled in an elephant corridor.
(07:46):
And they so imagine every night an elephant walking through
your little main street, little main street and that very
little main street and doing a lot of damage, doing
a lot of damage and breaking the hut where you
store your rice wine. Elephant love right wide. They're not dummies.
They're not dummies, and so you know they and they
eat your crops and it's not a big farm, it's
(08:07):
just basically crops for yourself, in your your family and
the community, and so they eat your crops, your your
children are in danger. It's it's not a safe set up.
And so we we moved to community voluntarily with the
local government and the local community of local leaders, and
we moved them to higher ground, give them better farm land.
(08:28):
And you know, made made a difference for a hundred
villagers and that that has a huge impact, you know
as bigger ripples. Right, it's a domino effect, dominantly. All right,
I'm glad you brought up the government because I'm going
to ask an obvious and a stupid question, which is
how involved is the government? Two people need permission to
establish these villages. Can they just go anywhere? Is there
(08:50):
some sense of these are migratory routes that are protected
people generally? Can It seems they set up villages any
and villages start to grow and they What we're fighting
for is to protect these migratory routes with the governments.
But you're talking about slightly uncharted territories, right, spaces that
(09:14):
aren't developed, and you're talking about sort of off the
beaten path out of the main cities, and and and
a lot of times people that have been left unaccounted for, right,
so tribes and and just so it gets hard to
manage the that kind of growth and that kind of movement.
So if we're talking about tribes that are not that
(09:37):
are a little off grid, I'm assuming these are tribes
that have a stronger sense of the nature that they're
in because they're relying less on government and city types
of resources and ubers and more on the environment that
they find themselves in. Absolutely, so, I would think that
these are people who are very keenly aware of the
animals that they're co existing with, and who do have
(09:57):
a sense of the is a land that we have
to share with the elephants? Is there just a sense
of but we take priority because we're humans, then we
need to be here. It's the human existence. They also
just need land, they need a home, and so they
are connected. But that's that's where that gray area where
there's really you know, hard to say they're not They're
(10:20):
just they're just trying to exist. They're just trying to live,
They're just trying to raise their families. And that's so
how do you call them, how do you say they're
the bad guys? Right, It's complicated because we don't really
have well to a certain extent that these groups of
people perhaps are are in the same position as the
elephants in which they're getting squeezed out. They're being pushed
to the fringes and they're competing as of the space. Yeah,
(10:53):
let's go back to the Rally. So the Rally Elephant
family was founded by Mark Shand, the lay Mark Shand,
the brother of the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla. If we're
keeping track of these things and watching the crown obsessively,
Um who was a great humanitarian and conservationist who did
who dedicated a lot of his life to protecting the elephants.
(11:15):
The race was inspired in part by his book Travels
on My Elephant, which told the story of his adventures
with Tera, the elephant, who he rescued from the city
street and brought to safety. He did, indeed, and that's
what gave birth to this to this race now called
Travels to My Elephant. Le Raley paint the picture for
us what happens. We set off from London, that's where
(11:37):
elephant families based, and we had to the first time
was Mother Pradesh, so the rural mother Pardish in in
sort of middle middle of India. The second race was
in Rajasthan and we went from Jodpoor to Jaipor. So
usually four hundred to five KOs five days of of
(12:00):
of a rally, and the it's it's as you said,
it's about it's about a hundred people. And the first
time it was all on tuktok's, so that must have
been tuk tuk's auto rickshaws whatever you like to call them.
I think we're the teams. Sorry, I was gonna say,
is that every man for himself or a woman? No,
(12:20):
it's teams of two to three, right. The three is
you know, not uncomfortable in the back to two people.
You know you've I mean you've seen I mean, if
you've you've been to India, you've seen tuktoks with you know,
fifteen people in them. So three people is quite ruby
twelve people on this is traveling in great leisure. Yeah,
(12:41):
So it's you know, when when we got there, or
at least when I can speak for myself, when I
got there, I imagined that you know, we'd be going
on Indian roads that were blocked off, that were I
you know, maybe there's like a police escort in the front,
a police escort in the back. And the roads were
being cleared off. Just just I imagined a hundred people
(13:03):
coming that I've never driven in India, that there might
be some you know, consideration given to that that have
never driven a tuk tuk, that have never driven a
tuk tuk, And that was not the case. Not only
have they never driven in a tuk tuk, most of
these people have never driven in India, including myself. So
(13:24):
what I thought was going to be just empty roads
for us to meander along, roads filled with trucks, buses, cars, bicycles, scooters,
tuk tuks, cows, goats, dogs, people, every every corner, every
(13:49):
you know, potholes. Does the word get around wise? I
mean our people clearing the way or after there's fifty
tuck tucks coming by in one town, by the get
to the next places, everyone ready to receive you with
open arms. Right now, people are not clearing the way
they have, they have their life. They're not clearing the
way for a bunch of crazies going through their town
(14:10):
driving tuk tuks. They're they're, they're, they're they're waving and
there it's it's it's such a warm welcome me and
everyone's waving and they're laughing because you have foreigners driving
you know what what are usually taxis right, and so
it's I think it's quite amusing to everyone to see
this because you've decorated them. Also, right, well, we haven't
(14:31):
decorated decorated them just yet. Um we you know, one
of the one of the stops along the way. Uh,
In the first race, we we stopped in a small
town in a very small town, I think you know
two streets or three three three main streets, and and
we were given the task or the challenge of of
(14:52):
decorating our turktok's. And then at Lundon there was a
jury selected that was going to pick the best designed
tuk tuks, and so we were given the challenge. We
had an hour to go run around through this town
to buy um, you know, to buy things, decorations, and
it was it was really fun. I had a feeling
(15:12):
that everyone was going to go all colorful, right, get
as much shiny it's India pink, pink, because as much
of the shiny stuff as possible. My um my, my,
my teammate UH needed a backpack or something, so we
stopped in a backpack story he had forgotten a backpack
or needed another backpack. And on the floor of the
(15:33):
shop was burlap right covering the floor. And so I
had an idea, and I asked the shopkeeper do you
have more of the spur lap? And his father says,
not here, but we have it at home. And so
I said, how far as home could you, you know,
could we purchase some burlap from you? And he went home.
