All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go...’ Well, one may be but in case they are relocating to a new place, what follows soon after is no less than an ordeal. Once the accommodation is sorted, there are many other things to worry about — bed linen, furnishings, kitchen appliances, crockery, cutlery, groceries and so on. The list is endless.
When arranging all this felt like a mammoth task, a few college friends in the city struck upon an idea. They toyed around with it initially and years later, it blossomed into a startup that’s providing help at hand, quite literally, to many youngsters. ‘Boriya Bistar’ (meaning baggage in Hindi), as they call it, provides home essentials to college students and office-goers who move into the city. ‘Boriya Bistar’ is the brainchild of Rishav Singh, Shubham Jain, Kanak Kundlia and Ashwin Agarwal.
“All of us pursued engineering from PESIT and as hostellers, we had to go to the local market to fetch basic hostel essentials which was really cumbersome. We came up with an idea but since we were amateurs then, we didn’t do anything substantial. After graduation, we worked for different companies for a couple of years. Gradually, the startup scene in the country gathered steam leading us to rethink our old idea and here we are now,” says Rishav.
The four of them did a trial in and around Indiranagar and with the positive response they received, they made thier project into a full-fledged portal for those migrating to the city. Their portal provides three different combos to the users and one can pick one according to their budget and requirement.
The combos include items like mattresses, linens, pillows, cutlery and plastic ware. “We also have a set of around 40 products for home furnishings. For PGs, we have furniture and electronic appliances as well,” he details. The city seems to be the perfect place for such a startup with its large student population and an ever-increasing corporate crowd.
“We have a dedicated team for delivery which works in shifts; hence, we are able to deliver our products even during odd hours. We even do urgent late-night deliveries if needed. For instance, a mattress is a very basic commodity without which one may have sleepless nights. Once, we delivered mattresses at 2 am since the customer landed late due to a delayed flight,” says Rishav.
“No doubt, there will be some adjustment problems that one will face when they move to a new city and this is our endeavour to make things a little smooth for everyone who leaves home,” he adds. The startup has received a good response from the young crowd in the city and they hope to cater to many more people. “If all goes well, we even plan to create our own brand of ‘Boriya Bistar’ products,” says Rishav with a smile.