June–July 2003 · For a cause
Kanyakumari
to Kargil
Two cousins. Two motorbikes. 4,555 kilometres from the bottom of India to the top — to raise awareness about colorectal cancer and funds for the Adyar Cancer Institute.
2003
the year
4,555 km
covered
K → K
the length of India
₹1 lakh+
raised for Adyar Cancer Institute
The mission
A ride with a reason
In 2001, my cousin Chandrashekhar Srinivasan lost his mother to colorectal cancer. What stayed with him wasn't the loss itself — it was learning, later, that colorectal cancer is close to 100% curable when caught early. She might have lived, if only someone had known to look.
Two years later, he'd turned that grief into a mission: spread awareness about early detection, and raise funds for the Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar — the Chennai hospital that had treated his mother. He asked me one day, “How about a long drive?”
I was 18, a second-year engineering student at SRM College. He was 27, a senior systems analyst at Satyam. The plan: ride from the southernmost tip of India to the northernmost point you could legally get to on a bike — Kargil. Four and a half thousand kilometres. Twenty-two days. Two Royal Enfields.
The route
The length of India
Kanyakumari · Madurai · Salem · Bangalore · Belgaum · Satara · Pune · Mumbai · Ahmedabad · Udaipur · Ajmer · Jaipur · Delhi · Chandigarh · Manali · Leh · Kargil · Srinagar · Delhi
June 17 · Kanyakumari
Flagged off at the southern tip
The municipal chairman of Kanyakumari waved us off on the morning of June 17, 2003. One last photo with the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian Ocean all meeting behind us. Then north.
The bikes were loaded with what we thought we'd need — tools, a small tent, clothes for every altitude, and a stack of pamphlets about colorectal cancer. In every town we passed through, we'd pull over, talk to whoever would listen, and leave something behind.
Bike on the beach at Kanyakumari, June 2003 — the day before the ride began.
Two weeks in the middle
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan
Six to eight hours on the bike a day, 200–300 km per day when the road was good. Media stops in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad — each one a chance to tell more people about early detection. By the time we rolled into Pune, newspapers were writing about us. By Ahmedabad, people we'd never met were pledging money.
The last stretch
Manali, Leh, and the road to Kargil
The Manali–Leh highway is something else. You gain altitude hard — Rohtang Pass, Baralacha La, Tanglang La — and the air gets thin enough that the bikes feel it before you do. Sarchu at night was the coldest I'd ever been.
Leh is a small town with a lot of personality. We rested a day, repaired some things, then pushed on to Kargil. Getting there was a small, quiet moment — the top of a very long line on a map.
The top
Tanglang La. Kargil.
Tanglang La pass — the “World's Highest Motorable Road” at the time, 18,380 ft. Then a few hundred kilometres later, a small green milestone: Kargil — 2 km.
Two kilometres from Kargil. Twenty-two days from Kanyakumari.
In the press
National coverage
The Asian Age, The Hindu, Indian Express, Maharashtra Times, Mumbai Samachar and more carried the story as we rode through their cities.
The Asian Age — Noble mission drives duo to bike up Kargil
5 Jul 2003
The Hindu Metroplus — Expedition for a cause
Jun 2003
IE Ahmedabad Newsline — Message On A Motorbike
1 Jul 2003
Indian Express Pune Newsline — Men, machines & a mission
Jun 2003
Maharashtra Times — Kanyakumari to Kargil bike yatra
30 Jun 2003
Mumbai Samachar
27 Jun 2003
Riders on a mission
30 Jun 2003
Press clipping
2003
Press clipping
2003
Looking back
Twenty-two days, one country
I was 18 when this trip happened. It reshaped how I thought about almost everything — what's actually hard, what a country looks like when you cross it slowly, what a good reason to travel is.
We raised about a lakh for the Adyar Cancer Institute. Chandrashekhar kept running awareness campaigns long after the ride was over. Every trip I've taken since — Lake Baikal, the Carretera Austral, all the cycling expeditions — traces back to this one.
Full gallery
Frames from the road