(15:54):
He jumped on his uh, his scooter. He jumped out
the scooter and ran home and picked up some burlap
for us. And we we decorated our took took in burlap,
in in brush from the street, like covered the whole
thing with brush tied down like but just basically off
the side of the roads, did a whole cameo theme,
(16:15):
did a whole camo theme, did like an eco theme,
like a little decoy, like a moving decoy, you know
those duck decoys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was
like it was a it was a zero waste theme, right,
it was we just took what was there already, what
was you know, we it was a reuse that was
that bur lap was used for shipping or something, and
so we just reused it and took brush from the
(16:38):
side of the road. We I think we won most echo.
I remember at the you know, the flag off. I
remember everyone's excited, everyone's reving their engines, and you know,
we're somewhere in the middle or just before the middle,
and everyone's revving their engines, you know, then flags going
off and the flags waving, and and then everyone starts
(17:01):
taking off and we're like, but it just doesn't go anywhere.
I'm like, wait, everyone got to jump. Literally, it was
like everyone was passing us. Everyone was was was offen,
you know what what was what was sort of in
the middle was now we were at the end and
we are engine was dead. And because these are these
(17:23):
are old these are old talk talks. They're not brand
new talk, you know, it's it's not brand new TUK talks.
And the wiring was off on hours. And so the start,
the start, our illustrious start, was everyone had gone already
and we're still back at the at the starting line
with them rewiring. Our talk took and and then we
quickly comment here another one to get into the race.
(17:45):
I think this is going to set you up for victory.
Though this is one of those classic feel good narrative tropes,
so no it's a Disney dog. Yeah, quickly pulled ahead.
We spoke about fierce competition on that first one. I
don't think that we we We definitely didn't come in first.
Although there is no first, that's like, that's the important
thing to always remember, there is no first. But we didn't.
(18:07):
We didn't come in. And then the second time around,
we made sure we came in first even though there
was no first, because the team that did come in
first talked about it all year long, and so we
were sort of like, we have to put an end
to that. You gotta squash We gotta squash that. We
gotta squash that we will come in first. The project
ended up raising more than a million dollars, right, so
the teams who were there. You need to pay money
(18:29):
in order to participate, and then everybody I think I
read was reading has to raise about fifteen thou dollars
and to participate in this, I think it's pounds pounds,
which is well depending on the year, it was better
a couple of years ago. This happens every other year. Yeah,
the next one is happening in fall. Can anybody get involved?
Have the invitations for the hundred people gone out? Well,
(18:52):
the invitations have gone out for you know, we'd like
to invite people that have raced previously and then you know,
you can definitely put your inquiries in. This is just
very limited slots, and the idea is you can you
can just pay the fifteen or raise the fifteen within
your community and raise more. It's not stopping at fifteen.
I think we raised about seven. You know, our team
(19:13):
raised about I think seventy five or something last last year.
I don't remember how much exactly, but so it's you know,
it's raised as much as you can. That's sort of
the the entry point. And you should definitely not stop
at fifteen. After you do your driving for the day,
what happens in the evenings or what happens in the
(19:34):
breaking points, like can you take us through what a
day looks like? Absolutely? Absolutely. I have to say, this
is the most fun I've had in any of my
trips in all my time. And I've been to all
corners of the world, to every party and every I've
(19:55):
just I've been. I've been around. Um, you know and
say that I've been around, I've had the good fortune
of having been around. And this is there's something about
where you're This is what it comes down to. Where
you're doing good. You know you're doing good, and that's
that's underlying everything you're doing. That is the basis of
(20:18):
why you're there, your purpose and and and so it's
a it's a grand celebration of life. Right. The reality is, yes,
elephants are dying, but so are we. Right, We're all
we're all dying. And you just have to choose how
you're going to go through life. Are you going to
go through with that in your mind that we're dying
(20:40):
and suffering through that We're we're dying. It's time, Yeah,
it's time to dance and smile and laughing. And so
so it's you know, we we we set off on
the on the rally and during the day and just
driving through towns, waving two people and seeing the sites
and seeing role India and is someone who was born
(21:01):
in India, I'm seeing parts of India that I had
never seen before and never expected to be driving on
those roads. That was never like on my um you
know to do list, like drive in India. That's that
is not a good idea. That is not a good idea.
And so but you're you're you're you're driving through India
and then and then you we we get to um
(21:23):
you know, the the evening and it's it's at a
it's at a wonderful hotel along the way, and two
of the nights it's at a tented city that gets
built in the middle of nowhere. And then it's a
grand celebration and a big dance party and dinner, and
you know, it's these things need to be celebrated properly, right,
You're you're doing good and the people that are there
(21:44):
are all wild and crazy characters that that need to
be celebrated, that are that are taking part of this,
that are stepping away from their daily life to to
to raise money to be part of a movement, something
something creating good in the world. So the more you
do that, the more you should celebrate. That's so nice.
(22:04):
I had I had a girlfriend who did this a
couple of years back, and I remember kind of coming
in on Instagram somewhere in the middle of the rally
and thinking this looks insane, like so much fun. She
was on the back of a scooter I think at
this point, and there was a lot of tabletop dancing
and maybe pillows in the desert that kind of like
(22:25):
vibe and it looked extremely expensive. So the organization is
under taking the role of setting this all up and
paying for it with some of the funds that you
guys are raising or are people donating or communities. So
we have so we have sponsors. I have a long
relationship with the Luxury Collection and so they we brought
(22:49):
them on as a sponsor, and so the hotels in
India were are stops and we did a big launch
party in London and so they underwrote a lot of
that and and so we definitely you know, if you're
if you're sitting there and you do marketing for a company,
that's one way you can help. You know, we we
need sponsors. You know, my goal is always to have
(23:09):
as much of this underwritten, so as much of the
money raised can go towards project. And so the money
that everyone commits to raising that you know, you pay
for your own flights, you pay for your you know,
it's it's everything, everything is covered. So you know, I
think that's that's definitely a big way to get So
then once you go, you're just you're along for the ride.
(23:31):
You don't have to think about taking out your walleter
changing rupees or unless you want to buy something along
the way. There's a great as you can imagine, camaraderie.
I mean it is it is is madness. And the
second time it was not just tookdoks. We had jeeps
and old ambassadors and motorcycles along the way and so
the vehicles changed and the scene changed. As I said,
(23:53):
it was from Jodport to Jaipur, and it was you
know that the things that you know running out of
gas along the way and or or you know, just
stopping because there's two hundred goats a lot, you know,
the on the road and you you can't go. You can't,
you can't go. You're it is um it's an exercise
(24:16):
in patients and vigilance. Like you you cannot look away
from the road for one for one second, you can't.
