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 ?

The correct answer is seven because the most direct route involves traveling through Nagaland (origin), Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu (or Karnataka), and Kerala (destination). Option (a) is incorrect because it is geographically impossible to bypass mandatory transit points like the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal or the state of Assam when traveling from the Northeast. This question tests the core concept of Indian political geography and the spatial arrangement of states along the eastern corridor.