Pedalling 6,800 km across Indian coastline to promote sustainable travel

Milind Thumbe, a 56-year-old Indian Naval veteran, has seen the beauty of Indian coasts from the sea. During his working days, he had this idea of seeing the coast from the land. He joined Shriram Kondhawekar, an engineer-turned-photographer, on a cycling mission to cover 6,800 km across the coastline of India. The duo is currently in Chennai and is heading towards Visakhapatnam one day later. “Our Indian coastal cycling expedition is to spread awareness of sustainable travel, hazards of plastic pollution along the coastline and promote a fit lifestyle. We started the journey on November 14 from Goa. We covered the entire coastal region of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu – we cycled through Udupi, Mangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kanniyakumari, Rameswaram, Tuticorin, Velankanni, Chidamabaram, Puducherry and Chennai. From Chennai, we will be going to Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and from there, we will ship our bikes to Kutch in Gujarat. After our cycling expedition in Gujarat, we will return to Mumbai and then Goa. We are planning to finish the journey by the first week of March,” says Shriram Kondhawekar.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has formally recognised their expedition under the Fit India Movement. Speaking more about the purpose of the cycling tour, he tells us, “Being a self-sustainable ride, we have to plan for our catering provision on the go. We carry the cooking gear and cook as many meals as possible using the available raw materials. As a backup, we are also carrying dehydrated meals specially sourced for the expedition. We have seen a lot of single-use plastic dumped on Indian beaches; sadly, all these end up in the sea. If people cannot reduce it, we are urging them to find ways to reuse wrappers, empty bottles, etc,” he adds.