Mandira Bedi on her truck journey: I used to pray for my life every day

Mandira Bedi loves living on the edge and taking on new challenges. Last August, as part of a TV series, she drove a truck in the Himalayas, which she calls a life changing journey. “It was indeed the most beautiful experience I’ve ever had but also the scariest,” says Mandira, adding, “I’m a mother of a 5-year-old and every morning, when I took off on that truck and drove for some odd 150 kilometers, I used to pray for my life and ask myself why am I doing this? What’s wrong with me? I’m a mother and I have to stay alive for my son. But somehow I was so excited that I kept going.”

Mandira, who earlier has been a contestant on reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi (season 2 in 2009), says that it was nothing compared to the danger involved in driving a truck on hilly roads.

While driving this truck, there was nothing to hold you back. One wrong move and you could fall off in the cliff, and that’s the end of it.

“On that reality show, you always had a way out when you’re stuck. The crew is always ready with a backup. If you fall off, harness will catch you, if you fall off a cliff, a plank will save you. But while driving this truck, there was nothing. One wrong move - because of the gravel or speed at which you’re driving or brake fail - you could fall off the cliff and that’s the end of it,” shares Mandira, adding that probably she is the only woman who has driven through all the highest passes in the world in a truck.

Whether the journey helped her overcome some fears in life, Mandira admits that if she gets a chance again to embark on a similar journey, she would think a hundred times. “Of course I became much stronger. Only I know what I went through and I know how I felt while I was some 18,000 feet above sea level. I drove every kilometre of the way despite the option of having a co-driver. I was somehow determined from the very first day to not give up and continue driving, however scary the situation might be.”