 |
What was the purpose of this journey? Who are
these women? Find out
Life, they say, is all about the journey, not the
destination.
Three adventurous women from Chennai decided to taste a
slice of life by journeying from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, a distance of over
5,000 kilometres, covering 14 states across the length of the country.
The mission was to celebrate Independence Day in Kashmir.
Well into their 30s, they are neither childhood friends nor
college mates.
They bonded over a trekking trip organised by the Chennai
Trekking Club about five years ago.
Since then, despite their hectic professional and family
life, the trio managed to keep in touch, meeting occasionally for a cup of
coffee or lunch.
Sunita Dugar, who spearheaded the trip, is an amateur
photographer and entrepreneur, running her own boutique, Kalakruti Sarees at
Vepery, Chennai.
Parneet Sandhu works online for an IT company based in the
US, while Neetha Jegan heads one of the Regus Business Centres at Chennai.
The trio talk about everything from learning how to change
the tyre, getting lost in Bangalore city, understanding navigation apps,
crossing the Pench National Park after dark, several breakdowns and the grand
finale, being escorted by Indian army convoys into Kashmir.
The seed for this trip was sown almost a year ago, when I
read about the daring account of Roshni Sharma, who travelled solo on her bike
from Kanyakumari to Leh," says 37-year-old Sunitha.
"I am one of those impulsive types, who loves to
challenge life. I have been driving for over 15 years on Chennai roads and felt
more than equipped to handle this journey.
"In April this year, I bought a Ford Ecosport and the
dream became even more real," she adds.
Sunitha convinced her close friend Parneet Sandhu to join
her and duo took a short trip to Wayanad and back travelling a distance of
about 1,400 km to reassure themselves.
"I have always had this desire to travel from one end
of our country to another. Unfortunately, this remained a dream until I met my
dear friend Sunitha.
"Sunitha is a go-getter, if she has something on her
mind, she will do it. And with her taking the lead, this trip was destined to
happen," says Parneet.
 |
| Sightseeing at Dal Lake. Photograph Courtesy: The Travelling Divas |
For Neetha, however, it was a last minute decision.
"Getting away from work and family for a road trip with
friends for a whole week seemed almost impossible. But things worked out, I
managed to convince my office and on the home front, my husband came to my
rescue. He encouraged me to take the trip and exactly two days before the
journey I informed my friends that I would be joining them."
Talking about preparing for the journey, Sunitha says,
"We contacted Mr H V Kumar of the HiVayKing Club, who agreed to support us
every step of the way. Besides help us navigate, he also promised to mobilise
help in case of a breakdown and handle the hotel bookings.
"I read through my car manual trying to understand its
mechanics and we also learnt to change the tyre by ourselves. The date was
fixed for June 18.
"Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to the incessant
rains in Central India during that time. We were disappointed, but decided to
wait out the rainy season."
The trio finally set out on the morning of August 8 from
Chennai to Kanyakumari.
The plan was to take some shots of the spectacular sunset
and start the journey from the southernmost tip of the country.
Though the journey from Kanyakumari to Dindigul on Day One,
was uneventful, Parneet narrates an incident that she says upset them all.
"Sunitha is an avid photographer and one of the reasons
she planned this journey was to capture it all on camera.
"She had even purchased a high-end Nikon camera costing
about two lakh.
"She set it on self-timer mode on a tripod on a raised
ledge at the beach trying to get us all in against the backdrop of the
Vivekananda Rock Memorial. But it was very windy, and suddenly the tripod
toppled, dropping the camera 10 feet down.
"The flash was in pieces and the lens was damaged. This
at the very beginning of our journey was quite upsetting.
"In fact, the journey started on a sad and silent note.
We were all feeling a little low, but the fantastic road to
Madurai, the breathtaking sights, the huge windmills against the background of
setting sun accompanied by our favourite playlist soon got us excited
again."
But the road ahead was not without its challenges.
Their plan was to travel via Bangalore to Hyderabad on Day
Two covering a distance of about 1000 km.
"Unfortunately, one wrong turn took us deeper into
Bangalore city," says Sunitha.
"Traffic was a nightmare and by the time, we got back
on track with the help of Mr Kumar, we had lost more than two hours.
"It was midnight, when we reached our hotel in
Hyderabad. We had travelled almost non-stop for 11 hours and 40 minutes.
"I got up with sore back the next day, and we managed
to leave Hyderabad only past seven.
 |
| The trio spent a few days in Kashmir before ending their journey. Photograph Courtesy: The Travelling Divas |
"We had strict instructions from Mr Kumar, who had
meticulously mapped out the route for us.
