Awesome foursome return home after covering 17,000 km
Hyderabad: Four women bikers started on motorcycle expedition ‘Road to Mekong’ covering South East Asian nations by road through the newly laid India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway, 58-days ago to promote Telangana Tourism.
Four women bikers covered 15 Indian States and five nations promoting Telangana as a tourist destination during their 58-day long expedition
The bikers expedition, including Jai Bharathi, Shilpa Balakrishnan, ASD Shanti and Piya Bahadur embarked on the journey under the guidance of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Telangana government.
The team comprising 12 members, including production crew and two bus drivers (the bus followed the bikers all the way) landed in Hyderabad on Sunday. Expedition director Jai Bharathi speaking to The Hans India said, “The idea was to promote Telangana as a tourist destination and we did it all along the route at dhabas, UNESCO sites, popular destinations, hotels and events.”
The team members spoke about the tourist destinations in Telangana through power point presentations and exhibited photographs and banners at important locations. On an average, the team covered 350-400 km per day, but where the terrain was inhospitable such as Dimapur in Nagaland they took 11-hour to cover 200 km.
The production team captured every moment of the journey that would be turned into a documentary and promoted on social media. Jai Bharathi said, “We would be reliving the journey once the documentary is completed. There are so many stories to tell and the real promotion will begin now.”
The team covered places across India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. The team also had veteran rider Naresh Bahadur, father of Piya Bahadur. Team members say that his experience helped a lot. He had travelled from Bombay (as it was then called) to Paris in 1979. For Shanthi, a 2004 batch constable, the expedition was a revelation, she said, “I learnt a lot and the experience would stand me in good stead in doing my job.”
BY T P Venu