If you travel by road from Kohima to Kottayam, what is the minimum number of States within India through which you can travel, including the origin and the destination?

Answer: (b) 7

Nagaland → Assam → West Bengal → Odisha → Andhra Pradesh → Tamil Nadu → Kerala = 7.

The idea

Minimising States crossed is a border-connectivity problem, not a shortest-distance problem. Join neighbouring States into a continuous road route, counting the origin and destination once each. The north-eastern mainland connection must pass through Assam and West Bengal before reaching the rest of India.

Nagaland → Assam → West Bengal → Odisha → Andhra Pradesh → Tamil Nadu → Kerala

Why the others are wrong

(a) You cannot reach Kerala from Nagaland in six States.

(c) Adds an extra State (Jharkhand or Karnataka) that the shortest route does not need.

(d) Too many.

The trap

Count the origin and the destination. The trick is going straight from West Bengal into Odisha, and from Andhra Pradesh into Tamil Nadu.

Elimination technique

Count the seven members of the continuous east-coast chain, including both endpoints. Neither a foreign shortcut nor omitting an endpoint is permitted by the wording.

Also know

Kohima is in Nagaland and Kottayam is in Kerala. Kerala’s land neighbours are Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A route through Bangladesh would leave India and cannot be used in this question; choosing a physically shorter road can still add another State.