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