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-   -   An all-women drive along the coast of the Indian Peninsula (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/157022-all-women-drive-along-coast-indian-peninsula.html)

Now here is how the itinerary looks like

We will begin the journey on the 1st of January 2015 in Mumbai. We will be covering a distance of 380-400 kms a day on an average. The distance that we intend to cover is give below. We intend to spend one day atleast at the locations mentioned below. We might spend just one night at certain locations. We hope to finish the drive on 26th February 2015 in Mumbai.

January

Maharashtra
Mumbai – Guhagar - 303kms – Day 1
Guhagar - 306kms – Day 2

Goa
Guhagar – Mandrem – 300kms – Day 3
Mandrem – Service Checkpoint – Day 4

Karnataka
Mandrem - Turtle Bay – 300kms – Day 5
Turtle Bay – Day 6

Kerala
Turtle Bay – Kannur – 245kms – Day 7
Kannur – Kochi – 278kms – Day 8
Kochi – Day 9
Kochi – Thiruvananthapuram – 206kms – Day 10
Thiruvananthapuram – Service Checkpoint – Day 11

Tamil Nadu
Thiruvananthapuram – Kanyakumari – 102kms – Day 12
Kanyakumari – Rameshwaram – 316kms – Day 13
Rameshwaram – Day 14
Rameshwaram – Tranquebar – 296kms – Day 15
Tranquebar – Pondicherry – 116kms – Day 16
Pondicherry – Service Checkpoint – Day 17

Andhra Pradesh
Pondicherry – Pulicat – 206kms – Day 18
Pulicat – Day 19
Pulicat – Machilipatinam – 298kms – Day 20
Machilipatinam - Koringa – 184kms – Day 21
Koringa – Day 22
Koringa – Srikakulam – 272kms – Day 23

Odisha
Srikakulam – Puri – 326kms – Day 24
Puri – Service Checkpoint – Day 25, 26, 27
Puri – Bhitarkanika – 198kms – Day 28
Bhitarkanika – Day 29
Bhitarkanika – Sunderbans – 478kms – Day 30
Sunderbans – Day 31

February
Sunderbans – Kolkata – 120kms - Day 32
Kolkata – Service Checkpoint – Day 33

Jharkhand
Kolkata – Jamshedpur – 283kms – Day 34
Jamshedpur – Day 35

Chattisgarh
Jamshedpur – Kunkuri – 306kms – Day 36
Kunkuri - Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary – 313kms – Day 37
Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary – Day 38

Madhya Pradesh
Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary – Jabalpur – 260kms – Service Checkpoint – Day 39
Jabalpur – Pachmarhi -234kms – Day 40
Pachmarhi – Day 41
Pachmarhi – Dewas – 391kms – Day 42
Dewas – Day 43

Gujarat
Dewas - Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary – 277kms – Day44
Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary – Day 45
Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary – Ahmedabad – 209kms – Service Checkpoint – Day 46
Ahmedabad – Bhuj – 403kms – Day47
Bhuj – Day 48
Bhuj – Jamnagar – 318kms – Day 49
Jamnagar – Porbandar – 236kms – Day 50
Porbandar – Diu – 211kms – Day 51
Diu – Day 52
Diu – Lothal – 307kms – Service Checkpoint – Day 53
Lothal – Day 54
Lothal – Daman – 371kms – Day 55
Daman – Day 56

Maharashtra
Daman - Mumbai – 221kms – Day 57

Roughly, after every 1000kms, we will be stopping at service centers mostly authorized by Mahindra. We will be receiving free maintenance at their outlets.

I needed some help in terms of the following:

1. The vehicles that we will receive will have a private vehicle's number plate. Can someone help me calculate the amount that we might spend on the tolls along the way? We will be on the coastal route most of the time. But on occasions where we might encounter a toll, I wondering how much we might end up spending on tolls. This is one loose end that I still need to figure out.

2. We have received sponsorship for the vehicles. We are still looking for cash sponsorship for accommodation, food, fuel and other miscellaneous items. I have approached many companies but I am yet to hear back from them. What are the companies that I can approach? Can you all suggest some companies that we can approach that might help us with sponsorships for this drive? This is very important. Please get in touch with me if you have any ideas/suggestions about how we can score this sponsorship!

