On a mission to save the tiger

A group of friends drive to the Himalayas where the eerie calm, cold and desolate landscape gives them a crazy idea of motoring round the world. Just when they thought it was the weather which was making them think bizarre, they came across another group of similar adventure mind.Few months down, the two sets of friends cut their ambition a bit, call themselves ‘Indian rollers’ and set for a 14 nation tour to propagate ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign. “An idea became an obsession for the last 10 months and now we are ready to roll on by month end,” exults Uday Krishna P, group leader, also running Vata Foundation.Two Land Cruisers will take the six - a couple in each: K. Srinivas and his wife Chandrika Mani, Joseph & Medha plus Sushil Patwardhan besides Uday on their Hyderabad to Morocco (H2M) trip. They have either chucked their respective works, managed to garner long leaves, given their businesses and even kids a break, for this arduous 60-day tour. “With visas almost done, we thought everything was going as planned when Nepal was hit by earthquake. We had to quickly get an alternate route in place,” he explains (uday@peddireddi.com). The Rollers want to propagate protection of existing flora and fauna, rebuilding new forests and save the Tiger. “While China, Myanmar and Russia do have tigers, they have disappeared from other countries,” points out Uday Krishna. From Hyderabad, the drive is through Kolkatha, Manipur, Myanmar, China, Kyrgistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Czech, France, Spain, Morocco and return by flight/sea.“Thought of waking up in a different place daily, driving through the unknown; it is exciting and scary,” says Sujal Patwardhan. “Challenging as well as exciting & adventurous”, feels Srinivas, while his wife Chandrika chips in: “It’s a journey of self discovery- a test of my endurance, a fight with my fears”. Medha Joseph sums it: “Trip of a lifetime!”Rollers plans to raise Rs. 5 crore through their expedition interact with local communities and Governments for their campaign. Telangana Tourism department has agreed to part sponsor, a national level channel will telecast their footage and the Rollers are looking for more.