Ayan Banerjee (above, bottom left) has started on a 7000 km walk tracing the coast of India to promote veganism. He took a breather to talk to Martin Whybrow about his epic endeavour.
When I speak to Ayan Banerjee, he is on day ten of a walk that is intended to take him all the way down the east coast of India and back up the west coast. It is a giant ‘v’ shape and the walk of around 7000 km is to promote veganism. So far he has done a bit over 200 km, visited ten schools and expects the walk to take one year.
When speak via Whastsapp, he is sitting on a roadside (this being India, there’s lots of horns in the background) with a big smile on his face. It is the same smile that is in all of the photos and video clips that he subsequently sends me, many of them surrounded by schoolchildren.
Now 23, Ayan went vegan six years ago, while at school. This stemmed from a single conversation. Such a sudden conversion meant he didn’t have the answers when people asked him questions, such as where he would derive his protein. He slowly learned and, by the end of the school year, 40 fellow pupils and one teacher had committed to go vegan as well.
The most common questions were to do with health, he says, so he decided to “debunk the myths”. “They were not really believing the ideas so I decided, okay, I’ll do something.” He completed a 200 km run, having not previously attempted anything like this distance, and followed this with a virtual walk of 3600 km in 126 days.
His latest exploit started in West Bengal, near the border with Bangladesh. To date, it sounds as though all the experiences have been only positive ones. He isn’t preaching the vegan message but talks about his journey, weaving in the vegan side of it, to the many curious locals that he encounters. This has included walking into local schools and asking if he can talk to the kids.
Ayan is hoping to plant seeds and to build on these. This includes talking to the teachers in each school and creating a Whatsapp group of interested people to forge a network of schools and individuals to support each other. Although the region that he is walking in at present is traditionally reliant on fishing, he has not yet had any arguments. “I am just telling my journey and they are curious, how are you doing this, why are you doing this?” In this region there is a major water crisis and he has been able to talk about the water requirements of farmed animal agriculture.
On the day we speak, it is 3pm and he has spoken at two schools, planted a tree at each and walked 25 km. He doesn’t know where he is going to sleep tonight but is optimistic that other conversations during the rest of the day will produce something. He has had lots of offers to date of free meals and accommodation from people he has met along the way. He has only stayed one night in a hotel, in part to do his laundry, and even here he was given free meals by the owner and a reduced room rate when he explained his story. Where he has been offered money, he has declined and asked for a hug instead.
Ayan says his family is supportive. He has no organised support at present, in part because he didn’t know when he set off what he would need. Currently he has just a 10 kg backpack. He will shortly arrive at his first major city, Kolkata, and he will also encounter plenty of weather during the year. In the height of summer, he envisages walking from around 3am to 8am before the heat becomes too intense. His plan is to end in the state of Gujarat, near the border with Pakistan.
Of course, there is history here, most notably Mahatma Gandhi’s salt march as part of the fight for Indian independence. Indeed, if all goes to plan, Ayan will presumably pass through the destination of that earlier march, Dandi in Gujarat, some time next year.
As he waves goodbye at the end of our conversation, it is impossible not to be impressed by the enthusiasm and endeavour of Ayan and to hope that all of his experiences will remain positive as he continues on his way. Where Gandhi once triumphed, hopefully Ayan will as well on his own quest.
Footnote: Less than an hour after we speak, Ayan sent me a message – ‘All set for the night’ – and a photo of a lovely, homely looking room and bed.
To follow Ayan’s journey:
https://www.instagram.com/thekarunapadayatra?igsh=cWZhYjVlazd4a2R1 @thekarunapadayatra
Great going AYAN bhai