A slow ride to Delhi

From 3rd February until 18th March 2020, I will be taking on the epic challenge of cycling 4,500km across the entire length of India. Starting on the very southernmost tip in the city of Kanyakumari, I will end up 45 days later in Kashmir, almost in the foothills of the Himalayas!

My goal is to raise $450,000 for the Loomba Foundation. Each cent I raise will help to empower widows in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Day 36 (9th March 2020) From Vrindavan to Delhi – 3,600 km completed (900 km left)

Another day done, so that’s 36 days, 3,600 km. It was a difficult day even though I was on the excellent Yamuna Expressway as I had my first full on head wind.

The headwind slowed me down! 🌻

So for 50 km after breakfast and up until lunch, there was not only an elevation all of the way, but more importantly there was a direct head wind. Normally I cycle on average at about 23-24 km but today I was down to 15/16 km per hour and really pushing hard. I’m feeling pretty drained now even though the sun is out and the sunflower is still open.

Getting under 1,000 km 🕺

I was making good progress at one stage today and during a break, I thought a little Indian dancing would be in order to celebrate getting under the 1,000 km mark. We are down to 900 km left.

Goodbye UP, hello Delhi 😁

We’ve now finally finally left Uttar Pradesh (UP) and moved into National Capital Region of Delhi. So we’re now in a separate region, having been in UP for what feels like forever. It feels significant being in Delhi because it’s a place where I spend a significant amount of time. The sites are already looking very familiar and friendly, and the sun is shining still so I’m still smiling.

Uttapam ‘Indian pizza’ for breakfast

This was my breakfast today and it was called Uttapam and it’s rice batter which we’ve had separately. You may have seen this used for dosa and masala dosa, but this was much much thicker and had some tomatoes and peppers on it. It’s known as the Indian pizza. It was incredibly filling and it was served with Sambhar and coconut chutney.

Beautiful things come out of…

I also want to comment on Sachin’s wonderful blog. I’m extremely grateful to him, both for writing the blog and for his wonderful comments about the wider team. Also for being with me and being such an incredibly vital member of the team and a delight. As Atul rightly said in his comment: “nice things come out of nice people”, or more poetically: ‘beautiful things come out of beautiful people’. So I consider myself extremely fortunate that Sachin is part of the team.

I’m not sure that my family will recognise Sachin’s generous description of me, although perhaps they would accept that I do like being a comedian, even if my humour is inappropriate a lot of the time.

Penblwydd hapus i ti 🎂

I want to give a big shout out to my mum as it’s her 81st birthday today. I’ve sent her some messages by text, and I hope she’s having a happy day. A massive thanks to Jo for looking after her so wonderfully well and giving up everything to do that. I’m just so sorry that my mum can’t be more engaged in life. Being confined to one room, moving from a bed to a chair and from a chair to a bed, can’t be much fun. So a very happy birthday mum! Penblwydd hapus i ti. Perhaps I could get Paula to phone her up and sing ‘Happy birthday’ in Welsh.

Holi festival

Atul’s excited about being able to spend a couple of days with his wife and son, and will be able to play Holi with them. Holi is a two-day Hindu festival that is just as important as Diwali which is the festival of light which is in the autumn. On the first day people gather around a bonfire and celebrate good triumphing over evil. The second day is when perfumed powder called gulal is pelted at everyone and made to stick with water pistols and balloons. Holi signifies the victory of good over evil and is celebrated as a way of spreading happiness and love.

Atul went off early this morning to the main temple in Vrindavan to partly to celebrate Holi, but also because he wanted to find it open so he could do puja (pray).

Being manhandled by the ladies from Nepal

Yesterday we also spent some time in the birth-place of Lord Krishna, who was actually born in a prison cell, and we were able to walk through the prison cell. All cameras and electrical equipment was confiscated so we weren’t able to take any pictures but it was absolutely moving. While there I was jostled big time by some tiny ladies from Nepal, who were no bigger than 5 foot tall but they had no problem dealing with me. If I was in the way, they would just barge past me and knock me out of the way.

I was struck by the excitement in the temple

We were also able to play Holi (throwing colours at each other) with Mahadev today. As a sort of general point I wanted to mention what an incredibly religious country India is and what an important role religion plays in their lives. I was very struck when we went into the temple which contains the birth-place of Lord Krishna. How incredibly excited the visitors were, all with their shoes removed. Many of them dancing, and it made me think that the Christian faith in the UK could do well to take account of the enthusiasm and love that I witnessed, and the approach to faith.

I’ve got 10 kg extra fat!

When we were doing the 20 minute warm up this morning. I asked Sachin, how is it that Atul and I are about the same height and roughly the same body build, but I am 10 kg heavier? Sachin is his wonderful straightforward way simply said “you have more fat, both external fat on your body, but also internal fat around your organs”. So there we have it. I’ve got 10 kg extra fat on top of Atul’s portion, so I need to deal with both of those. I’m certainly pleased that I’m moving in the right direction.

Bears do really like porridge

I really enjoyed seeing the bears yesterday and Sachin covered it in a lot of detail in yesterday’s blog. The only thing that I wanted to mention, was the fact that they’re fed on a concoction of food, but essentially, it’s porridge. It sounds almost like a sort of joke from the fairy tale of the three bears and Goldilocks, but apparently they love porridge, so there we have it.

Inhumane treatment of poor bears

Just wanted to say a word about how the poor dancing bears were treated. Using bears for entertainment this way was banned a long time ago (1972) but the practice continued, especially in Rajasthan. The very informative volunteer from yesterday explained that when the bears were young, with a boiling iron, they would create a hole through the nose of the bear. They would then feed a string through it and they would intentionally keep the wound raw, so the bear would be in pain much of the time, thus making it easier to train them. When we were in the bear sanctuary we could see the bears still had very seriously damaged noses from the ill treatment they got.

Apparently you no longer see any dancing bears in India and I understand the practice still continues in Bhutan and Nepal.

Thai tonight with Harjiv

We’re hoping to meet up with Harjiv Singh this evening, who is one of the Loomba Foundation Trustees. We’re hoping to go for a Thai meal for a change. Mahadev is also excited because he’s off to see his family, so there are lots of happy people in Delhi today.

Thanks again to Sachin for such a beautifully crafted blog. As Roddy my mate at HSF rightly said, it was great to hear from Sachin rather than me droning on as usual.

Lots of love to everyone, thanks as ever for all the lovely comments.

Chris

🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️ Why I’m cycling across India 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

Unfortunately, many widows in India are very badly treated when they lose their husbands. As well as facing verbal and physical abuse, rape and the threat of being evicted from their homes, they often have no income whatsoever after their husband dies. 

This is where the Loomba Foundation comes in. Through their empowerment programmes, the charity provides skills training and other support to help widows become self-sufficient so that they can support themselves and their families. 

I’d like to ask for your support I am already more than half way towards raising $450,000 – I’d love it if you could help me smash my target. Your support would mean the world to me and would help to change the lives of thousands of widows and their families. 

If you are in India, you can make a donation here: 

⏩ Ketto (India) ⏪

If you are in the UK or elsewhere in the world, you can make a donation here:  

⏩ JustGiving ⏪

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