Almost all of us have planned to go on a trip with our friends. Whether it happens or not is another story. But, we still plan such trips. Such a thing happened with Arun, Krishna and Saijal as well. One day, while chatting over coffee, they planned an “all-India drive”. The planning has now come to an end and they will begin their dream trip on August 13 on a Maruthi Swift Dzire. Over the next 60 days, beginning from August 13, the trio will explore the country on four wheels. They will also be joined by other friends of theirs at various destinations. On the journey, they will cover around 17 States in India and will travel a distance of 10,000 kilometers.
Their friendship has its roots at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay. Even then, they believed that the best way to understand the country is by getting to know its people, culture, art and cuisine. This is what motivated them to come up with the idea.
Though the “all-India drive” was a long-time wish of theirs, it took some time to turn it into reality.
Krishna, Arun and Saijal plan to start the journey from their hometown of Kollam. They look forward to the journey as this will be an opportunity to revisit old friendships. At a time, only three people would be in the car. Even though other friends will join them at places, they would bring their own vehicles. One specialty of the trip is that a majority of the halts will be at a friend’s house.
Krishna, who is a PhD scholar in IIT Bombay said, “This trip was inside us from a long time. Even though the basic motto behind the trip is traveling, it also gives an opportunity to know the people of the country very well. We three will start the journey from Kerala and in Goa one of my friends, Shruti, will join the team. Like that, from Ujjain, another friend will join, who was in our batch in IIT.”
The journey would cover the States of Kerala – Karnataka – Goa – Maharashtra – Madhya Pradesh – Rajasthan – Haryana – Himachal Pradesh – Chandigarh – Uttar Pradesh – Bihar – Sikkim – West Bengal – Odisha – Andhra Pradesh – Tamil Nadu – Puducherry.
Arun, who is also from IIT Bombay, is a professor at TKM College of Engineering, Kollam.
“I am really excited about the trip as I am going to be the charioteer during the journey. It is for the first time in my life that I’m part of such a long-distance drive. Even my students in TKM are really excited about our journey and they frequently ask questions about the trip,” he says.
Arun is also a decent photographer. So, he also has the double responsibility of clicking pictures as well.
Saijal, who is an associate professor at the Government Engineering College, will accompany them till Goa. Shruti, a biomedical engineer working at IIT Bombay, will join them at Goa. Others will join from other places.
It is inspiring that even with their busy work schedules, these friends have found the time and resources to make this trip possible. Hopefully, the trip will be everything they imagined it to be.