I've driven when I've driven in India. The first time
that I did this, I was driven in India. You know,
when I was in a car in India, I would
drive in India. Though I was amazed by the chaos
that you talk about. Also the fact that the driver
(24:39):
said looked I got to be very friendly with the
driver and he said in America, you're always looking behind
you when you drive. He said, I don't understand that.
Why what do you care about what's happening behind you?
Look in front of you, and then you react to
what's happening in front of you, and all this obsession
with signaling I'm turning. He said, you should just react
to what and what's in front of you. And I thought,
that's a metaphor for life. But the other thing that
(25:01):
I thought was really fascinating was again the cars on
the road and not we're not sorry, cows on the
road on the highways, right, the equivalent of in New York,
you know, four and just cows in the middle of
the road. And then I realized everybody is making room
for everyone else, and everyone is finding their path and
(25:23):
kind of the way water will flow through and find
its way. I felt for me in India, I was like,
everybody is making room for each other. That's a beautiful
way to look at it. And yeah, they are just
looking forward. It's chaos, and I think that's just a
beautiful metaphor in terms of what, you know, what we're
trying to do with the conservation efforts, right, trying to
(25:46):
find a space for for both wildlife and humans. This
isn't just about some you know about like protecting elephants,
because you know on a whammer that we need wildlife,
we need those green spaces were otherwise we will be living.
The whole world will just be covered in concrete. And
that's the that's the beginning of the end for us.
(26:07):
Did you encounter any elephants on the rally, Well, yeah,
the jiport to jode Port one because that's a little
bit more built up, but definitely we mean the first
one we rode to Tuatara in Kipling Camp and so
that was that was quite magical. And I think this
next one we're gonna encounter more and you can wave
them and say we're here for you, buddy. Yeah, I'm
(26:27):
gonna help you out. Can we talk about your product mind?
Of course? Is there a tie in to this particular
conservation effort with what you are doing with House of Wars. Yeah,
we're currently in conversation with at tea states, some of
the largest tea estates and the largest tea growing companies
in India to start to convert their estates two elephant
(26:49):
friendly estates, right, so that they're taking the steps in
the precautions to protect the elephants that walk through their estates,
and it's a long process. You have to get certified.
There's one universe there's a kite mark that you know,
elephant friendly. So we're we've embarked on that journey and
trying to get elephant friendly te more elephant friendly te
on on the market. So stay tuned on on that one.
(27:12):
Can you talk about the transition for House of Warris
which you founded more than a decade ago as a
jewelry company and now it's a tea company. In my mind,
my process is exactly the same. I started a House
of Warris over a decade ago and it wasn't In
my mind, it wasn't a jewelry company. It was a
way to explore craft and artisans and objects made by hand.
(27:35):
It was a celebration of that part of humanity, that
skill set of things made by hand and what it
takes uh the idea of slow fashion, the idea of
you know, our chains made a day to make, you know,
we would start with a piece of gold and then
and then turn it into a wire and then turn
that into loops as single chain, sing sing, you know,
I think we made two or three chains a day.
(27:56):
It was just a very laborious process. But this idea
of slowing down, right, and when we when and whenever
we spoke about the jewelry back then, it was always
about that. It was always about the artist and the
craft and slowing down and the beauty of these objects
that live that that live in forever. And then when
we decided to move into a different space, away from
(28:18):
away from fashion and away from jewelry, that was primarily
because I had a slight philosophical disconnect in my work
and conservation and then going to see Diamond minds, this
this idea of creating more not just more taking from
the land, but this is creating more desire for material
goods that that didn't that didn't appeal to me. And
(28:39):
and so I thought about what, you know what? Other
what because I do like products, I do like because
I believe that we uh the way we communicate, in
the way we understand things today is through is through
being a consumer, is through shopping. Like I could write
a book, but that's it's just that's there and that's gone,
and then this, But if you have a consistent product
(29:00):
that that people can relate to and and I thought
about that, you know, the the idea that we barked
on and set forth when we started the jewelry about
slowing down. I thought, what, what is another product that
speaks to people like that? What's another product that doesn't
have the the class barriers that are jewelry did? The
cost barriers are work went up to you know, hundreds
(29:21):
of thousands of dollars with with the diamonds and the
emeralds and the rubies, and you know, we had a
piece that would take a month to make. It was
art and but I was like, but what how can
we speak to that same idea but with something that
everyone could afford? And that was T. T has been
a part of community and culture for centuries and across cultures,
(29:42):
and so we embarked on that journey and I started
sourcing teas from from around the world, thinking about how
that that's always brought people together, how it's a moment
to slow down, it's a moment to pause, and that
that was a great start. And then I thought, we're
just taking a moment to pause. Is nice, but we're
(30:02):
no longer and we no longer have the luxury of
that that that's enough. We're in a we're facing a crisis,
humanities facing a crisis, and particularly us in America or
you know, even even in the world. But and that
is there's no other way to put it than it's stress.
(30:23):
The UN calls the Stress the century epidemic. Seventy nine
doctors visits are due to stress dred and ten million
people die every year due distress directly related to stress.
And so I wanted to go further. And so I
looked at tea, and I looked at what that was,
and I looked at how people drank and how people
(30:46):
used it, and I came upon that before there was tea,
you know, before it was just tea leaves. Other cultures
have been brewing and steeping plants and herbs and working
with herbs for for centuries. It's existed across all cultures.
And so we expanded our view and our vision in
our world and so to no longer just be t
(31:08):
And so we like companies called House of Wars Botanicals.
It's about plants. It's about things that come from the
earth that can that can that can heal us, like
from the earth for the world right, And and so
we put a team of herbalists together and started creating
blends that that are that are functional, that are more
functional than that you know all t and all you
(31:28):
know water is functional, but that you know that that
use Adaptagen's herbs that that that are classification of herbs
that help us um fight external stressors and and help
our bring our body back to balance. And so that's
been that's been an incredible journey about thinking about what
(31:49):
what we need as as as humanity to survive that,
you know, our time here on on the planet, and
not just survive, but be better. What I love about
the sentiment is that even though it's a consumer good
that you're making, and I also love products, to this
is like the KonMari problem. It's like so many things
bring me so much joy um, but it's really more
(32:12):
of an experience that you want to help people have.
And I think that's really nice. And I love that
it's an accessible price point. And Poppy and I are
always talking about how at Fathom we want travel to
be accessible to everyone, and we really wanted to be
a gathering place for people who care about experiences over things.
