Motorcycle diaries
Back in 2005, Jay Kannaiyan had it all. A job in one of America’s most prestigious corporate product design engineering companies, green card, a house, car and friends who loved his company. He was living the American dream. Until, he decided to throw it all away!
“I had a life that every young boy could dream of. My parents were proud of me. But somehow I always felt something was missing. I had a beautiful house, but I never felt at home,” says Jay, an Indian engineer then settled abroad.
It was around this time that Jay started taking weekend trips on his first bike Yamaha Suzuki ZF 500. Soon the weekend trips started extending to week-long vacations on his bike. And this was the first time, says Jay, “I felt at home.” When he realised that his actual home was out on rough roads on his even tougher bikes, instead of the warmth of his own house, Jay knew it was time to take the leap of faith.
“In March 2010, I decided to quit it all. It was the beginning of economic crises also. My friends were losing their jobs and I was finding it increasingly unbearable to go on inspite of the fear of being handed a pink slip. So, I decided to quit. I left my job, sold my house, car and broke all the financial bonds midway to save as much as I could before leaving for a long road trip,” says Jay, who adds that the hardest part was convincing his parents that this was no crazy idea but answering his call of adventure.
Once all settled, Jay left on a trip which was initially supposed to be only year-long. “I wanted to see if I could manage in a pre-planned budget. I started my journey from Maxico and after one year I realised that I spent much less than what I expected,” says Jay.
He travelled through Gautemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Morocco, Mali, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt. His journey was full of challenges and unforgettable and exciting moments.
“I met some of the most friendly and some very hostile people. I met a person in Zambia who apparently had studied in India — at an institute very close to my house in Chennai, I stayed with people who welcomed me, I cooked chicken curry — using my mother’s spices — for those whose houses I took shelter in, I heard countless stories and shared Indian tales with people I came across. Though travelling from one country to another involved a lot of paper work, which was a headache sometimes. Also, technical maintenance of bikes was a tough job. But apart from these I have only good memories of my 1,118 day-long sojourn,” shares Jay.
He shared homes of villagers in North Sodan deserts who live in temperatures soaring up to 50 degree Celsius. “Their lives are very simple. And without any AC or other facilities, they have learnt to live with nature, not against nature, unlike us.”
Jay travelled 94,933 km, through 32 countries (excluding India) before finally entering India. He now plans to write a book on his experiences. “I hope to come out with it soon,” wraps up the biker.
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