Five-star comfort on travelling wheels of fortune
Shobha Warrier in Madras
Kaanchi wanted a unique gift from her parents for her tenth birthday: she wanted to travel in a caravan and then have her birthday
party celebrated inside the caravan. (Click on pictures alongside for the big picture.)
Kaanchi had seen in magazines pictures of people travelling in luxurious caravans, camping at odd places, enjoying the night with a campfire on and so on. Ever since, she nursed the dream.
To Kaanchi's luck, her parents, Dr Sadayavel Kailasam and Dr Meera, came to know that one of their friends had bought caravans for commercial purposes. So they took Kaanchi and her friends to have a look at them. The kids had a dekko and were overawed by the plush interiors; Kaanchi demanded that her birthday be celebrated inside a caravan!
So, on May 15 last, Dr Kailasam hitched a caravan to his Maruti Esteem and brought it home, much to the excitement of the neighborhood kids and adults. The kids wanted to spend the night inside the caravan. The Kailasams joined them.
Next morning, the Kailasams, with the birthday girl and her friends, traveled thirty kilometres to a beach
resort on the New Mahabalipuram road to celebrate the birthday. The most excited person, more than the birthday girl, was their driver, Dr Kailasam remembers.
"Not only the kids who came for the party but the adults were thrilled to be inside the caravan
which gave the feel of a five-star hotel. We used our Maruti Esteem to drive the caravan. If a Maruti can pull it, I think any vehicle can. And the road we took was very narrow, potholed, but we had no difficulty in manoeuvring the vehicle. I feel caravans can be driven on Indian roads without any major problems," says Dr Kailasam.
The 60-km up-and-down fun-trip gave the Kailasams and their friends so much pleasure that they feel caravans will soon be a big hit with travellers, though lack of caravan parks is a problem area.
The idea of offering caravans on hire was conceived in 1994 by P S Subramanyam.
But there were no takers for his idea. A few business magnates he approached "didn't have the courage to start anything new." Then he found the partner in Karthi Chidambaram.
Countrywide Caravan Private Limited, the first of its kind, was born in February. It offered caravans on hire. The four equal partners in the business were Subramanyam, his wife, Palaniappan and Karti Chidambaram (the former finance minister and his son). The company bought five caravans worth Rs 1.5 million each from Germany and began its operations. It plans to have 30 caravans in its fleet by the year 2000.
Subramanyam agrees with Kailasam that infrastructure in the form of caravan parks is inadequate in India. This, he says, is one reason why the concept did not catch on earlier. "You need safe parking places when you are travelling with ladies who have at least three sovereigns of gold on them". The company is in the process of setting up parking lots. It will tie up with individuals and
organisations. Tie-ups with Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation and Kerala State Tourism Development Corporation and some individuals have already been sewn up for parking lots, power points, water and
other facilities. By providing such facilities, these individuals also can earn some money, says Subramanyam.
Rs 3,000 only for five-star comfort on wheels
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