With a purpose is to generate awareness about COVID vaccines, two youngsters drive from Kochi to Kashmir

One of the youth said that unlike Kerala people in the northern states have apprehensions about COVID vaccines. He said that the purpose is to reassure them that vaccines are safe
Image for representational purpose only (Pic: PTI)
Image for representational purpose only (Pic: PTI)

With a foldable tent assembled atop their car, two youngsters, Ambarish Mukundan and Sreejith V C from Kochi have embarked on an all India contactless trip to Kashmir conveying two important messages. To highlight the importance of vaccination and show that travelling is safe if all COVID protocols are duly followed. 

With the ride titled ‘Get vaccinated and save your life’, the duo set off from Kochi last week for the 60-day trip with the aim of reaching out to the most number of people. “Travelling has restarted in the country and the tourism sector is limping back to normal state. However, many travel enthusiasts are still reluctant to travel due to safety concerns. We aim to clear their doubts through our contactless trip where we are avoiding hotels to stay and also cooking our own food instead of depending on food from restaurants,” said Ambarish, an engineer and vlogger, who did a bike ride two years back to Kashmir, covering about 21 states.

In order to ensure a contactless trip, the youngsters have modified the vehicle with an overlanding unit on top. “Since these overlanding units are not easily available and are quite expensive, we thought of making it on our own. With the help of our friends who knew welding, we were able to design our overlanding unit,” shares Ambarish, who is accompanied by his friend Sreejith, an automobile consultant and a travel freak. Ambarish says, “After our vehicle was ready, we made a trip to Munnar. We were planning an all India trip but that is when the second lockdown was announced owing to the rise in the coronavirus cases.”

Sharing their journey experience, Ambarish says, “Unlike Kerala, people in the northern states have apprehensions about vaccination. We want to assure them that there is no need to fear vaccination and it's safe. We noticed that many people in rural areas were not even wearing masks. We educated them about the seriousness and need to wear masks, especially when the cases are increasing day by day. We are also distributing masks and sanitisers to the people apart from distributing pamphlets which list out the benefits of getting vaccinated.”

The biggest challenge, the duo says faced by them during the journey is to spot a safe place to camp and finding clean toilets. “Many times, people would come and enquire about our purpose of visiting that place. We have scheduled our destinations for each day and plan to cover the places according to the plan,” said Ambarish. The duo has already covered Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and will be covering other states in the coming days.

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