But the most part, so Warres, you have noticed that
(32:34):
you are a world traveler and have been all over
the world. So we are going to do a little
speed round of travel favorites for you. Don't overly think
that rapid fire favorite cities. Where do you go to
chill out? Things you never travel without a cashmere scars,
a d I y person or have it done for
(32:56):
you person both in flight relaxation regime. Watch as many
movies as I can before I fall asleep. Me too,
They're always the bad movies too, the worst hustlers. Hustlers
I watched on the plane home the other night that
you don't have to admit that places you can't believe
you haven't been. Maybe uh more parts of of of Africa,
(33:21):
Skeleton Coast, the Emerald Coasts, just more more in Africa,
more Cambodia. Where are you going next? Next? Is is London?
Not Cambodia or the Skeleton Coast, but London. Just coming
back from l A and now London in a day.
You stopped in New York City for a pit stop
and a shower. Yeah, exactly, the best showers in New York.
(33:43):
We do have good water here. Tell us and tell
all of our listeners where we can find you and
how they can support Elephant Family. Well. Elephant Family you
can find on their website Elephant Family dot org. They're
open to people giving the money. I guess they're very
open to people giving them money. That's how I found them,
and so they're very they're very open to UH receiving donations.
(34:06):
And you can find us if you're in the city
at four six three West Street. That's the teahouse that
we just opened about two weeks ago. And if you
can't wait to you know, if you're not in the
city and can't wait to your coming to city, you
can you can find our our blends online at House
of Warrist dot com. Do you have a favorite blend?
(34:27):
I know they're all your children, but you have a
favorite blend that you could never run out of? There
there their favorite blends for different times the day. So
we made one called a Sweet Clarity, and that's like
my favorite one for the for the morning and afternoon.
It's a smokey it's it's a very smoky taste. And
then for like later in the evening instead of a cocktail,
you know, we we cold brew and make a zero
(34:49):
proof cocktails. And so love conquers All is an amazing
one with Scott saffron and hibiscus and rose and cinnamon
and Damiana Shatar and I could go on but a
few other a few other ingredients. But yeah, that's those
two would be my favorites. I don't have a t date.
Please please come, please come to the tea House. We
will come to the tea house and encourage everyone else
(35:11):
to do so as well. Listen. It is always so
interesting to hear you talk and so great. I wasn't
kidding about the Senate campaign. I think your taglines should
be may as well dance and love conquers all. Thank
you so much for being here, and as always, you
can find more information about Warrists and Elephant Family in
the show notes. Thank you so much for joining us
(35:32):
today wars, and thank you for listening. Dear listeners, thank
you for having me on the show. And thank you
listeners for giving all your money to Elephant Family. And
that's our show. Thanks for listening. If you like what
you heard, please subscribe and you know, leave us a
five star review. Oh Wait Ago is a production of
My Heart Radio and Fathom. You can find the details
we talked about in the show notes and on our
(35:53):
website fathom away dot com. Don't forget to sign up
for our newsletter. When you're there. You can get in
touch with us anytime time at podcast at fathom away
dot com and follow us on all social media at
at fathom Way to Go, Please teg your best travel
photos hashtag travel with fathom. If you want a really
go deep on the travel inspirations, pick up a copy
of our book, Travel Anywhere and Avoid being a Tourist.
(36:15):
I'm Jarrelyn Gerba and I'm Pavio Rosatti, and we'd like
to thank our producer, editor and mixer Marcy to Pena
and our executive producer Christopher Hasiotis. For more podcasts from
I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M
We set off on on the rally during the day
and just driving through towns, waving to people and seeing
the sites and seeing Rule India. And then it's a
grand celebration and a big dance party and dinner and
these things need to be celebrated properly. Right, You're you're
doing good and the people that are there are all
wild and crazy. Characters are stepping away from their daily
(00:26):
life to to to raise money to be part of
a movement, something, something creating good in the world. Welcome
to A Way to Go, a production of I Heart
Radio and Fathom. Hello and welcome back, or welcome to
if you're just finding us A Way to Go where
we talk to interesting people about why they travel. I'm
(00:48):
jaraln Gerba and I'm Pavio Rosatti and we're the co
founders of Fathom. Are interesting guests Today is Warris all Hualia,
the actor, designer, entrepreneur and humanitarian. Maybe you know war
Is from such movies as as I Am Love, The Dark,
Dealing Limited, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, all incidentally great
travel movies set in Milan, India, Germany. Or maybe you
(01:08):
know him from fashion collaborations with Gucci and Tory Birch,
to name just two of many. And if you live
in New York City, you may have even popped into
his latest project, House of Warris Botanicals in Chelsea, a
tea shop by day and zero Proof botanical bar by night.
And though your many creative projects takes you all around
the world, wars Um, that's not what we're going to
talk about today. No, not entirely. No. Today we're talking
(01:32):
about a trip you take every two years to India where,
along with one other people, you compete in a very friendly,
non competitive five hundred kilometer five day rally through the
Indian countryside. Warris, first of all, welcome. Second of all,
what is this about? Good morning, Good morning. Well, it's
(01:55):
it's about raising funds for elephants and trying to end loosely,
to jump right into it human wildlife conflict, but to
do it in an interesting way, to do it in
a fun way. I've spent most of my life trying
to find solutions for problems that face us, that face humanity,
(02:16):
but to but always approach them in with with laughter
and smiling and dancing. So that's that's kind of what
That's a short a short answer, Can you tell us
what what is the plight of the Asian elephant? Yeah? Absolutely, Wait,
I want to pause for a second, and I want
to say I think all this acting and designing business
is really good. But if you want to solve the
(02:38):
world's problems by dancing and making people smile, I think
you should run for Senate. Yes. Is that what they
do is how it is? You know, I think that's
what we should start doing in the set. It's the
it's the only it's the only option. It's the only way.
Um problems are going to exist. You know, conflict is
going to exist. We sort of have to accept that.
(03:00):
So that they but our approaches is flawed. And what
do they say when you keep using the same approach
and you keep doing the same thing but expect different results. Yes,
it's the definition of insanity, right, I mean, I don't
you know, it's just like hello, right, let's learn from
our history. Yes, we'll be condemned to repeat it. So sorry.
