When Raghav Priyadarshi first bought land in the Indian Himalayas, there was no road, no water, no electricity and definitely no business plan. What started as a casual idea between two friends to build homes turned into one of India's most iconic boutique hotels: The Kumaon.
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Raghav’s friend Vikram had bought a plot in the mountains, planning to build a house. Raghav, just 29 at the time, wasn’t ready for mountain retirement. But he saw potential in the land next door. Vikram encouraged him to buy it, partly so no one would ruin his view.
So Raghav did. The catch? There was no infrastructure. And as it turned out, getting supplies to the site involved carrying every single item: beams, windows, bags of sand by hand along a narrow mountain trail.
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There was no external funding. Raghav and Vikram pooled their savings and bought the land. That was enough to get started, but not enough to finish even the shell of the building.
To bridge the gap, Raghav got creative. He convinced his father to invest. The deal? For every rupee Raghav put in, his father would put in three. It was a bet on his son’s vision.
But even that wasn’t enough. So Raghav launched a consulting firm to generate income and reinvested everything he could into the project. Eventually, when funds still came up short, he secured a bank loan using the land and half-finished structure as collateral.
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When contractors refused to work on the site until a road was built, Raghav had no choice: he became the contractor himself.
He hired local masons, learned how to source stone, cut wood, and even manage procurement. Everything was built by hand.
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The Kumaon opened in 2017. Today, it employs 37 people, 34 of whom are from neighboring villages. Many were part of the construction team and now run the day-to-day operations.
As Raghav reflects: “I don’t think I’d do it again if I knew how hard it would be. But it gave me the confidence to turn imagination into reality.”
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The Kumaon wasn't built with spreadsheets and strategy decks. It was built with stubborn hope, hand-carried sandbags, and the kind of financing that doesn’t show up in pitch meetings.
For Azqira, this story is a perfect example of what we believe in: visionary founders, real local impact, and hospitality that grows from the ground up, sometimes quite literally.
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