One of them has spent almost a decade outside India and the other has never ventured outside the country. But their passion unites them. Tushar Agarwal and Sanjay Madan will soon embark on the Great Indian World Tour, where they will be travelling 50 countries in 6 continents in 6 months in a car!
Yes, you heard it right! And that is not all. This trip will have an underlying mission. The duo will travel 70,000 kilometres and attempt to challenge the common man’s definition of the word NRI.
Tushar and Sanjay will interact with NRIs, stay with them and observe how they are preserving their ‘Indianness’ while staying miles away from their homeland. Their trip has been sponsored by Woodland.
“I have already undertaken a trip from London to Delhi in 2010. But yes, this one is going to be a very long journey. Having lived abroad, I have witnessed the NRI life from close quarters. Behind all the glitz, there are tales of struggle, hope and many miss their home and land. Our quest is not to document lives of just rich industrialists but also scientists, shopkeepers, professionals, cab and truck drivers,” says Tushar, who has worked as a software programmer in UK, USA and Japan and decided to give it all up to move to India to start an adventure travel company. Luckily he met Sanjay Madan, an adrenaline junkie, who also loves undertaking adventurous road trips. They set up a company Adventures Overseas last year.
Tushar and Sanjay have led many a road journey before through difficult terrains and less-explored places. And although both have made it to the Limca Book of Records earlier as well, this journey is nothing like what they have ever attempted before.
“We have carefully planned our route. The first leg of the journey will start from Far East and include countries like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Australia. From Australia, it will take a few months to ship our car to Africa. So in the interim period we will come back to India,” explains Sanjay, who has also travelled the highest road (in the Himalayas) in the world in a Nano car.
The entire journey will be shot by one of their close friends, D. Prasad, and made into a television series.
In Africa, they will be driving south from Kenya, cross Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and carry on till they reach Cape Town in South Africa. From there they will drive through Argentina to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. “We will be camping in a few places, staying in hotels in others and relying on hospitality of NRIs and their homes in few countries. After all, we have to save some money too,” quips Tushar.
They will also meet up many Indian ambassadors who have shown keen interest in the trip. Talking about the funding for the entire trip, Sanjay puts forth, “Getting finance for a trip like this is always a challenge. Apart from a few corporate sponsors, we have engaged in crowd-funding, where people will donate if they want us to complete the journey. Also, a part of the funds will be donated to an old age home.”
From Ushuaia, they will take a U-turn and drive up the Pan American highway that will take them through Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia to Central American countries like Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico before entering North America.
A journey of such magnitude will surely have numerous challenges. “Yes, of course! First of all, we need to retain our mental strength throughout the tour. Secondly, since it is a road trip, we need to pay full attention to the condition of the vehicle. We have chosen the Toyota Fortuner for the trip. And finally, we need to adapt to climatic conditions and cultural diversity in various parts of the globe,” points out Sanjay.
The adventure junkies plan to stay within a certain speed limit and not drive much at night. “We want to be safe and reduce chances of being involved in any accident on foreign lands. Just like the hare and tortoise story, we have to be the tortoise, who just aims to complete the journey but slowly,” says Tushar.
The duo begin their journey on September 22.