Originally reported and written in June 2022, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Every year on 1 July, a Facebook memory pops up on Vimal Geethanandan’s phone. The picture is a time capsule that reminds him of his 21-year-old self who left home with a backpack and posed on the open road that lay in front of him.

The 27-year-old now sees the picture as an ode to the moment he started his journey on the road, which lasted six years and changed him completely.

Recounting that particular day the shot was taken, Vimal says it wasn’t on a whim that he left home.

“As a child, I would read fairytales. And in these, a prince would have to undertake a dangerous mission or overcome a treacherous escapade to be worthy of being crowned king,” says Vimal to The Better India.

In his young mind, the idea that travel was the path to something bigger, had taken shape.

As he grew older, the books on the shelves turned from fairytales to more mature stories. Biographies of Steve Jobs, Vivekanandan and other famous people had one thing in common, he notes — “Everyone who went on to start a revolution of some sort was inspired by ideas during their travels.”

So, to him, travel started to mean inspiration.

And so, Vimal decided to take the road less travelled himself, and drop out of his third year of engineering.

Though he wouldn’t attend classes anymore, he would continue to frequent the library where he would devour information on all subjects including literature, entrepreneurship, culture and of course, travel.

And so, on 1 July 2016, when he decided to leave his home in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, Vimal wasn’t nervous at all.

Books had taught him that humans have a survival instinct and that he would survive and have a story to tell.

A backpack, an open road, a memorable story.

He waved goodbye to his family, with a promise that his trip would last........

© The Better India