Among all the essentials that Burko Soyer carries on his round-the-world bicycle trip is a bansuri, a wooden flute. Placed alongside the handlebar of his ordinary cycle, he plays it, riding hands-free on a clear road, covering distance with melodious tunes for company. Burko is not a musician. A seafarer by profession—an officer in the Merchant Navy—he is currently bicycling to different countries, to see the world another way.

Burko comes from a family of nomads, from Turkey, so travel, moving from place to place, is in his blood.

As a child, he was told by his mother of the limitations of a life bound to property; that the room was a jail, that urbanisation had taken human beings indoors and stopped our interaction with Nature.

And so the outdoors is Burko’s world, at least for this current adventure on wheels.

He began his journey from Izmir, his mother’s home town, crossing the Anatolia n plateau in 55 days to reach Georgia and finally to Baku in Azerbaijan. Burko’s grandfather was a Tartar from Uzbekistan, hence he is familiar with Caucasian countries. “They all speak Turkic language.” He talks of an ‘Aatish’ temple (a fire temple) in Azerbaijan and of a Sufi lifestyle of Iran. He quotes Rumi and speaks of the similarities in language and lifestyle of communities he comes across in his journey.

Burko studied anthropology and linguistics at the University of Bulgaria. His journey across the world reinforces his research on shared cultures among communities globally. Sanskrit is the root of many tongues, especially Slavic languages, says Burko, who has mastered six languages.

Up-close with people

His two-and-a-half months in Iran brought him up-close with people there. Despite the hard life, due to ethnic strife, he found them compassionate and optimistic, more so the women and children.

On his forward journey through Pakistan, he was deported and subsequently arrived in India on October 31, 2018.

On his entire 21,000-km trip so far Burko has never slept in a hotel, but in the open. He carries with him a small tent, sleeping bag, camera, sunglasses, three litres of water, a bag with small amounts of provisions. He listens to open radio (Acik 94.9) often and has developed an interest in South Indian classical music.

“I do everything—camping, cooking—myself. Travel is my way of life. I revere Mother Nature,” says Burko, who believes in deism.

India has been a refreshing territo ry as his encounters with common people have revealed to him a different side of humanity.

He was mistaken for a spiritual guru in Dehradun, for his non-materialistic lifestyle and people have opened up their homes and hearts through his trip across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu.

“In India people are crazy about sharing. That’s why I love India.” When he bought pomegranates, the storekeeper refused to take money quoting in Sanskrit: áthithi devo bhava (Guest is God).

The friendliness of the people has often sent his cycling routine off track, because they have invited him to their homes. In Punjab, he attended six weddings. In Himachal Pradesh, he joined farmers and worked in sugarcane fields.

The heart-warming Indian experience began from the Indian embassy itself where he got a visa easily.

“India is not like other countries. You will miss the asli Indians if you travel by other means of transport. As a single human travelling around the world, we only need Nature and my bicycle is my wife,” says the 31-year-old, looking ahead to where the road takes him.

Burko made a short stopover in Kochi on his way to Kanyakumari.