World traveller on wheels set for the Great Challenge
Staff Reporter
Suresh Joseph is a maverick of gargantuan proportions.
Having ‘conquered the world,’ he has prepared extensively for his latest epic adventure – an attempt to drive solo across Australia’s Highway 1, the longest highway in the world, and North-South in New Zealand from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
He is due here in the next three weeks.
A railwayman by profession, he achieved high in his vocations before turning his attention to a lifelong obsession – driving, or more accurately, record-breaking marathons in a car.
A Keralite, Suresh is currently a resident of Chennai, India, where he serves as a consultant to a large multinational firm.
Steering a dream
Growing up, he could scarcely remember a time when he was not weaving fantasies about cars or learning how to drive them.
It followed naturally that he pursued and obtained a licence at the earliest legal opportunity. He has rarely been out of range of a steering wheel since then.
A retired civil servant and former Dubai Ports World General Manager, Suresh holds a Limca Book of Records for his 24,000 km drive spanning 28 Indian states and 17 Railway Headquarters.
He has also set new records for the North to South, Coast to Coast and East to West Expeditions, which have logged seven records in Limca Book of Records 2014.
Crossing Continents
Among his exploits have been Kochi-to-London drive spanning two Continents, 25000 kms, 27 countries and 75 days. He also undertook, with Lal Jose, a popular Malayalam moviemaker, the South-East Asian Odyssey spanning 21,635 km across eight countries in 77 days.
All of his record breaking runs have been titled, and the current feature is no different, carrying the rather ubiquitous banner ‘Goodwill Knows No Boundaries.’
Suresh admits to being quite a glutton when it comes to records.
Inimitable Records
He holds 13 national records and one international driving record.
Some of the more significant achievements include the following:
The first to drive from India to London; The first to drive from Singapore and back (solo); The first to drive from India to St Petersburg via the Trans-Siberian Highway (solo), the second longest highway in the world; The first to drive solo on the Trans-Himalayan Highway; The first to drive solo along the entire coastline of India; The first to traverse India from East to West solo; The first to drive concurrently to all 28 States in the Indian Union solo; The first to drive from Kanyakumari to Leh and back; The fastest solo drive to the four corners of India; and The fastest solo drive along the Golden Quadrilateral of India, the world’s fourth longest highway.
The delight Suresh takes in these arduous odysseys is evident in his journals.
Adventure in Books
He is an author of six books with the promise of more to come.
Among them are ‘Ek Swift Bharat Yatra-The Journal of a Railwayman’s Journey Across India’, ‘From Reclamation to Exclamation-A Photo Journey into the making of ICTT’ and ‘Record Drives,’ ‘The Journal of a Railwayman’s Romance with a Swift,’ ‘A Glorious Endeavour-the Journal of a Railwayman’s Epic Journey to London.’
As long as there are roads to drive on and records to beckon, it is ‘fair dinkum’ to assume that Suresh will be somewhere in the offing.
As if to underline the truth of this, he has already hinted at being tempted to drive across the Trans-Canadian Highway (solo), the third longest highway in the world, sometime in 2019.
We will bring more of Suresh’s adventures next month.
Photo :
- Suresh Joseph with his Car
- Suresh Joseph at the Milan Cathedral Square early this year
(Pictures from Facebook)
