KOCHI: The globetrotting Kerala tea seller K R Vijayan (71) has passed away. He died of a heart attack on Friday thereby putting an end to his dreams and journeys with his wife Mohana.
In this journey, Vijayan cannot take his wife Mohana along, so he left her behind with memories of their life and journeys together.
Vijayan and his wife Mohana ran a tea stall named Sri Balaji coffee house at Gandhi Nagar in Kochi. The couple had been on a tour to Russia recently. Vijayan passed away hardly days after their return from Russia.
The couple funded their tours around the world using the money they saved by selling tea. They used to keep aside Rs 300 every day from their earnings. The couple who found a new purpose to life by globetrotting had visited 26 countries in the past 16 years.
Inspired by them and their journeys, many have followed suit.
The travel bug bit Vijayan when he was very young. He used to go on short trips with his father. This evolved to trips to distant places, at first inside the country and then later on to foreign countries. Vijayan had once said, “I have always loved to travel. My father used to take me with him when I was just 12 years old. And when I grew up, I used to travel alone to places around here like Munnar, Thekkady, or Kanniyakumari."
In 2007, the couple travelled to Israel on their first journey outside of the country. According to Mohana, the places she loved the most so far are Switzerland and Paris. The couple took bank loans to fund their initial trips and repaid it from what little they could save from their coffee shop.
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Vijayan had said, “I don't travel to learn anything new or to claim that I have experienced something great. I do it because I need to see this with my own eyes. I’m not interested in another person's account of how beautiful other parts of the world are. I want to see it and decide for myself. And what’s more memorable than being able to see the world accompanied by the woman I love.”
However, as their fame spread, they started getting sponsors to the point that they need not have to pay for their trips anymore. Their last trip to Australia and New Zealand was sponsored and so was their latest trip to Russia, which was funded by a travel agency.
Unlike their past trips, for their Russia trip, they were accompanied by their two daughters and their families who, however, had to fund the trip on their own. Vijayan was planning a trip to Singapore, which was to inaugurate the office of a travel agency of which he is the brand ambassador.
Japan is where he wanted to head next followed by Vietnam and Cambodia with his 69-year-old wife Mohana. The couple had also brought out a book last year, 'Chaaya Vittu Vijayanteyum Mohanayudeyum Loka Sancharangal', which when loosely translated reads as the global tours of Vijayan and Mohana made possible by selling tea.