3. There are still some spots left open. There is one spot for the west coast and 3 spots for the drive from Kolkata to Rann of Kutch to Mumbai. Are there any women who might want to join us in this endeavour?

4. What all do we need to carry as far as the repair kit is concerned?

5. What all should we carry in our first aid kit?

6. We were a little concerned about the naxalites in states like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. We intend to drive during the day along the coastal route. But in states like West Bengal, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, do we need to be extra careful?

7. I am still on the look out for interesting women in the following locations
- Jamshedpur in Jharkhand
- Chattisgarh
- Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh

Can anyone help me in providing contacts at these locations?

8. Is there something I need to keep a track of? Am i missing something critical? I would count on you all to help me put together the missing pieces.

9. We will be approaching newspapers who will cover the event. We don't want to approach mainstream media. We want to keep a low profile. I think it is a good idea. What do you suggest?


This is all about the trip and everything that I can share!

I would love to hear back from you guys.

Do get in touch with me for suggestions, tips, queries, information and clarifications.

Cheers
Vidula

Hi,

My name is Vidula and I am from Pune.

I wanted to share with you, an exciting project that I have been working on.

I am planning a 9500 kms drive from Mumbai to Kanyakumari to Kolkata to Madhya Pradesh to Rann of Kutch and back from Mumbai.

We are starting on the 1st January 2015 and we will finish on the 26th February 2015 i.e. we are doing this over 57 days.

I am doing this with 13 other women out of which there will be 6 who will be constant throughout the 57 days and the others will join me at various places along the coast, some on the west and then the east, and some who will join me from Kolkata to Mumbai. This means at every point in time, we will be 10 women driving 2 Scorpio 4x4 vehicles.

All the women on the team have varied and interesting backgrounds. There are 2 mountaineers - Ishani from Pune and Prerna from Delhi, 1 historian - Saili Palande Datar from Pune, 1 singer - that would be me, 2 entrepreneurs who have their own startups - Niketa and Deepti from Pune, 1 writer - Subhadra from Bangalore, 1 person working in the renewable energy industry who also is a painter - Sumati from Hubli, 1 marathi theater actor - Swanandi, 1 classical guitar player - Veda, and 1 writer/homemaker - Sejal.

This will be a fully sponsored trip. We will be driving 2 Scorpio 4x4 vehicles.

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This is going to be a lot of fun. We are going to spend 57 days together. We are going to make good friends on the trip. We will be attending workshops on how to change the step-knee and also learn about basic maintenance of the vehicle. We will be interviewing interesting women that we have chosen to meet along the way. We will be photographing them and filming them. We intend to have an exhibition and make a documentary film about the all-women drive and the interesting women that we meet along the way.

Everyone is doing a bit of research while they can; in the sense that, they are looking for interesting women that we all can meet along the way in each state.



There are several reasons for us wanting to do this trip:

- One, because we all are really passionate about travelling! We want to explore these places together! They are extraordinary women and are enthusiastic about making this happen.

- Two, because we have planned on meeting interesting women all along the coast, who will tell us interesting stories about their lives. Research is still ongoing for this drive.

For example, we will be meeting the Kutchi tribes in Rann of Kutch Gujarat. Another example, we will be meeting a woman who handles the crocodile bank in Tamil Nadu or we will be meeting a mohiniattam dancer in Kerala. We plan to publish their stories in the form of a blog and a film. We might have an exhibition of photographs and documentary at the end of it. We will be making a full-fledged documentary that will be dedicated to the sponsors.

- Three, in India, some families are averse to and apprehensive about sending their daughters on long trips by themselves. It is safe for women to travel together and this is a platform for them to get together and travel together to different places.

FYI:

Where did the word stepney come from? Well, actually the word stepney is the name of a street in Wales. A mechanic in the street of Stepney in the town of Llanelly was the first to provide the ready to use spare wheels. And the product, namely the spare wheels, began to be referred to by the name of the street where they were produced. - source

:thumbs up

Two threads that might be helpful:
1
2

Tata has a really interesting program for women's empowerment. It gives women jobs like operating construction equipment, driving buses etc.

