In a unique record, a three-member team from Pune has successfully completed a drive through the borders of India. In fact, they had drawn the map of India by their car route!
The trio of Jaykumar Anadkat, Pooja Padiya and Sonesh Mehra are from ‘PlacesAroundPune’, the Pune-based club dedicated to helping people fulfill their adventure dreams. They completed the mission in a matter of around 70 days. Travel and adventure are the common links between them.
The #MapMyCountry initiative was all around 21,000 km, 26 states and Union Territories, 52 cities and 251-plus travel destinations.
They started their journey on February 27 from Magarpatta City in Pune and on Monday returned to the same location completing their unique journey of sorts.
“The ride was through the periphery of India covering all the bordering states and thus drawing the India map by the car route," Anadkat said. They started from Pune clockwise and visited Dwarka and Koteshwar temples in the extreme west, Kashmir in the North, Kaho in Arunachal, the first village of India in the extreme east and Dhanushkodi Rameshwar and Kanyakumari in the southernmost tip of India.
They touched six international borders of India with countries like Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“Along with these, we covered all the bordering 26 states and UTs which also includes lesser explored 'Seven Sisters' states of North East India and exploring numerous destinations on our way summing up to a total of 21000 km drive in 70 days,” the adventurers told DH over the phone before their return journey.
Friends and family members of the trio were there in Pune to welcome them. “It's a unique feat of drawing the map of India through the car route,” said Nimish Gupta, an avid trekker, travel freak, mountaineer, cyclist and runner.
They witnessed extreme weathers -- 45° degree C heat in Rajasthan, -5° C temperature and snow in Srinagar, heavy downpours in Assam, hailstorms in Himachal as well as Dzukou valley in Nagaland, and extremely humid weather in the southern states.
“We ventured into the wildest of the wild forests, doing jungle safari, off-roading, boat ride in mangrove forests and traversing mountains through bamboo bridges,” they said.
They witnessed the first sunrise of India as well as the most beautiful sunset across the southwest coastal beaches of India.
“We had awesome moments being part of traditional cultural festivals wearing traditional dresses. We soaked into the most energetic vibes by doing local traditional dance and singing. We indulged in delicious food ranging from the spiciest one to simple boiled veggies, the tangy chats to yummy sweet delicacies. We got to know about the range of tribal as well as ancient history by visiting palaces, and museums and understanding interesting facts about each place,” the group said.
Jaykumar Anadkat, Pooja Padiya and Sonesh Mehra come from different backgrounds.
Jaykumar is the founder of PlacesAroundPune and is an adventure and travel enthusiast, mountaineer and motorbike lover, cyclist and marathoner.
A software engineer by profession, Pooja is an expert in Himalayan treks and an active cyclist and social worker.
Sonesh is also a software engineer by profession but by passion is an expert Himalaya trekker and a certified scuba diver.