B’luru man tours India in just Rs 45,000

The 32-year-old hitchhiked, took local buses and trains, and slept in his tent to travel on a budget

A Bengalurean has returned to the city from an all-India solo trip of 278 days that cost him just Rs 45,000.

His hack? The 32-year-old hitchhiked, took local buses and trains, and slept in his tent to get around 28 states and four union territories in India on a budget.

Visal Viswanath, founder of an events management company in Bengaluru, decided to go on an India tour soon after the second wave of the pandemic. To travel across India and experience its varied cultures was his dream.

He started his trip from Kolkata in West Bengal with a budget of Rs 12,000 last July, and concluded it in his hometown Kannur on May 2. Visal wanted to start the expedition from the north-eastern states but could not because of the Covid-19 restrictions. He ended up spending around Rs 5,000 every month over nine months.

His trip moved up from Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, and Kashmir. Then he went down the west side to Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Then he traversed through Chattisgarh, Odisha, and the ‘Seven sister states’ via West Bengal before proceeding to south India.

Down memory lane

“I didn’t know how long it would take and when I would be back,” he looks back on the journey. He didn’t have a rigid plan. So if he liked a place, he stayed longer.

“Everyone I met was a stranger and all the places were new — be it Nagaland, Rajasthan or Kashmir. I came across different cultural experiences and people,” he recalls.

Ask him how did he managed to keep his expenses low, he says, “I used to hitchhike and travel in local buses and general compartments of Indian railways. In the north of India, I often hitchhiked because finding the public transport was challenging.”

He also used to walk a lot with his backpack strapped on. “I would stay in my tent or in travellers’ hostels or dormitories, which can be rented for Rs 100-150 a day,” he adds. He was also offered stay and food by locals in the northeastern states. “It was heartwarming to be accepted and treated as a family,” he recalls.

He ate fruits and street food daily to save costs. His weight has dropped by 15 kg in these nine months. But he was “healthy during the entire journey”, he emphasises.

Lessons

Only in some instances, people did not allow him to pitch tents, he talks about the challenges faced.

“If you really want to travel, money won’t be a barrier. As long as one is open to experiences and adjusting, one can explore anything. I even worked at some places in exchange of stay and food,” he signs off.