“We didn’t know if we had enough money to complete the journey. We did not even know what we would do when we came back. But we knew that if we kept waiting for the right time, we might never go.”

For Samrat Ulhas Dambe (30) and his wife Varshali Samrat Dambe (35) losing their jobs in 2024 brought an uncertain future into focus. Both had worked in the corporate world, building careers and following familiar routines. 

Then, around June that year, they were laid off. With a few months ahead of them and no solid idea of what came next, they began thinking about a dream they had carried for years.

Could they ride along India’s borders on their motorcycle?

The idea had been with Samrat since he was 12, when he would draw the outline of India and imagine tracing its borders on a bike. Over the years, it became a dream the couple shared. They had been riding together since 2018 and bought a Benelli TRK in 2022, hoping to take on longer adventures.

Now, with time on their hands but limited savings, they decided to attempt the journey, which they called the ‘Art India Ride’.

On 19 September 2024, they left their home in Mhapral, a village in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district, about 150 kilometres from Mumbai. They would spend the next 80 days travelling 16,428 km, covering 22 states and four Union Territories, through deserts, mountain passes, remote border settlements, and unfamiliar roads.

They returned home on 8 December 2024, having completed a journey they had once thought they might only manage halfway. In January 2025, their achievement was recognised by the India Book of Records as IBR Achiever 2025.

But the record was only one part of the story. Along the way, the couple faced freezing temperatures, tight budgets, and moments when they wondered whether they should turn back. They also found strangers who welcomed them into their homes, fed them, and treated them like family.

When the time finally felt right

Before the journey, Samrat worked as a digital marketing expert at a multinational company, while Varshali was a digital marketing manager at a digital agency. Their lives revolved around work and the usual plans people make for the future.

The layoffs in June 2024 left them with uncertainty, but also something they rarely had before. Time.

“We suddenly had three to four months available, and we didn’t know exactly what we were going to do next,” the husband tells The Better India. “It was an uncertain phase, but we began to see it as an opportunity to do something we had always wanted to do.”

Samrat’s dream of riding around India’s borders had never really gone away. The couple had already spent years riding together, and the idea of taking on the country’s outer reaches felt like a natural next step.

By August, they had decided to go ahead. They did not have enough savings to be certain they could complete the whole route. At first, they thought they might travel through only half of India. Still, they did not want to keep postponing the dream until their finances were more comfortable.

“If we waited for the perfect financial moment, we knew life would get in the way, and the dream might fade. We decided to start and see how far our resources would take us,” Varshali adds.

There was one last change before departure. They had initially planned to travel south first, but heavy rainfall across South India prompted them to rethink the route. With just eight days to go, they decided to begin in Gujarat and travel clockwise around the country instead.

On 19 September, they set off from Mhapral, carrying excitement, nervousness, and no guarantee of how far they would get.

Five........

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