Duo travels from Kohima to Kanyakumari on foot to raise awareness on pedestrian safety, fitness

Travelling from Nagaland’s Kohima to Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari, both were trained with mountaineering and endurance courses that equipped them to undertake the journey safely.

 

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A post shared by Akshay Aralikatti (@akshayaralikatti)

Akshay, 27, and Gurkirat, 28, both engineers, initially met as trek leaders at Indiahikes, a Bengaluru-based outdoors enterprise. They kept in touch even while they were leading trekking expeditions deep into the Himalayas.

Bound by their shared love for unconventional career paths and the great outdoors, they set out on an adventure that would teach them the true meaning of “strength, and resilience”. They mapped out routes and itineraries, finally deciding on Kohima as the starting point.

“When Gurkirat approached me with the idea of undertaking this journey, I immediately said yes. He couldn’t believe for a good two hours that I’d agreed,” Akshay told indianexpress.com.

The two travelled through mostly rural roads which were not conducive to walking. “I developed painful blisters on my feet five days into the journey and one of Gurkirat’s old ankle injuries began to act up. We were exhausted, but Gurkirat motivated me to continue,” he said.

The duo set up their tent in a forest in Bihar. (Source: Akshay Aralikatti)

When asked if they faced any challenges while assimilating into different cultures and states on their travels, the answer was a resolute ‘no’. “We give in too much to stereotypes of places, especially about the way the people are going to behave. We are happy to share that we faced no complaints of any untoward incidents; instead, people were entirely warm and welcoming wherever we went.”

Akshay posed with laughing children at the West Bengal-Bangladesh border. (Source: Akshay Aralikatti)

People would sometimes get curious and accompany them on the road, asking them questions about their expedition and their mission. One such conversation led the duo to a school named Parangerpar Shishu Kalyan High School in Falakata, West Bengal, where they ended up speaking to over 200 children who were in awe.

Akshay and Gurkirat at the school in West Bengal. (Source: Akshay Aralikatti)

Akshay shared that for long stretches of time the duo would struggle to procure a basic plate of dal-chawal. “We survived on chai, samosa and rasgullas while we were on the road in West Bengal’s rural areas.”

The duo pose at the Chandipur Hide and Seek beach in Orissa. (Source: Akshay Aralikatti)

After a 117-day-long journey from Nagaland, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, which will finally culminate at Tamil Nadu, Akshay and Gurkirat intend to catch up on some much-needed rest.

Akshay and Gurkirat on the Alappuzha beach. (Source: Akshay Aralikatti)

“We walked for over 40 km every day and it does get difficult, especially because we are pitching tents and sleeping and going back to the same routine the next day. What kept us going was the fact that we decided to walk for a worthy cause and that message needs to be spread,” Akshay added.

“Our bodies are tired but our minds aren’t. We’d love to keep spreading the message of leading a healthy and active lifestyle along with the importance of pedestrian infrastructure. It’s important that there are appropriate spaces for people to walk in urban areas,” he concluded.

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