These three women are driving from Coimbatore to London, via twenty four countries in just seventy days, The News Minute
These three women are driving from Coimbatore to London, via twenty four countries in just seventy days
It is the stuff desires are made of – zooming off on a road tour in a high-end vehicle from Coimbatore to London. When three women – Meenakshi Arvind from Coimbatore, Mookambika Rathinam from Pollachi, and Priya Rajpal from Mumbai – dreamed to live this fantasy, it made big news, at least in this side of Tamil Nadu. But despite the aura around such a feat, there have been moments of despair when the women desired to give it all up.
Their aim: to accomplish a 70-day drive covering twenty four countries to commemorate seventy years of Indian Independence. The drive ‘XPD 2470’ will also promote the cause ‘Rotary India Literacy Mission’ that aims to achieve total literacy and quality education.
Embarking from Coimbatore in India, XPD two thousand four hundred seventy will travel through Myanmar, China, Kyrgzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and will end at London in the United Kingdom on June Five. The XPDians will fly back home from London.
The very first gam will begin in Coimbatore on March 26. The following gam, in Puducherry, will be flagged off by Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, while the last gam in India will be flagged off from Imphal in Manipur by its Governor Najma Heptulla. Promoting the cause of literacy, the three XPDians will also honour women such as Rajshree Pathy, Neerja Malik, Usha Uthup, and Mary Kom, for symbolising women empowerment.
However the three women made news as early as in December 2016, this publicity did not help much in them realising the desire of driving 24,000 km across continents. After six months of knocking on several doors and promotions on social media, what they have today is a Hexa from Tata Motors (that has to be returned after the excursion), support from Rotary Texcity and Aakruthi, and a few local sponsorships that amount to Rs. Twenty lakh. The total cost works out to over Rs. Sixty lakh, without the Guinness attempt.
The XPDians had to forego their Guinness attempt because that worked out to another Rs. Ten lakh for the required process and infrastructure. Tho’ disappointed about it, they dismiss it off with a “maybe next time”.
Other than the actual travel costs of spending for fuel, stay, maintenance of vehicle, toll taxes, the trio had to pay for their International Driver Permit, eleven visas, air tickets from London to India, and miscellany such as travel agents and packed food. The car, after use, will be shipped back from London at a cost of Rs. Five.Five lakh.
While it is true that the women are disappointed with the response they got in terms of sponsors and there have been times when they desired to give it all up and comeback to normal life, they did not do that.
“We have attempted to cut costs wherever possible and with the backing of our families we are going ahead. It has been a difficult journey so far without the expected sponsorship support and all the permissions and approvals that had to be obtained, but we are doing this for the challenge,” says Meenakshi.
There are several other challenges too on the way. Some roads cannot be travelled without a guide. A route in Krygzstan of one hundred eighty km can be crossed in not less than seven hours because of the rubble. Vehicles in Uzbekistan run on propane, and diesel is sold in black. Some tolls do not permit passage of medicines, while in China each and every item will be scanned. The number of kilometres to be travelled on border crossing days has been kept to a minimum for these reasons. In Russia, vehicles have to be clean. One has to carry a breath-analyzer during the drives in France.
Meenakshi – 45, Mookambika – 38, and Priya – 55, have undergone a two-day training on the mechanics of the vehicle before driving it down from the Pune plant of Tata. The women are carrying lot of instant food such as rice mixes, pickle and a stove for exigencies, and also because Meenakshi is a vegetarian.
According to Mookambika, such international road trips normally have a team that travels in a separate vehicle. But in their case, it is just a case of three women and a car.
Despite the exhaustion of having to do too many things as the D-day nears, the excitement and impatience to zoom away into their desire is evident on their faces. In the midst of all this the concentrate from the cause has not wavered. They have already collected more than Rs. One lakh for ‘Asha Kiran’ project of the ‘Rotary India Literacy Mission’. They plan to collect a currency note from every place they visit to add to the kitty. They will be distributing brochures, flyers and also talking to people on the significance of literacy.
Their Tata Hexa is just back from the garage after a makeover with stickers and logos. The women are excited and waiting to stream the car with the essentials they would need for the drive.
Go after the journey of these women on their Facebook page xpd2470. They wouldn’t mind some cheering on these pages or enroute their drive.
