People travel for various reasons: some for the compulsions of their catapulting careers, some for seeking out new pleasures, and some simply to get away from it all. Raseel and Navin Ansal travel for all three reasons.

Raseel, the fetching daughter of artist Satish Gujral who, along with her husband, Navin, runs a thriving interiors practice and some stunning lifestyle stores scattered in Delhi, Mumbai and

Navin particularly prefers non-vegetarian fare and he's an exceptionally good cook. "He doesn't cook often enough, but he's brilliant in the kitchen," Raseel concedes. "In fact, even the cook can't replicate it.”

Bangalore, basking in the fuchsia glow of her trendy tunic embellished with gold, one rain-splattered September afternoon in Mumbai, explains: "Our work takes us places… to international fairs to source products for our clients and our stores. These happen all over the world: Paris, Germany, Milan. Twice-a-year we take off and get our 'info' overload on all that's happening in the world of interiors. Then, we travel to our stores in Mumbai and Bangalore. But we also take holidays. Short ones in India, when we drive up to the hills in the North or to Rajasthan. Or longer ones abroad, when we just to go one place for three-four weeks and relax. We hate socializing on holidays, and never travel with friends. Our younger son, who will turn eight this year, travels with us. The older two, a daughter and a son, being 23, prefer doing their own thing!"

Navin adds, "I love traveling, with the people I love, to a destination where we can be undisturbed. I travel a fair bit for work, but it's done grudgingly. I'm not the sort to want to fly out for a meeting!"

For the Ansals, there have been many memorable holidays. Navin recalls, "We've had some fun times in Morocco and Portugal. And, years ago, Raseel and I had gone to the US for work. We hired a car and drove all over and it became a wonderful holiday. We also loved New York, where we shopped and did nothing else. Our latest holiday in London was also memorable because we barely fought!"

Raseel gamely pitches in: "Yes, we do fight! We're both opinionated, you know."

She also fondly recalls the blast they had in Bali and explains, "We try to create new experiences with our holidays, and each has its own special memories. Generally, I'm far more spontaneous and love to go with the flow. But Navin likes it well planned and needs to know where he's going."

She adds with a smile that a more recent driving holiday through Europe, with their older kids joining in as well, turned out to be a bit chaotic as they wanted to stop at the spur of the moment and explore a place they liked, or spend the night at an unscheduled stop. "Navin was quite out of his depth," she laughs.

On her wishlist now is Turkey. "I've been putting it off till our younger son grew up a bit. I'm not crazy about Japan. But I'd like to go back to China. I had visited it 22-years-ago. After 6.30 p.m., no restaurant served you dinner!"

Navin says he's like to head to Australia. "Although, we'll probably go to a place Raseel wants to visit!" he jokes. Strangely, food doesn't play a major part on their holidays. Or even in their lives. "We both love simple Indian food," Raseel stresses. "I'm fond of Oriental food as well, but we are both easy about food. It's not a driving force. Yet, we are ambience junkies. More than what we eat, it's where we eat and how we eat that matters!"

Not surprisingly, then, Raseel meticulously sets the stage when she entertains. "I like to do different things with candles and flowers. I don't entertain big too often. But, once-a-fortnight, we do entertain a small group of friends. We meet so many people through work all the day, that when we come home we like our downtime. We don't go out all that much anymore."

In Delhi, they're a bit discouraged by the fact that the good restaurants are mostly in five star hotels. "I really enjoyed Sunnies in Bangalore, they had some amazing steaks. And Olive in Mumbai used to be nice but they're not doing anything new anymore," says Raseel, adding: "I like restaurants where the tables are low. That way food doesn't become the priority, chatting does! The whole idea is to meet and be together with friends. After all, everybody can eat in their own homes anyway!"

Raseel claims that their greatest passion and indulgence is that ephemeral thing called beauty. "Our love for aesthetic extends to all aspects of life. Everything does not have to be perfect - just beautiful. Because beauty gives you so much joy, and asks for nothing in return."