On the world's roads for 270 days

About two years ago, an IT consultant from London fulfilled his longstanding desire to drive down to Delhi in 51 days. Perhaps that was when he started nurturing another dream – the dream to go for the ‘Great Indian World Trip’ by road. Now, the 32-year old adventure freak, Tushar Agarwal is yearning to traverse the unexplored destinations world over.

Coincidentally, he met the 36-year old Sanjay Madan in Delhi who shares the same passion. Gushing with an insatiable urge for travel, the two have decided to embark upon, what they call, “the Great Indian World Trip - First ever World Trip by two Indians by road”, a nine-month long journey starting this 22 September.

When Metrolife spoke to Tushar about the preparations underway ahead of their world trip, he said, “We are going really crazy right now. Even though we have gone through crash courses on mechanics of a car, in case it breaks down mid-way and also got a jerry can (metal box for keeping fuel) made for the newly-built upper carrier above the car, we think we are under-prepared for the trip.”

Tushar’s excitement intermingled with a sense of anxiety seems palpable. Consider the expanse of geographical distance they have planned to cover and you would be left befuddled as well. This epic journey will connect with Indians living across six continents comprising over 50 countries and a total of over 70,000 kilometers by road and sea.

“We have started connecting with people on our community and website. From a truck driver in Canada to an Investment Banker in London, we would connect our followers with everybody on road with the help of our camera person D. Prasad who will document the entire journey.” Both Tushar and Sanjay already have a number of Limca Book of Records in their kitty, but they confide, “This journey is for the sheer love of travel and for
connecting with Indians the world over. Records are not on our priority this time around.”

Sounding upbeat about the journey, Tushar tells us about his favourite leg of the trip, “I can’t wait to drive on the 24,000 km long pan-American highway which is the longest highway in the world. Besides, I am looking forward to Deadhorse in Alaska, for a view of the Arctic Ocean, the northern most point in the world.”

With just a few days left ahead of the D-day, both Tushar and Sanjay want to maintain a positive outlook towards their journey, “Anything can break down; one of us might not get a visa to travel to a particular country. We can’t file for visas for all the countries right away. We are still trying to get more funds through crowd sourcing. There’s so much frenzy around. But it’s a personal ambition and no matter what, we want to complete this journey of our lives.”

With this indomitable spirit, they are ready to conquer the roads. May they win too. All the best, guys!