"However, to our greatest embarrassment and no thanks
to Google Voice, which was kind enough to assist us with voice navigation, we
found ourselves lost again inside the city.
"We tried to find our way back without informing Mr
Kumar of our predicament, but we just found ourselves deeper and deeper into
the city.
"Reluctantly, we contacted him with our location and he
guided us out, but not before sending us a very embarrassing message asking us
to follow the blue line he drew for us on the map.
"It was really upsetting, but in our defense, we have
never really had an opportunity or the need to use navigation tools or maps in
the past. But after this goof up, we decided to use the map only as a marker
and our GPS tracker as a guide to know if we are following the marked line in
the map."
The next part of the journey was both scary and fun, admits
Neeta.
"The roads before Nagpur got really bad. We were behind
schedule and forced to cross the Pench National Park (the tiger reserve in
Madhya Pradesh) after dark.
"It was almost eight in the evening, when we started
our journey after a light dinner in a dhaba on the way.
"A distance of almost 120 km in complete darkness with
just our headlights to guide us in a two-lane highway peppered with potholes,
making the drive even more backbreaking.
"The journey took almost 3 hours and the entire time we
discussed ghosts and planned on what we would do if a tiger crossed our path.
But we had no such luck," she says with a laugh.
By Day Four, however, their journey was plagued by car
troubles.
Parneet talks of being frustrated by the car service centers
along the way.
"They had no clue what was wrong with the car, but
pretended to work on it.
"The first time, the car stopped just before Gwalior
and we waited nearly three hours for the Ford Service Station to fix it.
"They claimed everything was fine, but just after crossing
Delhi, the next day, it stalled again.
"This time they asked us to replace the battery, which
we did.
"However, at Pathankot in Punjab, we faced the same
problem.
"After getting it fixed, we proceeded to Jammu. We were
finally on our way to Leh via Sonmarg, when the car once again refused to
budge.
"It was then that we realised that the car was in no
shape to go forward, especially on the dangerous ghat roads of Leh-Ladakh.
"After much thought, we decided to abort the last leg
of our journey and stay for a few days in Kashmir. It was really
frustrating," she complained.
But the journey was not all about getting lost or having
their car break down, The Travelling Divas, as they call themselves, have some
wonderful memories to share as well.
Sunitha talks of the changing landscape, the incredible
sights, taking pictures at the Taj Mahal, the delicious parathas at a dhaba in
Haryana, Pesarattu in Hyderabad, pani puri at Pathankot, not forgetting some of
the interesting people they met on the journey.
She fondly remembers the two sisters -- Shailaja and Swathi
-- they dropped on their way to Adilabad.
"We were just past Nizamabad, when it started to rain
heavily. We noticed two women with a child, waiting by the side of the road.
"We stopped to ask if we could drop them somewhere. At
first, they refused, but when they realised it was an all-women crew they
happily joined us.
"It was fun talking to them; we asked them being Hindus
how they felt living in a Muslim-populated area. But they said religion never
mattered to them, during Diwali they welcomed them into their homes, and for Id
they enjoyed the delicious biriyani of their Muslim neighbours. It was
heartening to see such a living example of communal harmony."
 | |
| A view of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Photograph Courtesy: The Travelling Divas |
Neeta, however, was thrilled with the escort by the army
convoy to Kashmir.
"A few kilometers from Kashmir, we encountered a major
traffic jam caused by a landslide.
"We were at a tail end of traffic, which had not moved
for more than four hours.
"We got to talking to some people from Jammu, who
noticed our Tamil Nadu registration.
"When we told them about our trip from Kanyakumari to
Kashmir, the news spread like fire and soon a senior policemen came to enquire.
"When he noticed that we were just three women doing
the trip, he allowed us to move ahead overtaking all the stranded cars.
"We were then asked to leave along with a few vans
carrying Amarnath Yatris, who were being escorted by army convoys.
"Thus our trip ended in plenty of style with one
vehicle behind and one ahead of us, full of soldiers carrying guns."
For Parneet, being together was the best part of the
journey.
We met five years ago and have been really close, but
this beautiful journey has strengthened our bond. There was so much to talk and
to share. We laughed, we joked, pulled each other's legs, and shared our thoughts,
feelings and deepest desires.
We are planning another journey, this time it would be
travelling the breadth of the country, from the East to the West, hopefully We did not take this journey to prove anything to
anyone, it was something we wanted to do for ourselves and it brought us a lot
of joy and satisfaction," she concludes with a happy smile.
All photographs: Kind Courtesy The Traveling Divas
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Don't add Adult Content