Udupi: Sachin Bhandary is someone who quit his job for his passion and to do something most of us dream of. This man, who spent his childhood in Udupi, is planning to travel to 12 countries to learn something new or undertake a challenge by staying a month in each country. He calls it ‘The 12 Project’ and himself as ‘The Odd Traveller’.
Sachin has already started the project – his first one is focused on India and is called ’25 Days, 25 Trains’. He started from Mumbai in the morning of 7th February and will now travel to the southern tip to Kanyakumari and then towards Ledo in Assam. From there, he will try to reach Baramulla, the last station in the north. Okha, which is the western tip of the Indian railway, is his last stop before he takes a train back to his hometown Mumbai.
This is just the first project, Sachin has eleven others planned. Some of them include looking for positive stories of Tamil-Sinhala friendships in Sri Lanka, learning rock climbing in Thailand, learning to play Batucada music in Brazil, trying to surf in Chile, walking through the mountains in Peru, visiting Colombia to find out the reality of drugs, scuba diving in Costa Rica, learning to cook in Mexico, learning to dance Salsa in Cuba and cycling for 2000 km in USA. His last project is the most exciting for him – becoming a stand-up comedian in New York for 30 days.
Udupi was his first stop on the ‘25 Days, 25 Trains’ project. Sachin decided to stop in Udupi because it is a town which is close to his heart. He spent a lot of his time as a kid in Udupi since his grandparents and other family members live here. In fact, his uncle Naveen Bhandary is one of the councilors of the city. Sachin said, “Udupi is the home of my soul. I might live anywhere or even travel the world, but I think I really belong here. My childhood years spent in Bailoor with friends & family were the best in my life.”
It is also interesting to know that Sachin is not doing this only for himself. He was a successful public relations professional in Mumbai and quit his job in November to focus on the project. With this project, he wants to overcome some of his fears, fulfill his wish of traveling the world and also inspire other young Indians to travel and learn.
He said, “Most youngsters travel only for fun. I feel that travel is a great opportunity to learn something new and discover the world & yourself. I am hoping that with my project, many young Indians will take trips that help them learn and develop their personality.”
You might think that Sachin is really rich to be able to do this. But that is not the case. He planned and worked hard to get brands like airbnb and a couple of others to sponsor a part of his trip. He also hopes to write for publications like National Geographic and BBC Travel to sustain his project.
His eventual dream is to start a program for Indian youth to help them learn by guiding them on how to travel to other parts of the world. But first, he will write a book on ‘The 12 Project’ for which he is in discussions with publishers.
You can follow his travel on Facebook at The Odd Traveller or twitter : @theoddtraveller . He will also be posting write-ups regularly on:www.theoddtraveller.in, Sachin can also be reached on theoddtraveller@gmail.com