Satabdi Mishra and Akshaya ,two friends on a road trip across India to promote books

Satabdi Mishra and Akshaya Ravtaray, two friends are on an ambitious 10,000 km (6,213 miles) road trip in their minivan, and have taken an eye-popping 4,000 books with them.

They say they are on a "mission" to promote book reading across towns, cities and villages because they believe that "more Indians need to read books".

The duo began their journey in early December 2015 from Bhubaneswar in the eastern state of Orissa.

It has been an tiring but exhilarating ride for the two, who told the BBC they "achieved what we set out to do".

They have met hundreds of people, ranging from writers to book lovers to first-time book buyers.

"We have sold around 2,000 books so far. And we keep getting our stock replenished in big cities," Ms Mishra says.

But selling books is not their primary goal. They also lend them out, and say their biggest ambition is actually to engage people in conversations about the importance of reading.
"We see so much happening around us, things like intolerance. That mainly happens because people don't read. Reading books opens your mind and allows you to appreciate different thoughts," Mr Ravtaray says.

Satabdi Mishra talks about a school teacher he met "who had only read 15-20 books related to his curriculum in his 20 years of teaching".
"Now clearly there is a problem. People, teachers, have to read more for their students, much beyond the subjects they teach. We need more libraries than shopping malls, but the reverse is happening," he says.