(03:20):
Back to Jerrelyn's questions. Tell us about the elephants. So,
the work with an organization called Elephant Family, and the
work they do is to preserve the Asian elephant along
with all the other little creatures that exist alongside with
the elephant and the we existed. You know. The most
(03:42):
common problem that people talk about is poaching. It's a
very simple problem to you know, to to see and
to put on a board or to understand. There's a
bad guy with a gun and there's a good you know,
and then there's the good guys. What the real problem is,
particularly in Asia, is that it's not that simple. The
bad guy is us, right, the bad guys us, because
(04:06):
it's the elephant and wildlife and the habitats and nature
in the forests fighting for their dear life against us
needing more resources, us needing more land, us needing more right,
that desire for building and cities growing, and so it's
it's the human population, the growth of the human population,
(04:27):
and you've got wild spaces fighting with developed spaces, and
so that's the biggest problem. And that's a harder problem
to tackle because it's you know, you you go, oh,
I'm the problem, right, Well, I'm you know, I'm I'm
the problem. How do you How do you deal with that?
And so the work is to protect as much of
that habitat from loss. So to summarize what you're saying,
(04:48):
it's not just the obvious problems that we think about
when we think about the evils when it comes to elephants,
but just the very realistic problem of humans and animals
are competing for the same space exactly, and so this
results in elephants trampling on farms and elephants just not
being able to do what comes naturally in their migration
(05:10):
patterns and things like that. Bingo. So let's pick origin
the ANIMALI Hills in South India where you've got tea estates,
coffee estates, cardamom growing, black pepper growing, and those were
the same roots that the elephants used to stay, called
elephant corridors, right, wildlife corridors. And you've got the elephant
(05:31):
going on their merry way at night, whatever time it is.
It's dark, there's no street lights, and they come across
a person, two people. The elephant is as frightened as
that person is. Unfortunately, the elephant is bigger, so you know,
when the elephant freaks out, you might get trampled, and
then you've got human wildlife conflict and then you and
(05:53):
then the village retaliates. The village goes after the elephant
or you know, perhaps the elephants eating your crops, so
that you know, gone through your through your little village.
You've settled your village on an elephant corridor. So no
one's really right, you know, because you need land, you
need space, you know. So it's difficult because there's no
real it's not as clear, it's not as black and white.
(06:16):
And so that's that's what happens. And you know, one
of the projects and we'll get to the we'll get
to the race um one of the projects that got
funded from the first race where we raised and I
keep saying race and it's not a race, and I
gotta keep reminding people, and by people I mean myself.
It's it's it's a rally. It's it's a friendly rally
that that turns kind of rightously competitive the last one
(06:40):
hour and it and it cannot happen again. But there's
a conservations down south who uses a very simple system
and SMS system to warn other warn people around the
town around the city of Elephants. So if you spot
an elephant, you just say there's an elephant here. And
it's changed the lives of over seventy thousand people in
(07:01):
those communities and it's decreased elephant human conflict. And is
that one of the projects that the organization you work
for has helped fund. Yes, okay, okay, So they're doing
different different projects and taking different measures to basically make
things act as a mediator between people and the elephants. Yeah,
looking for projects that are that are also community driven,
(07:22):
that also come from the bottom up, that involved the
community versus just here's your problem, we're going to come
fix it. It's more like it's solutions that are coming
from within the community, conservationists within that that work there,
that work within that space, and that that involved the community.
Another one of the thing projects we funded was moving
a village that that had settled in an elephant corridor.
(07:46):
And they so imagine every night an elephant walking through
your little main street, little main street and that very
little main street and doing a lot of damage, doing
a lot of damage and breaking the hut where you
store your rice wine. Elephant love right wide. They're not dummies.
They're not dummies, and so you know they and they
eat your crops and it's not a big farm, it's
(08:07):
just basically crops for yourself, in your your family and
the community, and so they eat your crops, your your
children are in danger. It's it's not a safe set up.
And so we we moved to community voluntarily with the
local government and the local community of local leaders, and
we moved them to higher ground, give them better farm land.
(08:28):
And you know, made made a difference for a hundred
villagers and that that has a huge impact, you know
as bigger ripples. Right, it's a domino effect, dominantly. All right,
I'm glad you brought up the government because I'm going
to ask an obvious and a stupid question, which is
how involved is the government? Two people need permission to
establish these villages. Can they just go anywhere? Is there
(08:50):
some sense of these are migratory routes that are protected
people generally? Can It seems they set up villages any
and villages start to grow and they What we're fighting
for is to protect these migratory routes with the governments.
But you're talking about slightly uncharted territories, right, spaces that
(09:14):
aren't developed, and you're talking about sort of off the
beaten path out of the main cities, and and and
a lot of times people that have been left unaccounted for, right,
so tribes and and just so it gets hard to
manage the that kind of growth and that kind of movement.
So if we're talking about tribes that are not that
(09:37):
are a little off grid, I'm assuming these are tribes
that have a stronger sense of the nature that they're
in because they're relying less on government and city types
of resources and ubers and more on the environment that
they find themselves in. Absolutely, so, I would think that
these are people who are very keenly aware of the
animals that they're co existing with, and who do have
(09:57):
a sense of the is a land that we have
to share with the elephants? Is there just a sense
of but we take priority because we're humans, then we
need to be here. It's the human existence. They also
just need land, they need a home, and so they
are connected. But that's that's where that gray area where
there's really you know, hard to say they're not They're
(10:20):
just they're just trying to exist. They're just trying to live,
They're just trying to raise their families. And that's so
how do you call them, how do you say they're
the bad guys? Right, It's complicated because we don't really
have well to a certain extent that these groups of
people perhaps are are in the same position as the
elephants in which they're getting squeezed out. They're being pushed
to the fringes and they're competing as of the space. Yeah,
(10:53):
let's go back to the Rally. So the Rally Elephant
family was founded by Mark Shand, the lay Mark Shand,
the brother of the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla. If we're
keeping track of these things and watching the crown obsessively,
Um who was a great humanitarian and conservationist who did
who dedicated a lot of his life to protecting the elephants.
(11:15):
The race was inspired in part by his book Travels
on My Elephant, which told the story of his adventures
with Tera, the elephant, who he rescued from the city
street and brought to safety. He did, indeed, and that's
what gave birth to this to this race now called
Travels to My Elephant. Le Raley paint the picture for
us what happens. We set off from London, that's where
(11:37):
elephant families based, and we had to the first time
was Mother Pradesh, so the rural mother Pardish in in
sort of middle middle of India. The second race was
in Rajasthan and we went from Jodpoor to Jaipor. So
usually four hundred to five KOs five days of of
(12:00):
of a rally, and the it's it's as you said,
it's about it's about a hundred people. And the first
time it was all on tuktok's, so that must have
been tuk tuk's auto rickshaws whatever you like to call them.
