ClamorWorld: Tell us something about yourself.
Mauktik: I was Born in the US, raised in Jalgaon and Pune in India. Electronics engineer from PICT, Pune. Two Masters Degrees – One in Biophysics (UIUC) and one in Neuroscience (Johns Hopkins University)
ClamorWorld: When did you do your first trip?
Mauktik: My first solo trip was an 8000 km motorcycle trip in South America (Peru, Chile and Argentina) in 2008. Without any knowledge of Spanish, I managed to navigate the back roads of these three countries. I crossed the driest desert on earth (Atacama) and went up the Andes Mountains (4800 meters) on a dirt road. My memoir based on this trip was published in 2009 in the US/Europe:
ClamorWorld: what made you take this trip and when did the idea struck for you to travel across globe?
Mauktik: It was a slow process. Until 2008, I had never traveled alone. When I was studying Neuroscience, I watched the movie ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ and was inspired to do a motorcycle trip in South America. Before joining the industry, I took six weeks off and traveled solo for 8000 km in Peru, Chile and Argentina. To read more about my experiences, you can read my memoir ‘A Ghost of Che,’ which is available on Amazon and other websites. But on this trip, I met a lot of Australians and Europeans who had quit their jobs and were backpacking for long periods of time (six months or one year). That’s the first time I heard about this idea and I was immediately fascinated by it.
Pic : The real treasure of Rio. Copacabana beach
ClamorWorld: What places have you travelled so far ?
Mauktik: From April 2012 to April 2013, I quit my job and backpacked around the world for one year. Not sure how helpful this will be for the article, but here are the names of the 36 countries I visited, in that order:
Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Tanzania, South Africa, China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. My experiences and the photos are all available on my blog: mindswand.wordpress.com
Pic : Amazon.
ClamorWorld: Wasn’t it a hard decision to quit job and go on a world trip ?
Mauktik: It’s never easy to quit, especially if you have grown up in a middle class Indian family like mine. Even after coming back from the motorcycle trip, I was excited about the idea, but never thought that I would have the courage to quit my job. But after four years of working in a start-up, I was looking for something more out of life. Instead of quitting and jumping straight into another job, I started thinking about the trip. The first week after quitting my job was really tough. I had a lot of sleepless nights and kept wondering whether I should just pick up another job and postpone my trip. But then, at my age, I realized that it was now or never. So, I booked my round-the-world flight ticket. That’s when I mentally switched from dilly-dallying to planning the trip.
ClamorWorld: How did you manage your expenses for these trips since you had quit your job?
Mauktik: I had saved enough money while I was working. If you are willing to give up all luxuries, stay in youth hostels, eat street-side food, wash your clothes everyday and a few other things, it doesn’t take that much money to travel around the world for a year. Think about all the monthly payments we make for our homes, cars, insurance, cable bills and all the unnecessary stuff we keep buying. Once you factor in all these ‘invisible’ expenses, you’ll realize that if you have the burning desire, it’s not that difficult to travel for a year.
There are several bank accounts that will issue you global debit cards without charging ATM fees. Once you open one of those, you can withdraw local currency in any country.
Pic : Glacier at lake Mt. Cook -New Zealand
Clamorworld: Which has been your most memorable experience so far?
Mauktik: It is impossible to pick one experience, but the airplane malfunction in Norway served as a good reminder that life is too short to keep postponing your dreams. You can read more about it here:
http://mindswand.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/chasing-death-at-the-edge-of-heaven/
ClamorWorld: What are you doing at present and your future plans?
Mauktik: I moved back to India in June 2013. I met Brahmanand Singh, a national-award winning director. Together, we decided to make a backpacking-style travel documentary about India. The idea was the capture the contradictions of modern-day India across social norms, economic development, national pride, etc. We roped in an American Anthropology student, Samantha Jo Fitzsimons. She is finishing her Bachelors at the University of California at Berkeley. The documentary uses humor, wit and poignant stories to look at the challenges and opportunities of India through the eyes of an Indian who has traveled the world (me) and an American who is visiting India for the first time.We are actively raising funds for the film We completed the 33-day shoot in September/October 2013 and here is the updated promo(Sunbeam):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKChr9d3wfQ
ClamorWorld: Message to people who would like to travel like you.
Mauktik: Get busy planning or get busy dying.
ClamorWorld: At what contact details can MAUKTIK be reached at?
Mauktik: mauktikk@yahoo.com
ClamorWorld: Thanks Mauktik for sharing your Valuable experience and wish you success in your documentary film.
Mauktik: Thank You.
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