When Ankit Arora was cycling through the remote desert regions of Jaisalmer district in western Rajasthan last November, he was waylaid by gangs of villagers mistaking him for a Opium smuggler. Earlier, during his journey in Kashmir, he was suspected by the people of Shopian village for a highway thief. But both the times, he won the confidence and heart of the people and was eventually treated to homely food and comfortable stay. “It was probably because the villagers weren't used to a lone bearded man lugging around 40 kgs on a bicycle. I must have looked like a dacoit or simply a weirdo,” he laughs, sitting in Madurai on the 150th day of his 300-day long cycling trip across India, covering all the states. “So far I have had only amusing and happy experiences. My cycle and my body have been trouble-givers, not the people. So I vouch India is safe to travel.”
Arora left home last August and has so far clocked 9,800 kilometres. He aims to complete 21,000 by the end of the expedition. “My love for cycling erupted in 2015 and within two years I became the first Super Randonneur from Rajasthan having completed 600 kms Brevet des Randonneurs Mondiaux (BRM) events. I have trained myself to be an endurance rider,” beams Arora, who shed 100 kilos and his 38 inches waistline to a slim and fit 65 kilos and 32 inches now. In 2016, Arora entered India Book of records for a 69-hour continuous cycling trip covering 702 Kms on the golden triangle. “The challenge was to do it on a non-gear basic Hero hock bicycle. I did it without any sleep except for short breaks for food and water. On that trip, I promoted solar power. I installed a solar panel on the bicycle and used it to charge mobile phones and for light during nights.”
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“My travel is not about spending money. I left my journalist job, took the entire savings of Rs.80,000 and embarked on this journey. And I have hardly spent Rs.10,000. On most days, people were kind enough to host me. Otherwise, I slept on charpoys at dhabas, fuel stations and gurudwaras,” he says. “I am hearing untold stories from people, visiting places untrodden before and doing it all on a shoe-string budget. I want to be an inspiration for someone from a simple background. My idea is to tell people that it is possible for any middle-class person to do a cycle trip around the country. That's the reason I am using a simple hybrid bicycle with minimal modifications. It's originally a Merida which I have named as Hawa Mahal.”
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During the course of his journey, Arora is simultaneously video documenting the state of Government schools across India. “I have been giving talks at schools located in slum and rural areas. Some don't even have toilet facilities and other basic infrastructure. Apart from promoting cycling as a regular mode of transport, I am making a case for education as a healthy lifestyle option to fight pollution,” says Arora.
Clocking an average of 70 kms per day, Arora aims to break the existing record of 15,222 Kms held by a Pune-based cyclist. “In the North, I touched Turtuk, the last village of India located in Ladakh and in the South I landed in Kanyakumari, the very end. Now, I will be going to the North East. If everything goes per plan, I will also ride into Bhutan and Nepal.”