British corporate lawyer, Chris Parsons, walked 1,260 kilometres in India to raise money for widows and their children in the country. ‘Why would anyone do that?’ is a big question humming in my head as I head out to meet this man who, at 53, has walked 42 kilometres every day for 30 days from Mumbai to Bengaluru!
“I really regard my life as most fortunate. The highlight of my 30-year career as a lawyer has been my work in India. So I wanted to do something for the people of India. Moreover, I was struck by the kind of challenges widows in India face,” says Chris, finally resting in Bengaluru. Chris took up the ‘Walk for Widows’ challenge to raise money for The Loomba Foundation established by Sir Raj Loomba to promote fundamental rights of widows and their children around the world. “We are currently educating 2,000 children of widows in India,’ said Sir Loomba, who was in Bengaluru with Chris. He had held talks with Karnataka’s Minister for Women and Child Welfare, confirming to support 1,000 widows in Karnataka if the government matched his grant. He believes in empowering women economically, so the Foundation mostly sponsors sewing machines that will hopefully help women earn a livelihood.
Chris has had an intimate relationship with India for the last 10 year, largely as chairman of Herbert Smith Freehills India practice — he’s travelled to Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai. He’s spent two holidays here. And he’s taught law in more than five cities, including at the prestigious National Law School India University. This year marked his 30 year in his career and Chris thought this was how he wanted to celebrate — with 30 marathons in 30 days (42 kilometres make one marathon). On the day we met, his marathon had managed to raise 300,000 US dollars. In 2011, Chris cycled from London to Gibraltar through France and Spain and was able to raise 200,000 dollars for the Loomba Foundation.
All along his India marathon, Chris met very curious people. “Most people couldn’t comprehend or didn’t believe I was walking from Mumbai to Bengaluru. They were sure I was making a mistake! So I stopped telling them that; instead I would mention the next city as my destination. I started telling them it was a ‘paad yaatra’. I became Chris Baba to a group of walking priests! People whizzing past me in their cars on NH17 would hold up their hands in a gesture that’s uniquely Indian that said ‘What the hell are you doing?’,” smiles Chris. He chose the route because he wanted to see India’s western coast, specially the Western Ghats.
“Moreover the Indian High Commission to the U.K. reinforced my views that it would help bridge the gap, further to the Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC) initiative between the two governments.”
It was a demanding walk, though. Chris had a physiotherapist and a logistics co-ordinator along his entire journey. “It was extremely painful and I had 200 sessions of physiotherapy along the way! Actually people were more curious about the physio when we did them by the roadside at bus shelters and at shops,” shrugs Chris. He says the first 10 days were the easiest as he was most enthusiastic, the middle 10 days were the toughest.
“There were days when I would wake up and think I cannot do this. When I had planned this, many had said to me that the task was 70 per cent of the mind, and 30 per cent physical. That was so true.”
Chris’ youngest son, an athlete, joined him on four and a half marathons. “Unfortunately, on the last day, he had a severe case of food poisoning and had to go back to the U.K. I was lucky in that no such thing happened to me. I ate Indian food all along the way, at the roadside dhabas. Kulcha is my favourite, along with dal, aloo-palak, varieties of chicken, a squid dish in tomato sauce near Mangaluru, biriyani, and idli and coconut chutney for breakfast as I came south,” he smiles. He also drank an energy drink for the necessary sodium. Once his day’s target was completed, a vehicle would pick him up and drop him at the hotel where they would stay the night.
The biggest challenge, he says was negotiating NH17, the busy national highway. “Four days on NH17 was a nightmare. There were no trees, no shade, and I was under the burning sun for nine hours every day. Cars were flying past me with total disregard for safety. And in a bizarre overtaking involving four vehicles, I got brushed up by a car mirror. A little more, and I could have died,” he shakes his head.
