Lakshmi Dhuta had two pathways ahead of her when she set out to write a book on the Avadhutas — little-known seers who study transcending dualities in nature to find a harmonious core. Ms. Dhuta’s first path was academic research. The second, the road less taken, was to travel and observe such a life first-hand. She chose the latter.
She is helped in her effort by Jayakumar Dinamani, an avid traveller in his 50s, with impaired limbs and diminished cardiac function, supported by a heart implant. Ms. Dhuta’s mother, Ajitha C.S., a retired homeopath, and T.P. Sajikumar, a retired agricultural officer, are also her fellow travellers.
Together, they have travelled 500,000 km, criss-crossing India over the last 10 years, and they are now on a road trip across 10 countries in Asia. Mr. Dinamani is the most travelled in the group, having clocked over 12 lakh km in the past 20 years. The group’s previous journey was just after the pandemic to India’s borders, with a message of goodwill in times of crisis.
