When I took this impulsive decision of cycling to Mcleodganj from my city last year after the lockdown, I knew I was signing up for one of a kind experience. But when in the end everything works out and you're just there to soak in the moment, feeling proud of your decisions, that feeling is something else. And during my stay in Mcleodganj, I met a guy, Ben from Switzerland whose decision was way more commendable than mine - walking 15000 km from the Czech Republic to reach India, by only on foot. Sounds insane right? But when I asked him about the reason, he replied that he had been walking just for peace.
Asked what motivated him to make the journey, he said as a web
designer back in Switzerland, he was doing well and all but only inner peace
was missing. He said “I am spiritual since as a child but I wasn't able to find
that peace there, hence I took this decision of coming to India on foot coz I
knew India is a spiritual place and this journey would spiritually fulfill me’.
The journey to India needless to say was quite long. He said
“The first step I took was four and a half years ago from the Czech Republic .
Then went through Europe for about 8 small countries. And went through many
other countries that I had no idea about such as
Turkey-Kazakhstan-Georgia-Armenia-Kyrgyzstan. While in Kyrgyzstan I waited for
summers to start and I continued my journey through Kyrgyzstan-China-Pakistan.
I stayed in Pakistan for half a year then after crossing Wagah Border, I was
finally in India. I stayed 4 months at Golden Temple in Amritsar, and then I
was stuck in lockdown in Hoshiarpur with a very sweet family for 3 months. And
now after lockdown, I'm here in Mcleodganj”.
He said no matter what country he was in, people were so
helpful. There were days when he had to walk for 2-3 days because there was no
town in between to rest properly. And the bypassing people would ask him
"why are you walking through this secluded area?" and would give him
food or water as an act of kindness. So it was a pretty wonderful experience.
Asked about his experience in Pakistan he said there were two
perceptions or two ways to perceive reality. One was to believe what people
were saying or believing what one actually saw with one’s own eyes. He said “I
choose the second and that's why I went personally to all those countries and
I'm very glad that I did. It's true, in the media Pakistan doesn't seem to have
such a good reputation and people usually ask me "it's so dangerous, what
are you doing there?" What I am doing there is to see for myself if it's
actually dangerous and from my experience, it is not dangerous at all because
I've only met amazing, lovely people who were like family to me and I haven't
had a single conflict with anyone there. My conclusion is if some people had
experienced something negative, it's probably because they were looking for it
to happen. And I did get in trouble but not in Pakistan but in Turkey. The army
there mistook me as an enemy combatant and took me in. I had to prove to them
that I was from Switzerland. It was a lot of work but after when they believed
me they let me stay in one of their army cabins with food provided”.
Asked about his relative ease with Hindi, he laughed and said he
was still learning though but he could communicate 'thoda-thoda' with local
people. He said “Back in Kyrgyzstan, I met some Pakistani students in the
hostel and they taught me a little, and since then I've been learning from audio
books and through communicating with people”.
Asked
how long he intended to stay in India he said that since he was already here,
he was considering staying for a couple of years but first he intended to
attend Kumbh Mela. He said “Like I said I'm here for spiritual reasons and I
really want to explore the spiritual expect of India first”.