New Delhi: Three months, 18 countries and 20,000 kms later an Indian doctor couple from UK has much to celebrate and talk about. After all, it was A Long Road Home. Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas, a 32-year-old physician and Dr Ashlesha Bagadia, a 29-year-old psychiatrist, drove down from UK to India, raising funds for UNICEF and capturing all the sights and sounds along the way. Thirty-five of their best photographs are on display in Delhi at The Academy of Fine Art and Literature for the next few days. The couple shares some of their best moments with IBNlive.com:
Neha Bhatt: What was the very first thing you did once you reached home in Delhi?
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: We ate Indian food! We reached Delhi and my brother’s friend came to pick us up and took us home. We ordered some good food and ate. Also, we called all our loved ones to let them know we were home safe and sound.
Neha Bhatt: And you must have had a good nights’ sleep that night after the long, long journey home?
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: Oh yes, we slept well.
Neha Bhatt: To start from the very beginning, was planning this whole trip very taxing?
Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas: Not really. What took most time was getting visas for all the countries and because we were still working alongside, we had to take a lot of time off to apply for the visas. Plus the time it took to process the visas was not in our hands so that was the problem. Other than that, we booked some hostels and low-budget hotels for our stay on the way.
Neha Bhatt: How did you fund the trip?
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: We put in all our savings. We had been planning this trip for the past two years so we knew where our savings were going to go. In fact, Europeans go back-packing all the time. But then Indians usually think of saving what they earn. But we keep it got travelling.
Neha Bhatt: But you were offered monetary help when word got around about what you had planned?
Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas: Yes, we had done some fund-raising in UK earlier and when people got to know we were embarking on this trip they wanted to help out financially. We directed them to UNICEF as we had registered with them to raise donations for projects in India. So all the donations and the ones through our website www.alongroadhome.com and blog, went to UNICEF directly.
Neha Bhatt: There is a certain sense of disconnect when one looks at the pictures you have taken and wonder, what really happened during the trip? The photographs are surely picture perfect but I’m sure the trip had its share of glitches? Apart from driving from one destination to the other, what kept you busy?
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: We were like any other tourist. We would check into our motel/ camp site and talk to other travelers. Or we would head out to the countryside and spend the day sightseeing. We made so many great friends, met such nice people.
Neha Bhatt: You camped a lot?
Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas: Yes, in Europe there are so many campsites in remote places. So we would just call them a few days in advance, go and set up our camp there. We still have to discover if India has that many campsites. Once we travel around here I guess we will know.
Neha Bhatt: Any incidents you recall?
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: Our car was broken into in Sweden. We had parked in a hostel and the next day we found we had lost a lot of our stuff including camera lenses, our iPods and the guitar.
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Neha Bhatt: So after the incident did you feel demoralized?
Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas: Never. The incident didn’t leave us too badly-affected. We enjoyed the rest of the trip.
Neha Bhatt: And then you moved on to the Middle-East?
Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas: The Middle-East was great. We felt so welcome there, coming from Europe. One of the best experiences we had was in Iran. Things were not so easy there because of the language problem. We had difficulty getting money out of the bank and making International calls. But our hotel manager was so helpful, he got the hotel to give us money, paid for our stay at that time, booked our flight tickets, it was so nice of him.
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: Yes, it was unbelievable that one can meet such people. He took such good care of us. In the Middle-East we met the friendliest people. It was definitely more human. Moving on from Europe, when we reached Iran and once the Asian influence settled in, we could just feel the change in hospitality, everyone called us home for tea, for dinner while we were in Jordon and Turkey. In Petra in Jordon, we met a chef who started talking to us about Hindi movies.
Neha Bhatt: Were there any other organizations that your trip was affiliated to?
Dr J Aryabhat Gopaldas: Yes, apart from UNICEF there was a UK organization called Climate Care. We basically calculated the amount of fuel we used plus the carbon emitted. We paid the amount equivalent to that to Climate Care, which will put in that money for projects in India to neutralize the effect of carbon in the air. We have become much more aware of environmental issues such as global warming now and want to put in our bit to help.
Neha Bhatt: So you had the time of your life, while raising funds. I’m sure more young couples like you could do their bit to help a cause?
Dr Ashlesha Bagadia: Actually Indians do a lot of interesting things but don’t realize it as something special. Any kind of a trip/ adventure/ event can be used to raise funds. People should realize that.
You can catch the exhibition, A Long Road Home from July 13-17 at The Academy of Fine Art and Literature, 4/6, Sirifort Institutional Area (Near Sirifort auditorium), New Delhi. Here is a peek into some of the favourites at the exhibition. This exhibition is organised by www.wonderwall.co.in, India's first e-commerce fine art photography gallery and is curated by photographer Sandeep Biswas.
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