Meet Pankaj Bishnoi! He’s our driver, translator, videographer, Hindi teacher and new friend. Pankaj will be with us for our entire 105-day journey through India. 

Hailing from Haryana, India, his name means “Lotus Twenty-nine,” he can eat eight chapatis in a sitting and he likes Punjabi dancing and wild deer. He dislikes traffic cops, parking thieves, and fears the monitor lizard. He comes from a long lineage of animal lovers and tree guardians. In 1763 King Gangasingh of Rajasthan wanted to chop down a forest to build a fort. Three hundred and sixty-three Bishnois responded by strapping themselves to the trunks to protect the trees and  sacrificed their lives as the Kings minions sawed them each in half.