I think we're the teams. Sorry, I was gonna say,
is that every man for himself or a woman? No,
(12:20):
it's teams of two to three, right. The three is
you know, not uncomfortable in the back to two people.
You know you've I mean you've seen I mean, if
you've you've been to India, you've seen tuktoks with you know,
fifteen people in them. So three people is quite ruby
twelve people on this is traveling in great leisure. Yeah,
(12:41):
So it's you know, when when we got there, or
at least when I can speak for myself, when I
got there, I imagined that you know, we'd be going
on Indian roads that were blocked off, that were I
you know, maybe there's like a police escort in the front,
a police escort in the back. And the roads were
being cleared off. Just just I imagined a hundred people
(13:03):
coming that I've never driven in India, that there might
be some you know, consideration given to that that have
never driven a tuk tuk, that have never driven a
tuk tuk, And that was not the case. Not only
have they never driven in a tuk tuk, most of
these people have never driven in India, including myself. So
(13:24):
what I thought was going to be just empty roads
for us to meander along, roads filled with trucks, buses, cars, bicycles, scooters,
tuk tuks, cows, goats, dogs, people, every every corner, every
(13:49):
you know, potholes. Does the word get around wise? I
mean our people clearing the way or after there's fifty
tuck tucks coming by in one town, by the get
to the next places, everyone ready to receive you with
open arms. Right now, people are not clearing the way
they have, they have their life. They're not clearing the
way for a bunch of crazies going through their town
(14:10):
driving tuk tuks. They're they're, they're, they're they're waving and
there it's it's it's such a warm welcome me and
everyone's waving and they're laughing because you have foreigners driving
you know what what are usually taxis right, and so
it's I think it's quite amusing to everyone to see
this because you've decorated them. Also, right, well, we haven't
(14:31):
decorated decorated them just yet. Um we you know, one
of the one of the stops along the way. Uh,
In the first race, we we stopped in a small
town in a very small town, I think you know
two streets or three three three main streets, and and
we were given the task or the challenge of of
(14:52):
decorating our turktok's. And then at Lundon there was a
jury selected that was going to pick the best designed
tuk tuks, and so we were given the challenge. We
had an hour to go run around through this town
to buy um, you know, to buy things, decorations, and
it was it was really fun. I had a feeling
(15:12):
that everyone was going to go all colorful, right, get
as much shiny it's India pink, pink, because as much
of the shiny stuff as possible. My um my, my,
my teammate UH needed a backpack or something, so we
stopped in a backpack story he had forgotten a backpack
or needed another backpack. And on the floor of the
(15:33):
shop was burlap right covering the floor. And so I
had an idea, and I asked the shopkeeper do you
have more of the spur lap? And his father says,
not here, but we have it at home. And so
I said, how far as home could you, you know,
could we purchase some burlap from you? And he went home.
(15:54):
He jumped on his uh, his scooter. He jumped out
the scooter and ran home and picked up some burlap
for us. And we we decorated our took took in burlap,
in in brush from the street, like covered the whole
thing with brush tied down like but just basically off
the side of the roads, did a whole cameo theme,
(16:15):
did a whole camo theme, did like an eco theme,
like a little decoy, like a moving decoy, you know
those duck decoys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was
like it was a it was a zero waste theme, right,
it was we just took what was there already, what
was you know, we it was a reuse that was
that bur lap was used for shipping or something, and
so we just reused it and took brush from the
(16:38):
side of the road. We I think we won most echo.
I remember at the you know, the flag off. I
remember everyone's excited, everyone's reving their engines, and you know,
we're somewhere in the middle or just before the middle,
and everyone's revving their engines, you know, then flags going
off and the flags waving, and and then everyone starts
(17:01):
taking off and we're like, but it just doesn't go anywhere.
I'm like, wait, everyone got to jump. Literally, it was
like everyone was passing us. Everyone was was was offen,
you know what what was what was sort of in
the middle was now we were at the end and
we are engine was dead. And because these are these
(17:23):
are old these are old talk talks. They're not brand
new talk, you know, it's it's not brand new TUK talks.
And the wiring was off on hours. And so the start,
the start, our illustrious start, was everyone had gone already
and we're still back at the at the starting line
with them rewiring. Our talk took and and then we
quickly comment here another one to get into the race.
(17:45):
I think this is going to set you up for victory.
Though this is one of those classic feel good narrative tropes,
so no it's a Disney dog. Yeah, quickly pulled ahead.
We spoke about fierce competition on that first one. I
don't think that we we We definitely didn't come in first.
Although there is no first, that's like, that's the important
thing to always remember, there is no first. But we didn't.
(18:07):
We didn't come in. And then the second time around,
we made sure we came in first even though there
was no first, because the team that did come in
first talked about it all year long, and so we
were sort of like, we have to put an end
to that. You gotta squash We gotta squash that. We
gotta squash that we will come in first. The project
ended up raising more than a million dollars, right, so
the teams who were there. You need to pay money
(18:29):
in order to participate, and then everybody I think I
read was reading has to raise about fifteen thou dollars
and to participate in this, I think it's pounds pounds,
which is well depending on the year, it was better
a couple of years ago. This happens every other year. Yeah,
the next one is happening in fall. Can anybody get involved?
Have the invitations for the hundred people gone out? Well,
(18:52):
the invitations have gone out for you know, we'd like
to invite people that have raced previously and then you know,
you can definitely put your inquiries in. This is just
very limited slots, and the idea is you can you
can just pay the fifteen or raise the fifteen within
your community and raise more. It's not stopping at fifteen.
I think we raised about seven. You know, our team
(19:13):
raised about I think seventy five or something last last year.
I don't remember how much exactly, but so it's you know,
it's raised as much as you can. That's sort of
the the entry point. And you should definitely not stop
at fifteen. After you do your driving for the day,
what happens in the evenings or what happens in the
(19:34):
breaking points, like can you take us through what a
day looks like? Absolutely? Absolutely. I have to say, this
is the most fun I've had in any of my
trips in all my time. And I've been to all
corners of the world, to every party and every I've
(19:55):
just I've been. I've been around. Um, you know and
say that I've been around, I've had the good fortune
of having been around. And this is there's something about
where you're This is what it comes down to. Where
you're doing good. You know you're doing good, and that's
that's underlying everything you're doing. That is the basis of
(20:18):
why you're there, your purpose and and and so it's
a it's a grand celebration of life. Right. The reality is, yes,
elephants are dying, but so are we. Right, We're all
we're all dying. And you just have to choose how
you're going to go through life. Are you going to
go through with that in your mind that we're dying
(20:40):
and suffering through that We're we're dying. It's time, Yeah,
it's time to dance and smile and laughing. And so
so it's you know, we we we set off on
the on the rally and during the day and just
driving through towns, waving two people and seeing the sites
and seeing role India and is someone who was born
(21:01):
in India, I'm seeing parts of India that I had
never seen before and never expected to be driving on
those roads. That was never like on my um you
know to do list, like drive in India. That's that
is not a good idea. That is not a good idea.
