This is Vishnudas Sheshrao Chapke.
Vishnu was born to a farmer’s family in 1983, and hails from Katneshwar village in Maharashtra's Parbhani district.
Vishnudas has achieved a rather impossible feat without any strong financial backup. In an exclusive conversation with odishatv.in, Vishnudas was pleased to share his experience of the remarkable adventure he has had over the years.
Vishnu initially started working as a journalist but later resigned from his job and embarked on a journey to fulfil his dreams. Vishnu had set a dream to measure the world on his foot and eventually achieved this rather impossible challenge of traversing 35 countries on foot.
Such a marvellous feat has earned Vishnudas Chapke the sobriquet - 'Vishnu Da Gama'. During the conversation, Vishnu also narrated the challenges and difficulties he faced in the initial days of travelling experiences and how he overcame it.
Vishnu began his voyage on March 19, 2016 as he set out from Thane railway station in Mumbai. He initially invested from his savings and travelled the first two/three countries. But later on, his friends began a crowd-funding webpage online to assist him financially, and that actually worked as several persons started contributing voluntarily.
Even a few Corporates sponsored his trips under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme. Narrating one of his travel experiences, Vishnu revealed that Pakistan had once denied him a visa.
This in no way derailed his journey as he travelled to Tajikistan from Iran and then to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and China and later returned to India via Thailand and Myanmar. After his world travel, his journey ended in the same Thane railway station.
Asked about his inspiration, Vishnudas named Captain Dilip Donde, a sailor who had travelled around the world by sea with whom Vishnu had interacted once when he was a journalist. Vishnu says stepping out on such a journey is very risky, but ensuring a strong financial backup along with a proper plan for travelling can definitely help the young aspiring travellers live their dreams.