Journey of a thousand miles

At 27, Hamid Shah chucked a lucrative job for his love for travel. A road trip from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in four to six months was his original plan but he ended up clocking 60,000 km across 29 States and five Union Territories in two years and still the wanderlust in him is far from satisfied

March 26, 2015 08:57 pm | Updated 08:57 pm IST - MADURAI:

Hamid Shah at Bodh Gaya.

Hamid Shah at Bodh Gaya.

Only last week Hamid Shah returned to his job with Larsen &Toubro in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, after a two-year break. “My bosses understand me and allowed me the freedom to quit, travel and rejoin,” he chuckles, still fresh and starry eyed about his experiences across India.

The countless sunrises and sunsets he saw during what he describes as his first K2K (Kanyakumari to Kashmir) trip, the rivers and mountains he crossed, the people he met, the food he ate, the way he travelled and lived is an experience that only he can feel. And he strongly feels every individual should get out of the comfort zone at least once in his or her lifetime and look at the world around from a different perspective.

“Travelling is something so new, so real and raw,” says Hamid, who describes himself as a small town boy but always dreamt of doing “something different, unknown and undone” in his life. And he has already begun ideating on another K2K trip!

“Next time,” he says, “it could be Kolkata to Kochi but I will take the long route by going around the world.” “May be I will hitchhike the Pan-American Highway from Prudhoe Bay, U.S. to Ushuaia, Argentina…may be I will do backpack to 99 countries…But I will do them all, one by one,” says the 29-year-old diehard traveller.

The travel bug bit him early on in life. But only after finishing his schooling in Tuticorin and college in Coimbatore, when a decent marketing engineer’s job with L&T took him to Mumbai for three years and Dammam for two years, that he took on to convincing his family, especially his mother. He had to make her an equal partner in his adventures. During the initial years of working Hamid had to go on several business trips overseas and that gave his parents the confidence that their boy could do it alone.

I also used to take annual vacations and share all my experiences and photographs of the beautiful places with my mother first and post it on my FB page, says Hamid. “And my mother was one of the first persons to follow it religiously,” he adds.

During one such holiday in May 2012, Hamid went for the Gangotri Gomukh Trek and met an old foreigner couple who greeted him with a 'Namaste' to start a conversation. When they learnt he was from Tamil Nadu, they apologised and said 'Vanakkam' and shared a small story about their first visit to the State in 1990 with their first child whom they almost lost to the sea at Mahabalipuram but for a fisherman who dived into the deep waters and saved his life. Since then, the couple has been visiting TN every year and also started a Trust Fund to help the fisherman’s village.

Hamid recalls the couple told him, “You are lucky to be born and living in India. We save every penny of our pension to visit this beautiful country every year and aren’t tired yet even after 22 years! You too should try to see India.”

It was a trigger for Hamid to firm up his travel plans. “I realised my world will grow bigger and I will learn better by roaming than sitting in a room,” he says. Being his first, he drew up a short itinerary for travelling from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. But enamoured by the sights and sounds on the road, Hamid says he was tempted to slow down the pace of his travel prompting his mother to comment that if it was taking so long to travel only within Tamil Nadu, how would he ever travel across the country?

“Instantaneously I changed my plans and got the idea of covering all the 29 States,” he says. And for making it happen he had to quit his job.

Most of us are afraid of taking risks, says Hamid. But fear kills more dreams than failure ever will, he adds. As he launched himself on the expedition in December 2012, Hamid was well aware that everyday would be a challenge as travelling involves adapting to new places, people, cultures and environment. “Over the months,” says Hamid, “I became a perfect planner and a negotiator finding ways to control my expenses and understanding the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’. I also learnt to be flexible and open to changes.”

Several foreigners who became his travel partners over the 24 months gave Hamid a better insight into their lifestyle, habits and culture. “When I was working I interacted with several clients but now I feel it is the minor details that we pick up during travel gives the edge. I am now able to develop a better rapport with my customers and also understand and manage the profitability of any project, the two essentials in today’s business dealings,” he adds.

Apart from the stunning landscapes and the delectable architecture that his eyes feasted on and the camera captured, the numerous people he met on the way has changed Hamid’s approach to life. He has hundreds of stories to narrate of good human beings who helped him even though he was a stranger to them.

“In Srinagar when I lost my way, a Kashmiri woman guided me to the Shahi Hamdan Mosque and later even paid for my bus ticket saying she does not have a son,” says Hamid. On another occasion in Tashiding, a woman from Sikkim running a tea shop refused to take money from him for a glass of chai and snacks. She told him she visited CMC Vellore in Tamil Nadu for eye operation and was overwhelmed by the kindness of the people there. “You belong to the same State and this is the least I can do for you is what she told me,” says Hamid.

His two years of travel is anecdote-studded and more of such heart warming stories, find space on his blog k2kstories.quora.com

He says his love for travel and the experience of it makes him realise all the more the importance and benefits of travelling. “It is the best learning option for career building and enhancing one’s abilities,” says Hamid, quoting J.R.R Tolkien, “Not all those who wander are lost”.

Highlights: Hamid’s K2K trip started in December 2012 and wound up last winter. He traversed all kinds of landscapes using different modes of transportation from planes, ships, trains, cars, jeeps, lorries, bikes, auto rickshaws to bicycles and even on foot.

During his sojourn he covered 29 States, five Union Territories, 182 cities, towns and villages and took some amazing shots of 30 beaches, 71 temples, 68 monuments, 75 museums, 32 monasteries, two synagogues, 18 mosques, nine churches, 21 forts, 29 palaces, eight wildlife sanctuaries and five zoos, 17 lakes, eight waterfalls and seven islands, five caves and trekking trails, three planetariums and parks and written over 50 short travel stories.

Hamid Shah: “Travelling is not just fun and relaxation, it is learning too and the only adventure you regret is the one you did not take”.

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