Alluring, mysterious and beautiful

The Thiruvananthapuram-based entrepreneur Naufar Jaleel went on a 19,000 km journey through several states in India on a modified auto-rickshaw 

By Shevlin Sebastian 

On the Chhattisgarh border, Naufar Jaleel’s heart was palpitating. People had told him that there was militant activity very near the border. He looked at his watch. It was 6 p.m. He knew the sun would set by 7 p.m. That left him with one hour to reach a town. The national highway stretched in front of him in a straight line. But the road was untarred; instead, it had a brown surface with lots of gravel on it. 

So he got into his ‘Qalifa’, the name of his modified auto-rickshaw, a TVS King 4S, which had an LPG cylinder at the back. 

Soon, Naufar was going a steady pace of 50 kms/hour. He felt good. Soon, he entered a forest. The weather cooled. And then the unexpected happened. The road dipped suddenly and came to an end. Naufar fell into a large pit and his steering jerked to one side. Somehow, he managed to restart and moved forward slowly. He couldn’t believe this was a national highway. The forest gave way to a large open area. Thereafter, he came across a checkpoint manned by the Central Reserve Railway Force, just next to their camp.    

He showed his Aaadhar card and other documents. They smiled and realised he was a genuine traveller. Naufar then asked whether he could stop for the night in the open area. 

“No problems,” said one of the men. “But, sometimes, there is shooting from the other side and we shoot back. So, if you don’t mind being caught in the crossfire, you are welcome to stay here.” 

Naufar took the hint and moved on…

Naufar had set out from Thiruvananthapuram on September 11, 2018 (“Yes, the famous 9/11 date,” he says, about the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Centre in New York) for an all-India trip on his auto-rickshaw. It was fully enclosed and inside he had a seat which could be converted into a vertical bed, with his head almost resting on the steering wheel.  

And as he journeyed from the South, through familiar places like Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata, he began to move into the North-East. Soon, he began to get hypnotised. “The North-East is an amazing place,” he says. “The culture, landscape, people, and food are so different.” 

In fact, he tried different types of food: dogmeat, beetles, silkworms and leeches. “I can’t say I am a fan,” he says, with a smile. 

In a bit of a surprise, he observed that Malayalis are respected a lot. “That’s because most of the senior government employees are from Kerala,” says Naufar. “They were all part of a migration to the North-East during the 1970s and 80s. And many locals studied under Malayali teachers whom they loved and cherished.” 

The sights were interesting too: living root bridges in Nongriat, Meghalaya, Emma Keithel (a women’s only market) in Imphal and Aizawl, the beautiful capital of Mizoram. “I also attended the Papum Poma river festival in Arunachal Pradesh and the Hornbill festival in Nagaland,” says the 29-year-old.  

Thereafter, Naufar went all over North India: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. “Each state is like a country,” he says. “Sometimes, in each state, there are different cultures. In UP, Varanasi is so different from Allahabad and Lucknow.” 

This is not the first tourist trip that Naufar was doing. During his three-year stint at a company in Sydney, he had backpacked across Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia. “And I can tell you categorically that India is one of the safest places to travel in,” he says. “The people are kind, friendly and helpful.”   

Many people invited him to their homes, to have food and rest for the night. “There is something about an autorickshaw,” he says. “Most have travelled in one. So they felt an affinity towards the vehicle, and for me, too.” He also ended up staying in temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and schools.  

Sometimes when Naufar would go past picturesque rivers and waterfalls, he would stop and have a bath. “I would wash my clothes and put it on a rock,” he says. “It would dry within an hour, as the rock retains heat for a long time.” 

Not surprisingly, Naufar experienced a wide range of weather. In Himachal and Sikkim, it was -2 or 3 degrees Celsius. He wore thermal clothes and used thermal sleeping bags. “Despite that, on New Year’s Eve, in Shillong, I was shivering,” he says.   

Then in Madhya Pradesh, the temperature hit 45 degrees Celsius. At a petrol bunk, the attendants asked Naufar whether he had any cold water. “All their water had heated up,” he says. “When water is inside a plastic bottle, the plastic melts, so the water tastes bad.” Naufar got the message. He quickly bought a mud pot and placed it inside his vehicle.  

Throughout his journey, Naufar received free servicing and maintenance from TVS service centres all over the country. And, as a member of the Rotary Club of Kazhakootam, he also visited many clubs to raise funds for the victims of the Kerala floods of 2018. 

On April 28, Naufar returned home, after a journey of 19,000 kms, which lasted 232 days. “I have been infected by wanderlust,” he says, with a smile. “So, after a few months, I will set off again.” But this time, he will be accompanied by his partner Azzu, 22, whom he will be marrying soon. 

(An edited version was published in The Sunday Magazine, New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)