Envisioning a World Without Boundaries

[Music]

three friends

20 000 kilometers 50 days 15 countries

and one car

the zeal for travel got us the title

globe wheelers

hello everyone i am rajendra park a

pharmacist and an interior designer

to an entrepreneur that’s another story

in itself

but today i want to share a story about

how

three friends rolled the wheels down

from london

to nasik and conquered europe and asia

in a fortuner

those 50 days taught us the virtues of

what makes us human

our journey began with a notion a notion

to travel without the thought of

boundaries

a notion of the world without boundaries

and this phrase is what guides me talk

today

like every trip does our begins with the

decision to well

travel no go on a road trip

or a trip to the mountains or the beach

just a trip

ashish might at one point have suggested

taking the next plane out of mumbai

with minimal resources and winging it

a couple of days later we came across

someone very passionate

about travel and road trips tushar

agrawal

it was his book road affairs that

instilled the possibility of this trip

happening

so we decided to go see him to him

we were just another set of people who

were going to waste his time

on the same night on our way back from

delhi is where i learned about

the first value instinct because that is

when we finalized our journey

rotary from london to india

instinct makes you do the unthinkable

we could never thought of extending our

already long journey when nepal

was hit by an earthquake and roads were

closed overnight

having no other option we instinctively

decided on a route

which would extend our trip by around

6000 kilometers

it was safe to say that our instinct was

responsible for the completion of this

once in a lifetime experience every

journey has its ups and downs

and i learned about the downs during the

first week

when i felt sick oh also we hadn’t

received our car

what happened happened yahuwah

we were now on our way to germany

through the english channel

the second virtue that i learned in

germany was grief

you ever have that feeling of pouring

your heart out and crying out like

a child some places has that aura

that history that makes you want to pour

your heart out

the brandenburg gate from where hitler

had entered berlin with thousands of

brown shirted soldiers

was that place continue our journey

through poland

we saw annie frank’s diary and trust me

it shook our beliefs

in a world that idealizes heroes a

little girl’s diary was used to trial

adolf hitler

the thought sent chills down my spine

and brought tears to my eyes

in addition sanjubo had to leave us due

to some unfortunate incident back home

bhav left us with the assurance that he

would join us back in russia

we were all still very skeptical about

the trip but it was bhav and bhabhi

who encouraged us to continue they said

we want to see this trip through your

eyes

there was no way we could have done this

without their persuasion

a house offers protection from the

elements but it is people

that truly makes it home being out on

the road made me homesick

the longing for dalvati was real and

kazakhstan made us feel right at home

in a village we along with the locals

made pav bhaji

as we were having our meals i noticed a

group of women

watching something familiar on the

television

thinking about my amusement on seeing

sriti irani

and our eternal favorite sazhbi kami

bahuti

watching tv eating pav bhaji all i could

think about was the fact

that sas or bahuka jagada is universally

entertaining for everyone

and at that moment in spite of being 10

15 000 kilometers away from home

home never felt closer

in kyrgyzstan we met another traveler to

our surprise he was a vp

at ibm and explorer in the truest sense

of the word

he set out to camp in the middle of

nowhere in the countries like

afghanistan

it was while talking to him that i

realized the third virtue that makes us

human

is home and after 50 days of improvising

meeting people interacting with cultures

and building relations with

we were back home this journey was our

dream

and we were able to achieve it that is

all that mattered

reaching india in our car meant so much

to us

there were many a times i thought to

myself i can’t

do this the distress from sanju bhav not

being able to continue with us

to almost being arrested in russia for

allegedly trespassing in burmese embassy

all bubbled up at one time or another

this journey got me thinking about what

makes us human

humans are afraid of humans think about

it our kind is supposed to be the most

developed knowledgeable and advanced and

yet

we are afraid of our own care and

further

we have demarcated our borders out of

this fear

and believe that is the way to live

this fear dictates and changes many of

the experience we could have had today

the borders that we have created

restrict us from being free from being

travellers

many of you would have taken a plane

from one place to another

in doing so we have created the system

to be certain

to not miss out on things but this

system

has stagnant our creativity and our

desire to improvise

to explore and most importantly to enjoy

yes there are people who are evil who

mean

harm but they are the minority and for

every one evil person there are

thousands and thousands of wonderful

people out there

trust me i have been across half the

world in a tin can

and nowhere did i find people with my

eyes i can go

as far to say that all humans have a

certain degree of

inherent goodness at their core

to all of you i say it is okay to be

uncertain

it is okay to not know it is okay to

improvise

because life doesn’t really always go as

planned

and to improvise you need courage

courage to cross

certain boundaries that are physical

mental

and spiritual and believe me after

kilometers of riding

we discovered that most of these

boundaries were imaginary

and it was humanity at its core which

helped us to complete this journey

through all the countries i traveled the

countless people that i met

what i found common to them were three

things

the tendency to act on instinct the each

to make

guests feel whom and persevering through

grief

all indicate one thing that for all

these pseudo-boundaries

that man has created there will be

people helping you cross them

i decided to take the leap of faith to

face the uncertain and what i got back

was the courage to question

the humility to ask for help the

strength to overcome the prejudice and

the satisfaction of seeing the world at

its very roots

i have traveled and travel has made me a

better citizen

of this planet is this kind of

travelling for everyone

i don’t think so but i recommend you

follow your instincts

your guts think about yourself 20 years

from now

because 20 years from now you will be

more disappointed by the things you

didn’t do

than by the ones you did thank you