Kashmir to Kanyakumari Cycling | A short brief |
Just a brief Intro before I describe the whole cycling Expedition: My parents didn’t know that I was going to cycle from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. I had told them I’m going for a Vipassana retreat in Leh (which I’m going actually) for 10 days and then thought I’ll buy time later on with other reasons. It took me a total of 57 days (which includes 10 days of the Vipassana) to cover the distance of 4500kms across kashmir to Kanyakumari covering Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and along the western ghats till Kanyakumari. I reached Kanyakumari on the 8th of October, 2017.
I should say it all started when I met Lucas Eddy in Arizona who cycled across China and south east Asia for 1 year and also Oleh Stoeiv who was cycling from Ukraine to Vatican city. I was inspired when I heard their stories. I wanted to tour the country on a motor bike, but my protective parents refused.
Though dejected initially, I realised travelling the country on a bike was nothing new. That is when the thought of cycling hit my mind. I would credit the above mentioned people for planting the seed of this expedition into me.
My preparations included 6 months of clean diet, Pranayana, strengthening exercises and flexibility exercises (Yoga). I never really practiced cycling during the preparation. A daily 15kms before the start of the journey was all I did. It was more of a mental preparation indeed to digest the fact that I need to cycle from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
While I kicked off my journey from Srinagar, I came across a colonel, who spoke to me about the then border tensions between India and China, and asked me to 'pray for peace’. That made an impact on me, and thus, 'Peace and Harmony’ became my slogan.
|Expedition Peace and Harmony|
