THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At 17,850 ft and minus 15 degree, she was stuck, frozen. The tyres of her vehicle were encased in snow and there was no help around. She remained that way for 24 hours, inside the vehicle, covered in five layers of clothing, hugging the oxygen cylinder until help came in the form of road workers the next morning.
Sangeetha Sridhar is a repository of stories, now that she has seen most of India. For the past 202 days, this NRI has been on the road, exploring the country and its diverse cultural, social and historical fabrics, travelling and living in an SUV. The journey which started in August was flagged off from Mumbai. Her monsoon was in Gujarat, while she spent her fall in Jammu and Kashmir, winter in North East and now the summers in South India.
“It has been a beautiful transition, through all the seasons," says Sangeetha, attired in a local wardrobe, wearing the sari she purchased from the local artisans of Mangalagiri and a three-stringed beaded chain from Arunachal Pradesh. It is the journey of an NRI travelling solo in India, with no travel bookings or no known contacts. Having completed journeying through 360 cities, she says that all through her journey she felt very safe.
After traversing 44,500 kilometres on the road, Sangeetha says the journey has changed her in several ways. “I have experienced the bare India. You have to go as a traveller and not as a tourist and experience the country. I am no more the same NRI who came to India last year. Having experienced India, the question that looms large is on what I can do for the country,” says the former e-government adviser to Oman who resides in Abu Dhabi. She is currently in the capital city, exploring the land.
In the long travel, Sangeetha has been to the borders, traversed many high altitude mountain passes, religious, cultural and heritage spots and industries in 27 states. She has been interacting with the students and the public, furthering the cause of women empowerment and sanitation.
The planning for the journey took 1.5 years. According to her, it is a 'Gandhian journey' with the idea of promoting a clean, sustainable India and improving the safety of women and sanitation in the country. She is doing a toilet audit as part of the journey. As many as 220 toilets have been audited by her through an app and the audit is carried out based on the ASEAN audit standards.
For the larger part of the journey, Sangeetha slept in the SUV which was lent by TATA. And she says she has never had any awry instances till date. “I always found a very welcoming crowd," says Sangeetha who traverses a distance of nine to ten hours on a daily basis. She has hitherto covered 300 cities and is slated to end the journey after covering Goa and Maharashtra.
The whole journey is being documented. “A documentary will be released. I also intend to write a few travel books based on the places I visited,” she says. It has also been a green, plastic-free journey. There is a solar panel attached on the vehicle that provides 300 W. The self-funded journey has cost her H12.5 lakh.