Travelling Divas from Chennai complete road trip of 5000kms
During these troubled times when the Indian news media is awash with rape incidents across the country and a particularly insecure environment for working women in Delhi during late night hours, three working women from Chennai who like to call themselves ‘The Travelling Divas’ chose to take the initiative to instill confidence in women across the nation. This they did by embarking on a daunting endeavor that involved travelling the entire length (Vertical) of the Indian subcontinent in their own mini SUV. Well as it turns out, the route does not involve a single flawless, well built highway connecting the various regions as one might tend to imagine, but it does involve some major stretches of highways though along with poorly maintained village roads, dirt tracks and perilous mountain roads courting the constant dangers of massive landslides and huge, truck crushing, free falling boulders. Now you might have a faint idea about the arduous journey that they have had to undertake.
Inspired by another brave heart Indian woman Roshni Sharma who last year did long road trips across the nation alone in her bike to promote women safety, Sunita Dugar – entrepreneur cum candid photographer, Parneet Sandhu, an employee of a U.S.-based company and Neetha Jegan, a manager decided to do something similar on their own. They wanted to coincide their road trip with the Indian Independence Day celebrations which begin on August 15th every year. But before embarking on their planned mission they tested their preparedness and skills on a much shorter 1500 km trip to Waynad, a hill station in the neighboring state of Kerala.
They began their journey on August 8 from Kanyakumari, the southernmost point in India and their plan was to cover a minimum of 800 KMs a day. Help with route navigation, on road maintenance assistance and hotel bookings were all preplanned and arranged. While whizzing past the various states of India, the three happened to witness with awe, enormous changes in scenes, culture and climatic conditions rolling outside their windows. One day, it would be clear blue skies and vast green fields, another day it would turn to dry parched lands and hot & humid climate.
During the final leg of their journey they entered Kashmir which is famed around the world as one of the most beautiful places on earth. They did have some tense moments and road blocks during the journey like when travelling in Kashmir, traffic came to a halt because of a landslide that had happened the previous night. A senior Police officer on seeing the 3 women occupants and their car registration initials that suggested their long journey from home, allowed their vehicle to move forward in the line. They were even escorted by conveys to Kashmir.
Other tense moments they had to undergo include – crossing the thickly wooded Pench National park, getting stranded in Gwalior, a historically famed city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, when their car broke down and stopping for lunch in Chambal – a forest area famous for dacoits, surrounded by men with revolver guns in their pockets. Next, they are planning to travel across the breadth of the country. “We want to spread the message that with proper planning, it is completely safe for women to take a trip on their own”, Says Sunita. Our best wishes to them.
Vijay ram