And so but you're you're you're you're driving through India
and then and then you we we get to um
(21:23):
you know, the the evening and it's it's at a
it's at a wonderful hotel along the way, and two
of the nights it's at a tented city that gets
built in the middle of nowhere. And then it's a
grand celebration and a big dance party and dinner, and
you know, it's these things need to be celebrated properly, right,
You're you're doing good and the people that are there
(21:44):
are all wild and crazy characters that that need to
be celebrated, that are that are taking part of this,
that are stepping away from their daily life to to
to raise money to be part of a movement, something
something creating good in the world. So the more you
do that, the more you should celebrate. That's so nice.
(22:04):
I had I had a girlfriend who did this a
couple of years back, and I remember kind of coming
in on Instagram somewhere in the middle of the rally
and thinking this looks insane, like so much fun. She
was on the back of a scooter I think at
this point, and there was a lot of tabletop dancing
and maybe pillows in the desert that kind of like
(22:25):
vibe and it looked extremely expensive. So the organization is
under taking the role of setting this all up and
paying for it with some of the funds that you
guys are raising or are people donating or communities. So
we have so we have sponsors. I have a long
relationship with the Luxury Collection and so they we brought
(22:49):
them on as a sponsor, and so the hotels in
India were are stops and we did a big launch
party in London and so they underwrote a lot of
that and and so we definitely you know, if you're
if you're sitting there and you do marketing for a company,
that's one way you can help. You know, we we
need sponsors. You know, my goal is always to have
(23:09):
as much of this underwritten, so as much of the
money raised can go towards project. And so the money
that everyone commits to raising that you know, you pay
for your own flights, you pay for your you know,
it's it's everything, everything is covered. So you know, I
think that's that's definitely a big way to get So
then once you go, you're just you're along for the ride.
(23:31):
You don't have to think about taking out your walleter
changing rupees or unless you want to buy something along
the way. There's a great as you can imagine, camaraderie.
I mean it is it is is madness. And the
second time it was not just tookdoks. We had jeeps
and old ambassadors and motorcycles along the way and so
the vehicles changed and the scene changed. As I said,
(23:53):
it was from Jodport to Jaipur, and it was you
know that the things that you know running out of
gas along the way and or or you know, just
stopping because there's two hundred goats a lot, you know,
the on the road and you you can't go. You can't,
you can't go. You're it is um it's an exercise
(24:16):
in patients and vigilance. Like you you cannot look away
from the road for one for one second, you can't.
I've driven when I've driven in India. The first time
that I did this, I was driven in India. You know,
when I was in a car in India, I would
drive in India. Though I was amazed by the chaos
that you talk about. Also the fact that the driver
(24:39):
said looked I got to be very friendly with the
driver and he said in America, you're always looking behind
you when you drive. He said, I don't understand that.
Why what do you care about what's happening behind you?
Look in front of you, and then you react to
what's happening in front of you, and all this obsession
with signaling I'm turning. He said, you should just react
to what and what's in front of you. And I thought,
that's a metaphor for life. But the other thing that
(25:01):
I thought was really fascinating was again the cars on
the road and not we're not sorry, cows on the
road on the highways, right, the equivalent of in New York,
you know, four and just cows in the middle of
the road. And then I realized everybody is making room
for everyone else, and everyone is finding their path and
(25:23):
kind of the way water will flow through and find
its way. I felt for me in India, I was like,
everybody is making room for each other. That's a beautiful
way to look at it. And yeah, they are just
looking forward. It's chaos, and I think that's just a
beautiful metaphor in terms of what, you know, what we're
trying to do with the conservation efforts, right, trying to
(25:46):
find a space for for both wildlife and humans. This
isn't just about some you know about like protecting elephants,
because you know on a whammer that we need wildlife,
we need those green spaces were otherwise we will be living.
The whole world will just be covered in concrete. And
that's the that's the beginning of the end for us.
(26:07):
Did you encounter any elephants on the rally, Well, yeah,
the jiport to jode Port one because that's a little
bit more built up, but definitely we mean the first
one we rode to Tuatara in Kipling Camp and so
that was that was quite magical. And I think this
next one we're gonna encounter more and you can wave
them and say we're here for you, buddy. Yeah, I'm
(26:27):
gonna help you out. Can we talk about your product mind?
Of course? Is there a tie in to this particular
conservation effort with what you are doing with House of Wars. Yeah,
we're currently in conversation with at tea states, some of
the largest tea estates and the largest tea growing companies
in India to start to convert their estates two elephant
(26:49):
friendly estates, right, so that they're taking the steps in
the precautions to protect the elephants that walk through their estates,
and it's a long process. You have to get certified.
There's one universe there's a kite mark that you know,
elephant friendly. So we're we've embarked on that journey and
trying to get elephant friendly te more elephant friendly te
on on the market. So stay tuned on on that one.
(27:12):
Can you talk about the transition for House of Warris
which you founded more than a decade ago as a
jewelry company and now it's a tea company. In my mind,
my process is exactly the same. I started a House
of Warris over a decade ago and it wasn't In
my mind, it wasn't a jewelry company. It was a
way to explore craft and artisans and objects made by hand.
(27:35):
It was a celebration of that part of humanity, that
skill set of things made by hand and what it
takes uh the idea of slow fashion, the idea of
you know, our chains made a day to make, you know,
we would start with a piece of gold and then
and then turn it into a wire and then turn
that into loops as single chain, sing sing, you know,
I think we made two or three chains a day.
