Rollercoaster, anyone?

Imagine this.

A pause-stop-look-go route that passes through major tourist points in the country. Be warned – this is not for the faint hearted.

Let’s get more specific.

Connect the dots.

Mumbai >> Aurangabad >> Mandu >> Gir Forest >> Ahmadabad >>> Bhuj >> Mount Abu >> Udaipur >> Chittorgarh >> Ajmer >> Jaipur - Kumbhalgarh >> Jodhpur >> Jaisalmer >> Bikaner >> Delhi >> Chandigarh >> Amritsar >> Gulmarg >> Srinagar >> Leh >> Pahalgam >> Manali >> Simla >> Mussorie >> Badrinath >> Corbett National Park >> Nainital >> Mathura >> Agra >> Lucknow >> Kanpur >> Gwalior >> Sanchi >> Kanha National Park >> Khajuraho >> Lumbini >> Sarnath >> Varanasi >> Banaras >> Bagdogra >> Darjeeling >> Gangtok >> Manas >> Kaziranga National Park >> Imphal >> Shilling >> Patna >> Bodh Gaya >> Kolkata >> Shantiniketan >> Durgapur >> Bokaro >> Konark >> Bhubaneswar >> Bhillai >> Puri >> Vishakhapatnam >> Hyderabad >> Tirupati >> Chennai >> Kanchipuram >> Mahabalipuram >> Pondicherry >> Tanjor >> Madurai >> Rameshwaram >> Cape Comorian >> Kanyakumari >> Kovalam >> Trivandrum >> Periyar >> Cochin >> Tiruchapalli >> Coimbatore >> Ootacamund >> Mudumalai >> Mysore >> Bangalore >> Belur >> Hampi >> Goa >> Mumbai! (Phew!) (And yet there is so much I have not touched upon yet!)

Catch your breath first. You were warned – this format of travelling is not meant for the faint hearted ones. Maybe we can design something light, delicate and yet totally refreshing even for our light weight travelers. Food for thought, isn’t it?

Travel season is coming up fast. People tend to travel lots during holidays. In Indian context, it would be three main tourist seasons> during-before-after Diwali, Christmas and the summer holidays. So, this being the last day of September, most people will be either looking for travel plans or wondering what to this holiday season.

Here’s the plan.

If you noticed, the idea is to go around in a circle, starting from Mumbai (home is where the heart is!) moving towards the west, deep into the Thar, out at Delhi, up north from there, move from the Himalayan baseline and take a loop to go to central India slide back into the north eastern region, glide down from east to down south, and soar back up hitting goa and back to point one – ready to start all over again!

Like I mentioned before, nothing is very permanent or fixed about this route and it can be easily, wit fully and willfully modified as per personal discretion. So, a person can choose to skip places or add new ones or move from node to node, etc. The choice is yours.

This holiday season make that choice. Step up and step out. Go where you have never gone before.

What we have is just a generic route – unless you are completely nomad – this route still does not make complete sense. Madness, you say? There is always method to madness, I say.

Most importantly, keep watching this space. There is more to tell. This is not it, not yet, at least.

“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.”

Where do we go from here?

All glory comes from daring to begin. Time for me to revel in that glory now.


The vast geographical, cultural & psycho graphical diversity of India – thoroughly deserving a healthy description – is a topic so mind boggling that we shall dwell on this at another point of time.

Right at the inception, let me re-iterate, this is not your regular blog where people discuss people, places and/or travel experiences. This is the place for travel nerds like me – who try to reach out far beyond that.

Nomenclature is the social order which will helps in differentiating product/services from other entities in the environment. So, let me start by calling it India-Go. The objective here is to create a flexible pan-India route aimed at travelers who travel – just because. This is what we have so far. (Recommended reading last blog upwards for complete details!)


Now, in order to start converting this concept to reality, we need to start working on the blue print. Travelling in India is hardly one-size fits all. So, we too shall diversify. One oft-used method is to go for a geographical split by dividing land/states as north, south, east, west and sometimes, central zone. The path this way is so well-beaten, it has somehow lost its charm with me. Although, I hate to agree, it may seem to be the most functional as it has been in use for quite some time.


However, I will choose to digress as far as this is concerned. What I work out can be a city-to-town-to-village-to-city-network or any other way in which it may work out. The beauty of the whole idea is that it is totally non-restrictive – and yes, you are not even expected to want to know where you want to go. All that is needed here is that you WANT to get going.

Have a quick glance at the map. It is not exact, to be honest. But it talks a lot. It talks about the vast diversity that is India and the fact that there is always going to be so much more to do. So, first break the cluttered mindset of having a pre-planned schedule of what to do, where to go, what to see, what to eat, etc.

All mental and psychological barriers should be out of the way by now.

Stay hooked on. I shall be back very very soon to unveil more.

What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. ~William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways