The 46-year old explorer wants to prove to the world that Indian Women are no less compared to others in their courage to explore
There is always this myth among the western people, seeing India’s culture and tradition that it is as an illiterate community, especially, women. They have the notion that Indian women are good at nothing and know little better than taking care of their families.
“As a woman, whenever I traveled to countries like the US and Europe, I had undergone the agonizing experience,” said Meenakshi Arvind, the 46-year old wanderlust explorer from Coimbatore who in the year 2017, along with 2 other ladies from India, embarked on a Journey of 24 countries in a car, driving 26800 km, in 70 days to commemorate 70 years of Indian Independence. The expedition was called XPD 24/70, where Meenakshi was the team leader.
Her drive was considered to be the longest Literacy Drive, crossing several cities in the 24 countries, encouraging women literacy and promoting TEACH, a literacy program initiated by the Rotary.
The travel addict has a gear shift tattooed in her right hand and a world map on to her back, which shows her passion for the exploration of places. She calls her Hexa by the nick name ‘Dhanno’, in which she travelled to 24 countries.
“Though I have driven many cars, my favorite is Mercedes Benz, and I currently drive Mercedes GL on which I have clocked more then 1,00,000 kilometers in just 3 years.”
“Be it any car, I will clock one lakh kilometer in three years. I started driving at the age of 15. Since then whenever I get into the car, it has become mandatory that others take it for granted that that only I will take the wheel,” twinkled Meenakshi.
Since you travelled across countries and continents, where do you think India stands?
I think, we still lack the basics, starting from sanitation, hygiene, literacy and women empowerment, India has to put a lot to do in these areas. We often tend to degrade ourselves by encouraging foreigners to do slum tourism, which itself is the most imprudent thing to do.
“We are of the wrong notion that it makes more outsiders to visit our country, but what they take back is the perception that India is a third world nation, very poor in behavior etc. I’m highly proud of my nation and I cannot withstand to see the world looking at this way. We have to project ourselves in a way that tourists of every other country in the world should be eager to visit India, at least once in their life time.”
What is your dream?
Whatever place is motorable, I would love to explore it, which is my biggest dream. My aim is to promote India’s culture, tourism and Indian brands across the globe. So, I would always try to stick with our nation’s brands, so that the world will know that we are comparable to anyone in any filed. So, TATA being an Indian brand, I chose TATA and I work closely with TATA Motors for some drives.Hopefully before 2019 I will be doing some drives for TATA.
What is your take on the feminists?
“I’m definitely not a feminist. I don’t believe in those ideologies. It is highly misunderstood and over rated. I honestly feel that we don’t need women’s day. Women do not need any empowerment. There is a huge misconception that if women are financially independent then she is empowered. I’m financially dependent on my husband but that doesn’t mean that I’m not empowered. Following your dream and achieving what you want is what is real empowerment.”
“It is also disheartening to see women being presented with awards for this and that everywhere on Women’s Day. The award has actually lost its value. Everyone has started giving awards which is of no use, I personally feel.”
What made you to plan for a trip like this?
“As I told you earlier, I have always wanted to prove to the world that we Indians and the women over here are not lesser human beings compared to the so called western women. Since my childhood, I had this love for driving cars. So, with everything put together, I planned for a journey with a noble cause. But, when I spoke about this to my friends, none of them were able to make it, since it was a long journey.”
But, then I decided to post it on Facebook from where I came across 3 other ladies who evinced a keen interest. However, in the end only two were able to accompany me during the long journey. They were complete strangers to me, PriyaRajpal from Mumbai and Mookambika Ratnam from Pollachi, joined me. It was a great experience to travel with strangers.”
How special it was to you to do such enthralling journey?
“I would proudly say that we are the first women in South India to do such a trip. In fact, in all of India we will be coming in sixth position to do such a journey. I hope that this will be remembered for at least the next hundred years.”
Did you receive any negative comments about your trip?
“Although we had great response all over India, some people said that instead of spending so much money in travel, you could have spent those for the well-being of any NGO or women empowerment organizations. But our intention was different. It was to prove to the world that Indian women were no less daring in exploring the world and that they had the freedom too to express their dreams. Since independence we have moved a long way by means of culture, tradition and technology and we are eager to show to the world where we stand now. So, I think we successfully showcased our power.”