Quoting an older post of mine here :

I wonder if Jamshedpur (being a Tata hub) has a lot more women in "unconventional" jobs. Has the Tata program rubbed off on the whole area?

Eg. an excerpt from their womens empowerment brochure

Good luck for the trip!

cya
R

EDIT: Found a video. It's called the "Tejaswani Project":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfhboYjc5Cw

Hi,

Thank you so much Rehaan :)

I now realise that there is so much homework yet left to do and such little time.
I will take a look at the posts that you suggested.
I will come back with questions, clarifications, if any.

Cheers
Vidula
Wonder which gear I am in; Need to speed up!

As you put your plans section by section, I would suggest chart the detailed route for each section. Use GPS as a device to tell you if you are going on the correct route; rather than it telling you where to go.

All the best.

Hi Ampere,

Thank you for the reply.

The maps are in place all on google maps. That was the first thing that we did.

We will be feeding them to a GPS device. We have with multiple GPS devices.

I have never fed the maps to a GPS device before (but I have used a GPS device, however, not here in India).

Is there a particular format that the GPS device needs the maps to be in? or does it vary from GPS to GPS?

Regards,
Vidula

The format does vary from one device type to another. There are maps published in multipe formats available from OpenStreetMaps.org. I used these on a Garmin GPS and they are really good for Europe. Not sure about the coverage in India. The nice thing about OSM though is that you can contribute your tracks to the database and help improve the quality of the maps. Make sure you have the maps downloaded and stored (rather than having to fetch them over a wireless connection etc.) Great initiative by the way, all the best!

Thank you for your reply.

I will take a look at openstreetmaps.org and also look at the make of the GPS devices that we have.

Thank you once again!

Regards,
Vidula

Best wishes for the ambitious drive. For any information regarding the roads please get in touch with bhpian 'hvkumar'. He also has an fb forum, will be of immense help.

An interesting initiative and a great one at that !
Vidula, Did u touch base with HVK already ? If you are hitting the highways, talking to him and getting his opinion is the best possible thing to do. Will help reduce your planning effort since you mentioned that you are doing things in a jiffy. You can also think of garnering some publicity by getting media coverage or at-least a mention of this in print media, Facebook etc. Wish you all the very best for tour trip and keep this thread posted !!

Thank you for your reply Maverick5490.
Yes, that will be of great help. I will get in touch with hvkumar


Shinuak, Thank you for your reply.

Yes, we infact are waiting for the sponsorship to come through. Mahindra has already agreed to give us 2 Scorpio 4x4 vehicles for this drive. I have sent out a bunch of emails to companies like castrol, hp, makemytrip, shewee, for sponsorship. They haven't replied yet. And I know I have a very short time left - 24 days in November and 30 days in December.

Any other companies that I can get in touch with for sponsorship? I was also thinking of crowdfunding and have started preparations in that direction and will put up something by the 10th November 2014 on some crowdfunding sites.

Once the sponsorship comes through, we will get in touch with the media and put it up on Facebook and other social media.

Thank you once again.

Regards,
Vidula

Have to tentatively planned where to stay? Turtle Bay (I hope you meant Turtle Bay Resort in Maravanthe KA) was pretty so-so place to stay. Also am not aware of places to stay in Pulicat.

About tolls, there is Rs 250 to be paid when you enter Goa. Beyond that only Mannuthy-Kochi 4-lane section is tolled in the KL-KA-GA leg. In east coast leg, Pondy-Madras, Chennai Bypass and all sections of NH5 till Kolkata are tolled.

A husband-wife duo did a Borderline Drive recently. You could get some ideas from them.

Narayans80, Thank you for your reply.

Yes we have shortlisted 3-4 hotels for each place. Yes we will be staying at the Turtle Bay Resort in Maravanthe KA.

Correct.

Thanks for the link. I will take a look at the Borderline Drive.

Awesome folks :-)
Thank you so much for all the replies so far

Regards,
Vidula

PS - Folks, How do I get in touch with hvkumar on the team-bhp website?

Since you are a newbie you may not be able to PM HVK in Team-BHP. But you can connect with him on his FB Fan club https://www.facebook.com/groups/hvkumar/