These three women are driving from Coimbatore to London, via twenty four countries in just seventy days, The News Minute
These three women are driving from Coimbatore to London, via twenty four countries in just seventy days
It is the stuff desires are made of – zooming off on a road tour in a high-end vehicle from Coimbatore to London. When three women – Meenakshi Arvind from Coimbatore, Mookambika Rathinam from Pollachi, and Priya Rajpal from Mumbai – wished to live this wish, it made big news, at least in this side of Tamil Nadu. But despite the aura around such a feat, there have been moments of despair when the women wished to give it all up.
Their aim: to accomplish a 70-day drive covering twenty four countries to commemorate seventy years of Indian Independence. The drive ‘XPD 2470’ will also promote the cause ‘Rotary India Literacy Mission’ that aims to achieve total literacy and quality education.
Commencing from Coimbatore in India, XPD two thousand four hundred seventy will travel through Myanmar, China, Kyrgzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and will end at London in the United Kingdom on June Five. The XPDians will fly back home from London.
The very first gam will begin in Coimbatore on March 26. The following gam, in Puducherry, will be flagged off by Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, while the last gam in India will be flagged off from Imphal in Manipur by its Governor Najma Heptulla. Promoting the cause of literacy, the three XPDians will also honour women such as Rajshree Pathy, Neerja Malik, Usha Uthup, and Mary Kom, for symbolising women empowerment.
Tho’ the three women made news as early as in December 2016, this publicity did not help much in them realising the wish of driving 24,000 km across continents. After six months of knocking on several doors and promotions on social media, what they have today is a Hexa from Tata Motors (that has to be returned after the tour), support from Rotary Texcity and Aakruthi, and a few local sponsorships that amount to Rs. Twenty lakh. The total cost works out to over Rs. Sixty lakh, without the Guinness attempt.
The XPDians had to forego their Guinness attempt because that worked out to another Rs. Ten lakh for the required process and infrastructure. However disappointed about it, they dismiss it off with a “maybe next time”.
Other than the actual travel costs of spending for fuel, stay, maintenance of vehicle, toll taxes, the trio had to pay for their International Driver Permit, eleven visas, air tickets from London to India, and miscellany such as travel agents and packed food. The car, after use, will be shipped back from London at a cost of Rs. Five.Five lakh.
While it is true that the women are disappointed with the response they got in terms of sponsors and there have been times when they desired to give it all up and come back to normal life, they did not do that.
“We have attempted to cut costs wherever possible and with the backing of our families we are going ahead. It has been a difficult journey so far without the expected sponsorship support and all the permissions and approvals that had to be obtained, but we are doing this for the challenge,” says Meenakshi.
There are several other challenges too on the way. Some roads cannot be travelled without a guide. A route in Krygzstan of one hundred eighty km can be crossed in not less than seven hours because of the rubble. Vehicles in Uzbekistan run on propane, and diesel is sold in black. Some tolls do not permit passage of medicines, while in China each and every item will be scanned. The number of kilometres to be travelled on border crossing days has been kept to a minimum for these reasons. In Russia, vehicles have to be clean. One has to carry a breath-analyzer during the drives in France.
Meenakshi – 45, Mookambika – 38, and Priya – 55, have undergone a two-day training on the mechanics of the vehicle before driving it down from the Pune plant of Tata. The women are carrying lot of instant food such as rice mixes, pickle and a stove for exigencies, and also because Meenakshi is a vegetarian.
According to Mookambika, such international road trips normally have a squad that travels in a separate vehicle. But in their case, it is just a case of three women and a car.
Despite the exhaustion of having to do too many things as the D-day nears, the excitement and impatience to zoom away into their fantasy is evident on their faces. In the midst of all this the concentrate from the cause has not wavered. They have already collected more than Rs. One lakh for ‘Asha Kiran’ project of the ‘Rotary India Literacy Mission’. They plan to collect a currency note from every place they visit to add to the kitty. They will be distributing brochures, flyers and also talking to people on the significance of literacy.
Their Tata Hexa is just back from the garage after a makeover with stickers and logos. The women are excited and waiting to blast the car with the essentials they would need for the drive.
Go after the journey of these women on their Facebook page xpd2470. They wouldn’t mind some cheering on these pages or enroute their drive.
