KOCHI: On January 1, Nidhin Maliyekkal f rom Thrissur started his journey to Kashmir. If you thought he had a plan or enough money in his wallet, you are wrong. All this 23-year-old had was Rs 170, and a burning passion to travel to the paradise on earth! Fixing a ‘Kerala to Kashmir’ board behind his brother’s Hercules DTS bicycle, he started his 92-day journey.
Nidhin, who was making tea/juice at a restaurant in his hometown, sold tea en route Kashmir too. “I lost my only source of income due to the pandemic. For ten months, I was without a job. During that time, I had an inner calling to travel to Kashmir. The idea sounded interesting in my head. When I wondered how, my younger brother’s rickety cycle caught my attention.
Though I have hitchhiked and travelled most of South India in 2019, travelling to Kashmir on a gear cycle was always on my bucket list,” he says. Four days before the journey, I told my brothers about the plan. As a trailer, I rode by Class XII-student brother’s bike for 1km. To my dismay, I was short of breath and fatigued. I collapsed on the bed with muscle pain.
Seeing the situation, my family concluded that I would have dropped the plan. The next day, they saw me preparing to sell the camera I bought with the money I saved up working as a tea/juice maker,” says Nidhin. With google maps and help from locals, Nidhin explored Incredible India at his own pace. He met up with India’s culture close up, riding 4,800km in 92 days. Though he had plans to cycle down, he had to stop in Uttar Pradesh. The surge in Covid cases prompted him to travel back on a lorry. Nidhin reached Thrissur on April 30.
A week’s planning
With the Rs 10,000 I got from selling the camera, I bought a tent, tea-making paraphernalia, kerosene stove, refurbished the cycle, and bought few clothes for the ride and low temperature in Kashmir. After all that, I was left with Rs 170. When I wondered what to do about money, I thought of selling tea, because that is the work I’m skilled at.
Life as a chaiwala
Nidhin starts his day around 8am on a good-weather day. “By 4pm I search for places where people would gather. Then I get milk and water from nearby shops and start making tea. I would sell a cup at Rs 10 and collect around Rs 350 daily. On a good day, I make around Rs 600,” he says. He stayed in a tent he puts up at Petrol pumps, Gurudwaras and Dhabas.
Good samar ita ns along the way
Seeing Nidhin’s grit, many people he met along the way offered him help. On day 1, he met few travellers who put up Nidhin’s journey on social media. “Seeing this, on the second day, a group from Tirur, Malapuram gave him a warm welcome with food and prizes. On the way to Calicut, an elderly woman at a shop gave me a pump, water bottle, and T-shirts. A cyclist group from Kasargod gave me a helmet. In Delhi, a Malayali gave me a gas stove that weighed 3kg, after he saw me make tea on a kerosene stove,” he says
Final destinat ion
“The physical pain and fatigue never really bothered me, what kept me going was the destination, an urge to see beautiful places, and to bring back home the best travelling experiences,” said Nidhin. He welled up when I asked him how the destination felt. “No words can explain the ride of emotions I felt when I reached Srinagar. I broke down on the roadside and cried profusely, thinking of how far I have come with just Rs 170. I wasn’t even sure I would reach Kashmir. I felt like I needed to hug someone,” says Nidhin.
We caught up with Nidhin Maliyekkal, a 23-year-old from the state, who travelled from Thrissur to Kashmir on a bicycle with just Rs 170 in his hand. He has one advice for all the wanderlusts out there if you want to travel, learn to utilise the resources you have in hand