Shefali Shah who was one of the guests at the TOI Uttarakhand Transformation Dialogues, 2026 spoke about her travel experience and also taking solo travel. During the chat, she spoke about also the safety of women while travelling and said, “Uttarakhand is a fantastic destination for a solo trip for men, women, family trip and any kind of trip. It’s also a lot about the people around you and how safe they make you feel and in that sense, it’s a gorgeous place.” As the conversation progressed to what Shefali had once said in an interview that women will be safe when men are raised right. Taking this further, when mentioned by the interviewer that the onus of raising a child right is not just on the women but on men too, Shefali agreed and said, “Absolutely. Any child takes the father and how he treats the women in the house as a lesson and as an idol. So, the responsibility is not necessarily on women and it’s on men to have the correct behaviour. I have reached a certain age and my kids are grown up and I’m always going to be there for them, but I cannot take the onus of everything that that they do. I genuinely cannot. It’s not my fault. The ‘Delhi Crimes’ actress further had a message for women as she said, “Being equal to a man is not an agenda, it’s just being comfortable in your own space. Standing in your own shoes and deciding what works for you and what doesn’t work for you. A big part of it comes from education, independence, mainly financial independence. It is changing, and women are not just people who benefit but they are benefactors now. I travel and see that a lot of women have actually used the skills they have on a day-to-life which may not be acknowledged much, and made it into a business enterprise. simple thing like home stays – the cuisine, the food, the local art and culture.” She further added, “I was travelling and I saw that all these women from different parts come together and make these amazing shawls and more. I was talking to them and one of the things they told me that it’s amazing to get out and be in a place where we feel safe and respected which is a really big thing, like a community.”
