Pedaling Across India: Reasons That Ignited My Adventure

Mission CARA(Cycling Across India):

Purpose is to Cycle across the country to encourage everyone to live an eco friendly and sustainable way of life.

After a lot discussions and planning the day had arrived , had to a bid farewell to friends and family for next few months to accomplish the mission at hand .  Boarded the train still not understanding why am I neither nervous nor excited.

But before jumping into any of this I’m sure you would like to know why this thought ?, That’s okay not the first time that someone asked me this.

Well I cant just point it to one single incident unlike newtons apple this happened over a period of time .

Wanderlust!:

Right from childhood every summer vacations we as a family used to spend time exploring several destinations but then I was pretty young and immature , don’t know how much influence It had on me.

Since college always had this wanderlust within to hitchhike across the country and climb Himalayas.

Fast-forward 3 years post my graduation and placement the first thing that I did was buying a backpack worth 8000rs , at that time there was no Decathlon in India yet (2016).

Materialistic:

Initially I was more influenced by capitalists ideology which tell happiness and success is only when one could have branded clothing, an iPhone , expensive bike or a decent job but couldn’t settle with any of it , in-fact this materialistic rat race leaves one unhappy and dissatisfied.

My belief in the established institutions and so called societal definition of a success is completely shattered. Nonetheless the only time I used to feel alive is when I go for a trek , a climb or pedal around. It was more real , more satisfying and for the first time in life I felt complete.

Spiritual path:

Later on through Vipassana realized happiness or peace is within and depends on how we react to things happening around.

I was a movie buff so certain movies like Into The Wild , Captain Fantastic , Benjamin Buttons ,Surya s/o krishnan , Leader , Forest gump had some impact.

My Guru:

Apart from that there was this one Ted Talk : Life is Easy , why do we make it so hard whose idea & way of life had a completely different and practical approach, I had this gut feel that I finally found what I’m in search of all this while.Right then I knew how my life ahead had to be. I took this person Jon Jandai as my Guru.

The reason I chose cycle as I wanted something sustainable , ecofriendly , cheap and challenging . Felt Walking is impractical , slow and also videos of this korean women bikepacker who almost cycled across 7 continents had always been an inspiration to me.

The Sweet Challenge:

All this happened over a period 10 years or so but then finally decided to quit my job to cycle across the country to experience freedom , overcome fear , deal with uncertainty , befriend pain , converse with strangers , relish local delicacies , learn more about diverse cultures & simple living.

Click here: for Day 1 of my journey: