Fifa World Cup: Mother of 5 sets out on epic solo trip from India in her 4WD to watch matches in Qatar

An Indian mother of five has set off on an epic solo trip from Kerala to reach Qatar in time for the Fifa World Cup. Driving her Mahindra Thar 4WD, Naaji Noushi has completed the Indian leg of her journey.

Speaking to Khaleej Times from Mumbai on Wednesday, Naaji sounded exhausted, “I started at 5.30 in the morning and drove over 600 kilometres to reach Mumbai today.” The 33-year-old wanderlust from Kerala has been driving her Mahindra Thar 4WD which has a built-in kitchen and a tent attached to its roof, for over 3,000 kilometres.

She now plans to ship her jeep to Oman and start the journey to Qatar, driving through the UAE. “Tomorrow, when all the offices open after Diwali, I will start the procedure to ship my jeep from Mumbai to Oman.”

However, traversing the length and breadth of India and the Middle East is not the only thing this Oman resident will do during her trip. “Last month, my husband moved to Abu Dhabi to start his new job,” she said.

“So, I will go to Oman and in the 10 days that it will take my jeep to reach the Sultanate, I will pack my belongings and then drive my children and my mother to Abu Dhabi. I will continue with my journey when everything settles down in UAE.”

Mother to five children aged 14, 12, 6, 4 and 2, Naaji has been on several solo trips before this new adventure, including one to Lakshadweep and another to the base camp of Mount Everest in Nepal. She is a YouTube vlogger and posts about her trips on her Instagram page, which has almost 48K followers.

Memorable incidents

During her trip, Naaji has been sleeping and cooking inside her jeep to save time and money. Cooking her food also minimises the risk of food poisoning. Although her menu changes regularly, her favourite thing to cook is ghee rice and chicken curry.

The most memorable moment of her trip was when she served sulaimani (black tea) to a group of Hindu Ram devotees who were on a foot pilgrimage. "They approached me while I cooked on the roadside and asked for water," she said. "They didn't bother that I was a Hijabi (Muslim woman who wears a headscarf), and it wasn't important for me that they practised different faith. All that mattered was that they were thirsty, and I had water. I had also offered them food, but they already had their meal. So, I made black tea and gave them some snacks. This is what makes life in India so beautiful."

According to Naaji, the support she has received from fellow Keralites has been the highlight of her trip. In Koppal (Karnataka), she met a man who owned a petrol pump. "Yousuf Ikka (big brother) offered a place to wash my clothes, which had piled up for the last ten days. It felt good to have clean clothes again," she quipped. "He later filled up my tank without any charges. It felt like I had met a big brother away from home."

A hard Journey

Naaji spent the better part of July, August and September trying to find sponsors for her epic journey. “I would barely have time to eat and sleep,” she said. “I reached out to hundreds of people via Instagram and YouTube. It was only by September that I got one sponsor. Spurred by that small success, I decided to go ahead with the trip.”

Despite having a few sponsors, Naaji admitted that she still didn’t have enough money to complete her trip. “I am going forward with the hope that things will fall into place along the journey,” she said.

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• UAE
• Qatar