(27:56):
It was just a very laborious process. But this idea
of slowing down, right, and when we when and whenever
we spoke about the jewelry back then, it was always
about that. It was always about the artist and the
craft and slowing down and the beauty of these objects
that live that that live in forever. And then when
we decided to move into a different space, away from
(28:18):
away from fashion and away from jewelry, that was primarily
because I had a slight philosophical disconnect in my work
and conservation and then going to see Diamond minds, this
this idea of creating more not just more taking from
the land, but this is creating more desire for material
goods that that didn't that didn't appeal to me. And
(28:39):
and so I thought about what, you know what? Other
what because I do like products, I do like because
I believe that we uh the way we communicate, in
the way we understand things today is through is through
being a consumer, is through shopping. Like I could write
a book, but that's it's just that's there and that's gone,
and then this, But if you have a consistent product
(29:00):
that that people can relate to and and I thought
about that, you know, the the idea that we barked
on and set forth when we started the jewelry about
slowing down. I thought, what, what is another product that
speaks to people like that? What's another product that doesn't
have the the class barriers that are jewelry did? The
cost barriers are work went up to you know, hundreds
(29:21):
of thousands of dollars with with the diamonds and the
emeralds and the rubies, and you know, we had a
piece that would take a month to make. It was
art and but I was like, but what how can
we speak to that same idea but with something that
everyone could afford? And that was T. T has been
a part of community and culture for centuries and across cultures,
(29:42):
and so we embarked on that journey and I started
sourcing teas from from around the world, thinking about how
that that's always brought people together, how it's a moment
to slow down, it's a moment to pause, and that
that was a great start. And then I thought, we're
just taking a moment to pause. Is nice, but we're
(30:02):
no longer and we no longer have the luxury of
that that that's enough. We're in a we're facing a crisis,
humanities facing a crisis, and particularly us in America or
you know, even even in the world. But and that
is there's no other way to put it than it's stress.
(30:23):
The UN calls the Stress the century epidemic. Seventy nine
doctors visits are due to stress dred and ten million
people die every year due distress directly related to stress.
And so I wanted to go further. And so I
looked at tea, and I looked at what that was,
and I looked at how people drank and how people
(30:46):
used it, and I came upon that before there was tea,
you know, before it was just tea leaves. Other cultures
have been brewing and steeping plants and herbs and working
with herbs for for centuries. It's existed across all cultures.
And so we expanded our view and our vision in
our world and so to no longer just be t
(31:08):
And so we like companies called House of Wars Botanicals.
It's about plants. It's about things that come from the
earth that can that can that can heal us, like
from the earth for the world right, And and so
we put a team of herbalists together and started creating
blends that that are that are functional, that are more
functional than that you know all t and all you
(31:28):
know water is functional, but that you know that that
use Adaptagen's herbs that that that are classification of herbs
that help us um fight external stressors and and help
our bring our body back to balance. And so that's
been that's been an incredible journey about thinking about what
(31:49):
what we need as as as humanity to survive that,
you know, our time here on on the planet, and
not just survive, but be better. What I love about
the sentiment is that even though it's a consumer good
that you're making, and I also love products, to this
is like the KonMari problem. It's like so many things
bring me so much joy um, but it's really more
(32:12):
of an experience that you want to help people have.
And I think that's really nice. And I love that
it's an accessible price point. And Poppy and I are
always talking about how at Fathom we want travel to
be accessible to everyone, and we really wanted to be
a gathering place for people who care about experiences over things.
But the most part, so Warres, you have noticed that
(32:34):
you are a world traveler and have been all over
the world. So we are going to do a little
speed round of travel favorites for you. Don't overly think
that rapid fire favorite cities. Where do you go to
chill out? Things you never travel without a cashmere scars,
a d I y person or have it done for
(32:56):
you person both in flight relaxation regime. Watch as many
movies as I can before I fall asleep. Me too,
They're always the bad movies too, the worst hustlers. Hustlers
I watched on the plane home the other night that
you don't have to admit that places you can't believe
you haven't been. Maybe uh more parts of of of Africa,
(33:21):
Skeleton Coast, the Emerald Coasts, just more more in Africa,
more Cambodia. Where are you going next? Next? Is is London?
Not Cambodia or the Skeleton Coast, but London. Just coming
back from l A and now London in a day.
You stopped in New York City for a pit stop
and a shower. Yeah, exactly, the best showers in New York.
(33:43):
We do have good water here. Tell us and tell
all of our listeners where we can find you and
how they can support Elephant Family. Well. Elephant Family you
can find on their website Elephant Family dot org. They're
open to people giving the money. I guess they're very
open to people giving them money. That's how I found them,
and so they're very they're very open to UH receiving donations.
(34:06):
And you can find us if you're in the city
at four six three West Street. That's the teahouse that
we just opened about two weeks ago. And if you
can't wait to you know, if you're not in the
city and can't wait to your coming to city, you
can you can find our our blends online at House
of Warrist dot com. Do you have a favorite blend?
(34:27):
I know they're all your children, but you have a
favorite blend that you could never run out of? There
there their favorite blends for different times the day. So
we made one called a Sweet Clarity, and that's like
my favorite one for the for the morning and afternoon.
It's a smokey it's it's a very smoky taste. And
then for like later in the evening instead of a cocktail,
you know, we we cold brew and make a zero
(34:49):
proof cocktails. And so love conquers All is an amazing
one with Scott saffron and hibiscus and rose and cinnamon
and Damiana Shatar and I could go on but a
few other a few other ingredients. But yeah, that's those
two would be my favorites. I don't have a t date.
Please please come, please come to the tea House. We
will come to the tea house and encourage everyone else
(35:11):
to do so as well. Listen. It is always so
interesting to hear you talk and so great. I wasn't
kidding about the Senate campaign. I think your taglines should
be may as well dance and love conquers all. Thank
you so much for being here, and as always, you
can find more information about Warrists and Elephant Family in
the show notes. Thank you so much for joining us
(35:32):
today wars, and thank you for listening. Dear listeners, thank
you for having me on the show. And thank you
listeners for giving all your money to Elephant Family. And
that's our show. Thanks for listening. If you like what
you heard, please subscribe and you know, leave us a
five star review. Oh Wait Ago is a production of
My Heart Radio and Fathom. You can find the details
we talked about in the show notes and on our
(35:53):
website fathom away dot com. Don't forget to sign up
for our newsletter. When you're there. You can get in
touch with us anytime time at podcast at fathom away
dot com and follow us on all social media at
at fathom Way to Go, Please teg your best travel
photos hashtag travel with fathom. If you want a really
go deep on the travel inspirations, pick up a copy
of our book, Travel Anywhere and Avoid being a Tourist.
(36:15):
I'm Jarrelyn Gerba and I'm Pavio Rosatti, and we'd like
to thank our producer, editor and mixer Marcy to Pena
and our executive producer Christopher Hasiotis. For more podcasts from
I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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