Kozhikode
Hitchhiking in national permit lorries, sleeping in them, or any hut on the roadside, cooking and eating with the lorry drivers travelling across India... Yes, we have heard a lot about such freaky travellers. But for a young woman to do so in a country where a rape happens every five minutes, it takes immense courage and determination. And Najira Noushad, 33, of Mahe, who is a mother of five children, has what it takes.
“If you cannot travel freely in your own country, it is your own failure. There is no point going to foreign countries and exclaiming how safe they are for women, when you do not make an effort to feel safe in your own country”, this is the message Najira tried to convey to all the wannabe women travellers out there. So when she set off to the Everest base camp more than a month ago, her backpack carried the message “Admire India; She can travel alone”.
