It is a solo expedition that entails hour of pedalling and traversing unchartered terrain in a bid to discover India on cycle.
Having pedalled nearly 7,000 km criss-crossing through the hinterland of various States, 28 year-old Madhai Paul also doubles up as a speaker at schools to highlight the importance of adhering to traffic rules.
A native of Siliguri in West Bengal, Madhai Paul, who has studied till 12th Standard and worked in a driving school, was smitten by the cycling bug six months ago and wished to discover India pedalling across the length and breadth of the country.
“There was this urge to see the places of which I had only read about in books or viewed it on social media channels’’, said Mr. Paul speaking to The Hindu after he woke up from his afternoon siesta under the shade of a tree at Kalamandira.
But he finally decided to hit the road on December 1 and since then has cycled about 60 km per day to have covered almost 7,000 km so far.
“I have traversed across West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala and have now entered Karnataka exploring Mysuru’’, said Mr. Paul.
Almost 4 months of cycling has opened up his vistas and he has learnt to take the rough with the smooth as each day tends to be different.
Travelling light with nothing more than a backpack, a quilt blanket rolled in a sack and a bag apart from an empty paint bucket to keep water bottles, Madhai Paul hits the road at around 6 a.m. so as to cover the maximum distance when the day time temperature tends to be bearable.
“At night I halt at any petrol bunk or local people provide accommodation and I buy food with whatever little amount I carry. Sometime even this is taken care off as at Jharkhand people went out of their way to help me’’, he recalled.
The National Flag which is strapped to the cycle’s handle bar and a poster on the front proclaiming “Bharat Darshan on cycle” tends to draw attention of the people and he stops in between to answer the queries of those curious about him. At times he is referred to a local school and so far he has delivered 20 talks on the importance of adhering to traffic rules.
But Paul’s cycling mission has just started. ‘’It will take another 12 to 15 months of cycling to cover the entire country after which I hope to re-join my mother and brother at Siliguri’’, he added. He rates Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Kochi in Kerala and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu as the best places he has seen so far for the sheer view they offer.
As for his future plans, Paul says he is yet to think of it.
