Our most-awaited Explorer’s journey started on 3rd of May and as it can be expected, we were both nervous and excited for the journey as neither of us had been on a such a long trip. We began our journey from Mumbai and toured through South India visiting Mysore, Alleppey, Kanyakumari, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar. We visited the The Great Mysore Palace, did boating in the backwaters of Alleppey, observed Triveni Sangam at Kanyakumari, had delicious Hyderabadi Biryani, got a chance to see the INS Kursura which is a retired submarine of Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam and visited the holy Jagannath Puri and Sun Temple.
From Bhubaneswar, we headed towards Meghalaya and witnessed the reason why it is called the abode of clouds. We got to see some of the most beautiful rainfalls, had an adventurous trek to Double Decker Natural Root Living Bridge and felt the pleasant atmosphere of Cherrapunjee. We were mesmerised by the sceneries around us during our journey through the mountains. Next, we went to Gangtok which was the cleanest city in our whole Explorer’s journey. Near Gangtok, we even got a chance to enjoy Snow mountains at Lachung. We were completely touched by the natural beauty of North-East India in these fifteen days.
Our next destination was the Home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a symbol of Love, Taj Mahal in Agra. Next we enjoyed staying in tent at Manali and a wonderful rafting experience on our way down at Kullu. In our last stage of our Explorer’s, we went to Punjab, the land of five rivers. In Amritsar, we witnessed the famous Beating Retreat March performed by soldiers of India and Pakistan. We enjoyed the hospitality of Punjab to its full extent and had the best time eating the Punjabi delicacies and desserts. There could not have been a better end to our 49-days Explorer’s journey than this. We thank IIT Gandhinagar for giving us this wonderful opportunity and we will cherish this moments for lifetime.