Life is a journey: A tale of a passionate journey of 20,000km and beyond seeking the purpose of life, a fabulous weekend with Ankit

“Life they say is the essence of living
living they say is the essence of life
life thus, is a journey, that we live through
in the journeys we make, we are faced by the reality of brute
in the reality of brute, we come face to face with our fairy tales
in our fairy tales, we get to learn from our experiences
in our experiences, whether sweet or bitter, we learn to live by
and face the opportunities tomorrow brings.
with the opportunities of tomorrow, we survive
when we survive, the damaged things we revive,
and the reconstructions we live by.
Life can be beautiful, life can be sweet
if only we live by her rules,
then life would treat us fairly,
and we would walk back home at the end of this journey
whether long or short, whether good or bad
back to where we all belong
to the great beyond.
Life indeed is a long way home”.

–Temitayo Ankra

In life’s journey, we meet so many people who are not stuck in mundane work, have an immense desire and potential to thrive, break the chain of ordinary, not only passionate about transforming their lives but also live as an inspiration to fellow beings. I was fortunate to meet such an inspiring person Mr. Ankit Arora, a resident of Ajmer, Rajasthan. As a journalist , avid reader, he always had a desire of doing something big, rather than living an ordinary work life from 9 to 4 pm. He was confident about his dreams, athletic personality, and experience of cycling while deciding to begin the journey to make a Guinness world record to achieve the longest journey by bicycle in a single country. All these happened 3 years back and he quit his job to pursue his dreams. He was confident, passionate and everything was going as per his plans, but something was bothering him. He took some time to realize he is not enjoying the journey because of keeping on time to break the existing record and Ankit was not spending enough time to connect with the people, learn something from their life. Though he was still confident to make a new record and had enough time, he was about to make a much bigger decision in life. He came to a resolution, he will continue the journey but not for the record, and the achievement. The motto changed to finding the purpose of life, happiness, joy, and learning through journey l. The initial 5-month plan changed into a lifetime journey. In the next 10 days, he will be completing 3 years, travel of 20,000+  km, covering almost all states of the country, rich experience of living with 600+ families. Ankit says language was never a barrier. He continues to travel across India with a few pairs of clothes and only essentials. His discovery of life has taken him through different cultures, meeting hundreds and thousands of people across villages and cities across every corner of India. He neither stay in hotels nor has food there. There are hundreds of people who are kind enough to provide food and shelter after knowing the purpose of Ankit’s journey. Many become life long as friends, they teach their work, language, cuisine, and culture. He has stayed in remote tribal villages, worked in the rubber plantations, caught fish with fisherman, learned pottery, wooden carving, carpentry, weaving, painting, and lots more.

During his exploration in south India, he has fascinated with the cultural diversity and biodiversity, understands almost all south Indian languages, and tries to speak also with great love. He likes staying in the rural part of India learning their life skills,  way of living, their organic and healthy lifestyles and he understands minimal resources never a barrier for their happiness

On life’s journey, Ankit has met several inspirational people and legends like A R Rahaman, Sudha Murthy, VVS Laxman, Kiran Bedi, Baba Prakash Amte, and many more. He says every common man whom he meets in a village is no less inspirational. He says he is fortunate that he has not come across any major difficulty except the lockdown which prohibits him to cross many state borders. Ankit is just 30 years and has a life full of experiences, the journey has taught him compassion, peace, and content, and he is genuine and humble, wants to discover more in the unknown paths ahead.

We both had a great time discussing the travel life, education system, and extraordinary travel stories. And showed him the beautiful campus of NIMHANS, he enjoyed the south Indian delicacy “Davange Benne Dosa” and “Hatti filter coffee” in Jayanagar. It was a pleasant Sunday morning with life lessons and inspiration from Ankith, hope to meet you soon.

Best wishes Ankit for  your future endeavors,

-Sachin

Those who wish to host Ankit in their place in any city of India, you can find him below links,

india_on_my_cycle, https://www.instagram.com/India_on_my_cycle/?fbclid=IwAR1wJXLB_puafp4XsBIOOBSCITXUs86D1Fnb8D1OTMtmFnp9SL_SeKKJJic

FB- https://www.facebook.com/ankitaroras