It was during my second cycling trip to Ladakh in the summer of 2019 that this madness to continue that journey throughout India and live an adventure of a lifetime entered my mind. It took me almost four weeks to cover Manali-Leh-Kargil-Srinagar-Jammu-Chandigarh on bicyle and by the time I came back to hostel in Panjab University I had made up my mind to go for a completely unplanned trip around India on bicycle in a very raw and nomadic way.
Since then It’s been over a year and I have traveled, cycling over 13,000 Kilometres, to so many places and met amazing people on the way and crossed through almost everything from high snow covered mountains, freezing weather, hailstorm in Ladakh, heavy rain and flood in Punjab, scorching heat and over 45 degrees temperature in the desert of Rajasthan, one of the largest salt lakes and the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, my first experience of seeing a sea in Mandavi, Mumbai-the city of dreams, riding by the Western ghats, Christmas and New Year in Goa, the vibrant culture of south India, the end point of India in Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram, and beautiful fields and rustic life of different parts of India. When I reached Kolkata the pandemic Covid-19 happened and I took shelter in a gurudwara for around three months, and durning my stay in Kolkata came the cyclone Amphan. So there's hardly been anything that I haven't experienced on this epic journey.
The journey has been full of great and some bad experiences but that’s how journeys are like. On many occasions I have survived with the help of locals when I had no money, some really wonderful friends have been supporting me in my tough times, I lost my everything in Goa as my bag and all the luggage got stolen, but still I didn’t give up. For nightstays I have been sleeping either in dhabas or in the open on the ground (beach, footpath, outside temple or petrol pump etc) on a mattress and all these things have taught me many things about life. This is why I love traveling because it’s a great way to go out in the world, observe, experience, learn and grow as a human.
This journey has been changing me as a person in many ways. I have overcome many doubts and unnecessary fears I used to have earlier, mostly about the unfamiliar places and people. Now I can go to anywhere, anytime and stay in a completely remote and isolated place for many days without any fear. I have learned to survive in hard conditions, live with very little, stay calm in unfavourable moments, be grateful for being alive, respect and love life in every form and more importantly to be content and patient in life and follow the heart.