The tireless travelers

"We didn’t see a single road accident on the nearly 18,000 km drive from London until we touched India,” remarked Byram Dhalla when sharing the highlights of the trip with members of the Rotary Club of Bombay Mid-Town at the Ballroom of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel on January 17, 2018. Seated with him on the dais were Saroosh Dinshaw and Homi Kaka who were among the 10 participants who had undertaken the journey that took 51 days across 15 countries.

Mitsubishi Pajero

Whilst the few who choose to venture by land usually proceed from Bombay to London, Dhalla’s team chose to reverse the route, starting from the Tower Bridge in London on August 25, 2017 and ending at the Gateway of India on October 15. Further, instead of moving from Europe through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and then to India, they proceeded from Europe to Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Thailand, Burma and finally to India. Another rare feature was that they dared to drive in a solo vehicle, Mitsubishi Pajero, as against the preferred practice of traveling in a convoy. To give themselves and their automobile much deserved rest, after being on the roads for three or four days, they would give themselves a two-day break from driving.
Maneuvering through 15 nations was not as much of a challenge as were the 16 border crossings when unfamiliarity with foreign languages posed a problem whilst interacting with the security staff who had rarely seen vehicles with an Indian registration number nor dash boards sporting images of the asho farohar. In Latvia, they had a tough time trying to convince the official on duty that they were not convicts fleeing Schengen territory! In China, their car was "quarantined” for the first 24 hours before it was returned to them, with a new temporary registration plate and a temporary driving licence for Dhalla. In Burma, there was a pilot car accompanying theirs throughout because it is mandatory for foreigners to be accompanied by a local tourist guide and another official, two of whom could not be accommodated in their car.
A singular misfortune they had to take in their stride was when the car radiator sprang a leak when they were on the remotest part of their drive in Siberia. Their desperate quest for a replacement finally took them and their vehicle atop a service truck to Irkutsk, driven by "a guy downing Red Bull (energy drink) all the time.” The trip though was worth it as they found a replacement "Chinese radiator for the equivalent of Rs 3,000 as versus Rs 66,000 quoted by the Indian dealer.”
Spending around Rs 45 lakhs on this London-Bombay journey, their vehicle consumed 2,503 liters of diesel. Since they did not know the Russian or the Chinese term for diesel, they would play safe at gas stations by sniffing it before refilling their tank to ensure they were getting the right fuel!

The daring drive
"The single biggest challenge was putting together the right team,” revealed Dhalla. Initially people would evince an interest, but when it was time to pool resources, they would back off. Ten months were spent on planning the trip that included route finalization, deciding on Mitsubishi Pajero as the suitable car, visas, carnet (a customs permit allowing a motor vehicle to be taken across a frontier for a limited period), hotel reservations and other minutiae.
Over a month prior to the start of the journey, they shipped their car to London. On the first leg of the journey from London to Moscow, Dhalla was "piloting three women” – his wife Shehnaz, Dinshaw’s wife Shilpa and Jaya Nathani. On the first day of their momentous journey they were able to traverse five countries: after starting out in London, spending 35 minutes to get their car ferried across the Channel to Calais in France, then up the coast through Dunkirk, east to Belgium, The Netherlands and into Mulheim in Germany. At Berlin, they availed of several photo opportunities before proceeding through Poland, Lithuania, and into Latvia, this time touching three countries in a single day.
Crossing over to Russia, they completed approximately one-third of the journey by the time they were in Moscow where they made time to soak in the art and architecture of the city before proceeding on the second leg of their journey with a change in crew. The three ladies flew back to Bombay and Byram traveled with Saroosh and Amit Goela, hitting the desolate Trans Siberian highway, where they came across a solo biker who was proceeding from London to Auckland. The easternmost point of the drive was Lake Baikal in the mountainous Russian region of Siberia (world’s largest freshwater lake by volume, containing 22-23% of the world’s fresh surface water, according to Wikipedia). Known for its clear waters, Byram made sure he carried home a bottle of this unpolluted water.
At Ulan Bator, or UB as the Mongolian capital is widely known, Chengiz Khan is a perennial favorite for the locals who apparently associate his name with every public and private venture, they noticed. More memorable for the travelers though was finding a restaurant named Delhi Darbar where they were able to have "a fabulous meal.” To Byram, "eating at least one hot meal every day was very important to keep the energy levels up, which in turn keep you in sound health and a good mood.” While crossing the Gobi Desert, they came across a daredevil youngster on a bicycle. When they saw a truck on fire, Byram chose to rush to its rescue, fire extinguisher in hand. Unfortunately, he tripped and injured himself, requiring first aid to treat his bruises.
Among all the countries they traversed, China had the best roads, observed the travelers. It was also in this nation that they had to pay "95% of the toll money” expended during the arduous 51-day journey (around Rs 20,000 were paid as toll fees). Instead of laboring up and down mountainous routes, China has tunnels of varying length, up to 10 km, to make travel simpler and faster.
According to Chinese yardsticks, "You aren’t a real man until you’ve climbed the Great Wall,” a statement attributed to Chairman Mao Zedong, founding father of the People’s Republic of China. And accepting this challenge, the Indian travelers ensured they climbed up and down at least one kilometer by foot. Byram has a black belt in Taekwondo, Saroosh is an avid long-distance runner, Kaka was a national swimming champion, the athletic background of the trio was impressed upon the audience at the start of the meet. They also took time off to see the terracotta warriors in Xian and the panda breeding center in Chengdu where they had their final crew change when Saroosh left and Kaka joined.

(Top) Chengiz Khan Memorial at Ulan Bator; above: Great Wall of China

Gateway of India: end of the arduous journey

Since the border between China and Burma was not open for road crossing, they took the route via Laos, Thailand and then proceeded to Burma, known for its predominant Buddhist presence. Nya Pitaw, the new capital city of the strife torn country with "its gigantic roads and vast hotels is almost like a ghost city.”
Keen to get back on home territory, on the last day of the international route, their journey commenced at 2.45 a.m. from Bagan in Burma, reaching the Tamu/Moreh border around 12 hours later where they were given a warm welcome by the members of the Assam Rifles, the oldest paramilitary force in India.
Exhausted by then, Byram flew back from Imphal while two other friends brought the car to the Gateway of India after six days of land travel within India. Altogether, the car covered 21,457 km across nine time zones and varying road terrains.
Explaining the genesis of this journey, Byram revealed, "It goes back 40 years when as a kid of 12 years I witnessed the London-Sydney rally in 1977.” When the vehicles took a halt in Bombay, Byram and his father Rohinton who are in the transport business "ran to all the service centers to take a look at the cars.” Fifteen years later Byram participated in his first rally and over the years has joined in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) rally from Bangla Desh to Pakistan, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) rally from Singapore to Guwahati, and other drives through the Himalayas. For the tireless travelers, once the fatigue has abated, "we invariably end up talking about the next trip.”