Not for a record. To break the stigma around leprosy.
Kanyakumari to Kashmir. 111 days, ~50km a day, on foot.
Started in Kanyakumari. Finished at Dal Lake, Srinagar.
Kanyakumari to Kashmir via Kolkata. Traversed India's east coast and its best kept secrets.
At 10, in Rishikesh, I saw people turned away because of leprosy. Curable. Still hidden in shame.
That stayed with me.
At 23, I became the youngest person ever to run the length of India. But the record was never the point. It was a way to hold people's attention long enough to talk about leprosy.
The run raised money for Udayan Kolkata, a home that's already educated over 10,000 kids from leprosy-affected families. $100 funds one more year of school for one more kid.
"Leprosy is curable. But people still hide it because of fear and shame."
Run clubs from Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata and Delhi came down to run alongside, for a kilometre, a city, sometimes more.
Bangalore · Bhubaneshwar · Kolkata · Delhi · Vizag
