000. The Departure Note (Why I left, Where I'm Going)

Why a multiyear journey across India needs a newsletter?

One bike… One very long road ahead…

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance I’m already on the ROAD.

I quit a 7-year tech career to start something I’ve been dreaming about and planning for years: Riding my bike across all 800+ districts of India.

I don’t want merely to pass through them. I want to slow down, look around and try to understand the country through three lenses that have always fascinated me:

• Geography: The rivers, terrain, crops, and landscape that shape how people live.

• History: The stories that never made it to textbooks but deserve to be told.

• Culture: The people, traditions, food, festivals and everyday life that make every place unique.

I am calling it an expedition because this isn’t a leisure or a vacation or a race across a map. It’s a dedicated, planned & genuine effort to travel, explore, observe and experience India on two wheels.

And this newsletter is where I’ll bring some of that back. I’ll write about the people I meet, the places that made me stop & think, the history and culture I uncover, and the experiences and questions that stay with me long after I’ve moved on.

A place where a big part of my story began & a few faces who are a close friends now - JNV Gopalganj

There’s one part of this journey that’s particularly close to my heart. I come from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), and this school shaped my life more than anything else. There are over 650 JNVs across India. Wherever this journey brings me close to a JNV, I hope to stop, spend time with students and leave behind a few books that have profoundly impacted me. I’m still working on making these visits possible, but it’s something I want to carry with me from the very beginning.

I’ll share those experiences here too.

I don’t want to promise a fixed publishing schedule. Some weeks I might have a story worth telling. Other times, the road might simply be teaching me something that needs more time to make sense.

So, I’ll write when when I have something worth sharing.

If you have made it this far, I hope you will stay for the ride!

The bike is ready… the road is waiting…