1 bike, 2 boys & 23 days

There’s a perfectionist beauty in using a Royal Enfield to travel across the country and riding from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is certainly one of them. Two city-based lads, Suman Kannaiahgari and Sai Krishna went on a trip of a lifetime; they travelled from Hyderabad to Kashmir and then to Kanyakumari and back on a bike.

Suman (25), an Electrical and Electronics engineer works as a Process Developer at Google India Pvt Ltd on the payrolls of Genpact India Pvt Ltd; and Sai (21) is a fresh graduate in Civil Engineering. The duo took 23 days to complete their adventurous journey.

Sharing about their country’s tip to toe voyage, Suman says, “We love travelling! We simply run away from the city even if we get only two holidays whether it may be a weekend or a weekday. We wanted to touch all unexplored places of India and hence, the journey. Our wish is to visit every place in the country.”

Suman and Sai embarked the expedition on a Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350cc. “That’s the perfect bike to travel on off-roads. Even a Harley Davidson doesn’t work on Manali-Leh Highway,” informs Suman.

One might think it requires elaborate preparations when it comes to undertaking such an adventure. Although, that is true in essence, in Suman’s opinion, all it takes is a tent and passion to travel. “We carried two bag packs of 20-25 kg each and one tent.

We used to stop for every 70-80 km for the engine to cool down. We booked hotels in cities, home stays, rented beds, if nothing found camping in tents at the roadside, bus shelters, also slept in few dhabas after dinner,” he shares.

“We made some rules before starting the trip like we shouldn’t cross the speed of 80 kmph and no night drives after 10 pm. There was no specific time. It all depended on our next destination. One day, we travelled for 13 hours without even having lunch. Last day, we travelled complete night around 803 km.

We maintained our rule during the complete trip but, did not follow this rule on last day due to time constraint,” adds Suman. Different weather conditions in trips like these take a toll on a person. About handling the diverse climatic conditions, Suman says, “We regularly do trekking, rappelling, hiking, bouldering and camping. So, we were not worried about climatic changes.

In fact, we experienced three seasons during the trip. Summer in Rajasthan; Madhya Pradesh and Delhi; rains in Shimla and Manali and winter in Kasol, Ladakh.” Traversing 5,933 km the duo covered places like Leh Ladakh, Gulmarg, Kasol, Manikaran, Manali, Rohtang Pass, Zozila Pass, Drass, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Indore, Ujjain, Nagpur, Salem, Jammu, Srinagar and few more. Suman says that Jaipur, Himalayas and Kasol were the places that stunned them the most in the trip.

Adding a note on their future adventures, Suman informs that they are planning to visit the Great Rann of Kutch during Kutch festival in December. “We want to do the same K2K but on cycle this time (next year maybe if time permits); the route we will plan to cover is on the Western part of India,” he signs off.

By: Navin Pivhal