A 26-year-old YouTuber and an automotive journalist, Nishmanya Bahadur commenced on Monday ‘Atal Yatra’, an arduous solo-driving expedition along 6000 km of the Golden Quadrilateral of India that he will complete in just 15 days.
“Atal Yatra celebrates 25 years of the Golden Quadrilateral and pays tribute to the vision of Atal Behari Vajpayee, one of India’s most respected Prime Ministers,” said Nishmanya Bahadur at the launch in Mumbai. “I want to produce a series of videos on my YouTube channel “NBD” to showcase the international quality of road infrastructure created in India in recent years,” he said.
The Yatra kicked off from Mumbai’s iconic Nariman Point on Monday and will travel through Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and ends on 26th February 2024 in Mumbai. It’s a 13-day drive through 13 states, with 2-day halts in Kolkata and Chennai averaging 500 km a day.
The highway - odyssey will pass through Ahmedabad (Gujarat) on 12th February; Ajmer (13th February), New Delhi (14th Feb); Kanpur via Yamuna expressway (15th Feb); Bodha Gaya (16th Feb); Kolkata(17thFeb); Bhubaneshwar (19th Feb); Vizag (20th Feb); Guntur (21st Feb); Chennai (22nd Feb); Bangalore (24th Feb); Belgavi (25th Feb) and end at Mumbai on 26th Feb.
Atal Yatra is supported by BPCL, HPCL and Tata Motors.
A road network like the Golden Quadrilateral is critical to a country’s economic development. It is the backbone of a country's economic activities and is essential for unlocking a country's full economic potential and ensuring equitable development across regions.
Golden Quadrilateral is a network of highways connecting India's four top metropolitan cities, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata launched in January 1999 by the then Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee. The year 2024 marks the Silver Jubilee Anniversary of the Golden Quadrilateral which is the world’s fifth-largest highway at 5,846 kilometres of length.
Nishmanya Bahadur is a young automobile journalist with a great passion for the sector with over 1000 articles under his name. His channel NBD is about 4 months old and has already acquired about 1500 subscribers and more than 50,000 views.
“Globally, automotive journalism and AVs are a huge segment of infotainment, but not as much in India. My vision is to be counted as one of the world-class YouTubers from India in the automotive sector,” says Nishmanya.
As to why he chose such an extensive and demanding drive on India’s highways as a challenge, Nishmanya quipped, “Automobiles certainly need good roads. Besides, making transport faster, more comfortable and more economical for passengers, drivers and movement of goods. Road infrastructure is the backbone of commerce and also of tourism. I want to tell the world that India has arrived on that stage,” he added.