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People These Women Drove Two SUVs Throughout India On A Spiritual Sojourn - All Wearing Saris!
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These Women Drove Two SUVs Throughout India On A Spiritual Sojourn - All Wearing Saris!

On a 12,300-kilometer spiritual round of India, an all-women party drove two SUVs. In Delhi, Florina Soren met up with the motorheads.

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By: Florina Soren Published: Mar 15, 2022 08:00 AM IST

These Women Drove Two SUVs Throughout India On A Spiritual Sojourn - All Wearing Saris!
Image: COURTESY FLORINA SOREN

An all-women group drove two SUVs on a 12,300-kilometre-long spiritual circuit of India last year. And they did it in style. Our contributor caught up with the motorheads in Delhi, where the women savoured delicious chaats and kulfis in the historic lanes of Chandni Chowk. By Florina Soren

How an all-women group travelled across India

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The group of six women covered 28 cities across 14 states in two cars. Image: Courtesy of Florina Saren

As the pandemic’s deadly second wave receded last year, travel started inching back into our lives. In September 2021, I got an invitation from the Ministry of Tourism to rendezvous with an all-women group that was making a weekend pit stop in Delhi on their 12,300-kilometre-long road journey across the country. The group was scheduled to do a food tour of Chandni Chowk.

On a sunny Sunday morning, we assembled outside Jama Masjid’s Gate no. 5 to welcome the convoy. They were en route to Ayodhya, from where they would visit Varanasi, Deoghar, Balasore, and Puri, before heading further south. They had started over a week ago from the Zero Mile Stone in Nagpur, which is considered the geographical centre of India.

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The women visited Chandni Chowk for a food trail during a weekend pit stop in Delhi. Image: Shutterstock

Since it was a Sunday, Chandni Chowk was without its usual hustle-bustle. All of the shops were closed, save for a few food stalls that were getting ready to receive their morning patrons. The group arrived dressed in bright silk saris. I was expecting to see them in comfortable tracksuits, or salwar kameez at best. “Don’t tell me this is how you drive your SUVs?” I asked, astonished. “We love wearing our saris. It does not create any kind of discomfort while driving,” affirmed Preeti Chole, the captain of the group. The group of six was driving two SUVs, and the Tejaswini Jyotirmay Yatra, as they called their journey, would take them to 28 cities across 14 states. They would stop at nine jyotirlingas and seven holy rivers en route.

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One of the sari-clad women motorists at Kuremal Mohanlal Kulfi Wale. Image: Courtesy of Florina Soren

Our first stop on the food trail was the century-old Shyam Sweets, where a colourful platter of piping hot bedmi puri, aloo ki sabzi, and nagori halwa was laid out. We then spent time navigating the quaint by-lanes of the old city, often stopping to admire ancient havelis, their colourful doors and beautiful jharokhas. Another member of the women’s group, Shubhangi Mendhe, shared how she had always been inspired by the Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar, who was instrumental in rebuilding many temples, including the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. “So, even though people doubted us at first, I was confident that we could do it. Women can achieve anything, and we wanted to convey this message.” Mendhe said the trip involved meticulous planning, detailed route maps, kilometres to be covered per day, meal stops, etc. Other group members—Preeti Lende, Jaya Vyas, and Sarika Mahotra, the navigator of the team—chimed in about how they were mastering the art of coordinating the two cars, all the while listening to their favourite music tracks.

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The group loved driving on the Pamban Bridge in Tamil Nadu. Image: Shutterstock

Our next stop was Kuremal Mohanlal Kulfi Wale, which is famous for its flavoured kulfi creatively frozen in emptied mango shells. Their kulfi menu has over 25 flavours: from paan to khajjur, rabri, imli, and chocolate. As we savoured the desserts, Preeti Chole shared her experiences, “We have had lots of fun travelling through varied landscapes, small towns, and hamlets. Once, while searching for a guest house in Pushkar, we missed a left turn suggested by Google Maps and reached an old-age home instead!”

As the food tour progressed, we saw signboards declaring unique business: wholesaler of kites, old gramophone records, antique watches. There was also a stall selling hot puris with sabzi, where Mendhe tried her hand at frying puris—much to the amusement of the vendor.

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Varanasi was one of the destinations on the spiritual circuit. Image: Shutterstock

As we made our way out of Chandni Chowk, I made recommendations on where one could buy the best saris in Delhi. Although that food tour marked the end of our Delhi meetup, it did not spell the end of our conversation. I caught up with some of the group members after they had completed their marathon journey in October. And they had many tales to tell. “While driving from Deoghar to Bishnupur, we encountered heavy, incessant rains that had washed away some roads. It was dangerous to drive, so we had to take many detours,” Chole recounted. On the whole, though, she was impressed with the roads she drove on and especially enjoyed some stretches. “The best memories involve driving on the coastal road from Porbandar to Dwarka, the Punjab roads from Pushkar to Amritsar, the Yamuna Expressway, Rajamundry to Vijaywada, across the Pamban bridge, and from Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari.” And then, of course, there were the picturesque pit stops. “We saw the fully lit Sun Temple of Modhera at night, the night sky at Someshwar, River Ganga at night in Varanasi, and the Triveni Sangam at Kanyakumari.” Happy to have proved that women can do such a tour—in saris, no less—Mendhe now wants them to explore the Northeast. Bon voyage, I say.

Related: Your Guide To A Winding Road Trip From Delhi To Dharamshala

Written By

Florina Soren

Florina Soren

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