One fine day, two friends — Suman Kannaiahgari and Sai Krishna G.V. —decided to drive away from the city heat to cover India lengthwise on their bikes and in 23 days, they covered 5,933 km across 13 states as part of their K2K self-sponsored bike journey. The excitement of the trip still lingers in his voice as Suman speaks, “We are very fond of travelling and thought this would be the ideal way to cherish our friendship.”
The journey had many challenges. “We started from Hyderabad, headed for Kashmir, then went straight to Kanyakumari and returned to Hyderabad; it was like a circle of journey. While heading towards Indore, our bike broke down in a forest area. We had to somehow reach Ujjain, where we changed the engine oil and later, checked into a hotel,” he adds.
There are more adventure tales. Their hotel stay at Udaipur was scary, but even scarier was them roaming around like vagabonds in the middle of nowhere due to lack of accommodation. “While heading for Delhi from Jaipur, we didn’t find a hotel to check in and were wandering when we met a traveller Sunil, who offered us a shelter for the night,” says Suman.
Travelling across the country with bare essentials helps people appreciate the little gestures of kindness they receive. Suman and Sai fondly remember one such kind soul Surender. “He allowed us to stay at his place during our journey towards Keylong. He gave us hot piping tea and breakfast the next day for free,” remembers Sai.
One of their most cherished memories was when they successfully rode to Khardung La and crossed the Tanglangla Pass, the second highest pass in the world.
