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”.
It was not an easy feat for Najira, better known as “Naji Noushi” among her followers in the social media. Hailing from a Muslim family, she had to convince so many persons to support her. She started off with small trips with her children, to Kochi, Bengaluru, and Chennai before she drove to Ladakh with two other women, covering 13,000 km across 17 States, five Union Territories and three international borders, in two months. Even when her companions left the journey 20 days later, Naji continued her adventure. Olu Kanda Olle India (The India that she saw), the book released recently, was based on her experiences on this trip.
A month after she returned from Ladakh, Naji took off to Lakshadweep with nothing but the ship fare in her pocket. She travelled through 10 islands over 25 days, taking shelter in the houses of her followers at night.
She knew the trip to the Everest base camp could be costly, and hence decided to hitchhike. Naji confirms she never had any bad experiences anywhere she went. “The lorry drivers have a bad image, and I am happy that I could break it. They were very friendly and helped me at every step”, Naji said.
Knocking on the door of an unknown house asking for shelter at night became her routine on this trip.
It took her 20 days to reach Kathmandu in Nepal, where she took the normal course to the base camp, registering with an agency, getting a guide and a flight to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, from where she trekked to the base camp. Najira takes pride that she could complete the trek in five days due to her persistence, where most people took 10 to 12 days. On the flip side, she had to be airlifted out of the base camp as she fell sick as soon as she reached there.
Naji had left her children with her mother when she set out on these adventures, as her husband is working in Oman. Her one-and -half-year-old daughter failed to recognise her after she returned from Ladakh. But Naji does not allow anything to affect her wanderlust, as she plans yet another trip after Ramadan, either to Singapore, Bhutan, or the six Arabian countries. Of course, driving solo.
