We talk to the power couple about their twin passions of travel and technology, and how they form the foundations of their family
The Khannas do not go on holidays. Instead, Parag and Ayesha Khanna, as well as their two children Zara and Zubin, take “mini-baticals”. The word, a play on the term sabbatical, was coined by Parag to describe the kind of trips this globetrotting family takes.
“This is when you go somewhere for a couple of months and you make the most of it by immersing in as much of the culture as you can. So you really dive in and not waste time because it is a relatively short stay,” says Parag, a leading global strategy adviser and bestselling author on books about the future of international relations, including The Future is Asian and Connectography. “We look for places that will be interesting and dynamic to expose the family to new experiences.”
They had meant to spend their next “mini-batical” in San Francisco this year but the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put a pause to their plans. Instead, for the first time in as long as any of the Khannas can remember, they have hunkered down in one location—Singapore—to ride out this crisis. This country, the couple says, is one of the safest in the world to shelter in.
The duo, both of whom are sought-after on the international speaker circuit in their respective fields of expertise, relocated to the city state in 2012 after Ayesha completed her PhD in Information Systems and Innovation from the London School of Economics. They became Singapore citizens a few years ago.
“We were looking for a ‘nanny state,’” quips Parag, the chattier of the two, with a laugh. “As in, we were actually looking for a country with nannies.” Jokes about childcare help aside, they actually chose the little red dot for strategic reasons. For Ayesha, who is the co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence consultancy firm Addo AI, Singapore was a natural choice to grow her ambitions.
See also: The Downsides Of Perfectionism And How To Control It