An unshaven man cycles up to Darjeeling Mall Road on a cycle rickshaw with placards carrying save-the-planet messages. Passers-by look on in curiosity and some step up to have a chat. Satyen Das, a rickshaw-puller from south Kolkata, has been travelling across India — from Puri to Vaishno Devi and as far as Ladakh and Siachen — in his cycle rickshaw over the past 15 years. His latest destination was Darjeeling.
My Kolkata caught up with Das, who is now back in Kolkata. Excerpts from the telephonic chat:
Trip to Darjeeling
I started for Darjeeling on June 12. It was a good trip and I also got a chance to enjoy the beauty of the mountains in the monsoon. I had been to Darjeeling on a cycle in 1993. But this time people approached me as they were awed at the sight of a cycle-rickshaw in the hills. It took me a month to complete the trip. I reached Kolkata on July 10 via Malda.
Satyen Das stopped near the Darjeeling Mall outpost for a quick click
The birth of an idea
In 1993, some friends from my village were planning a trip to Puri. I ferried passengers on a hired rickshaw then and hardly earned anything. The budget for the trip was Rs 400 and I couldn’t afford it. It made me sad as I was very eager to go. One of my well-wishers suggested that I cycle all the way to Puri. He himself had cycled to Haridwar from Kolkata. I borrowed a cycle from a friend and started off for Puri. I reached Puri in two-and-a-half days. That boosted my confidence and then in April of 1993 I travelled to Darjeeling and back on a cycle. I did a cycle tour to Haridwar the same year.
In December 1994, I decided to tour India on a cycle. I left home, armed with a map of India and a guide book. I hung a placard in front of my cycle that read “Saare jahan se achha, Hindustan hamara. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isahi, Jain, hum sab ek.” I cycled to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya in 403 days.
After this long tour, I decided to rest for a while. It was around this time that I got married and our daughter was born.
An old snapshot of Satyen Das and his family during their trip to Puri in 2007
A family tour
In 2007, my wife Munni said she wanted to travel somewhere. That’s when I took her and my three-year-old daughter Sukanya to Puri on my rickshaw. In 2008, I took them to Vaishno Devi and we made it to the Limca Book of World Records that year for visiting Rohtang Pass in a rickshaw. Now, when I look back, I realise there was no other way I could have taken them on these trips. I could not afford anything else.
Ladakh and Siachen
Ladakh was a dream destination for me and I first went there in 2014. Many people discouraged me, saying it would be difficult to paddle up the hills. But I wanted to take a chance. It was indeed very tough cycling up the steep, rocky roads. I would be short of breath every few minutes and had to stop to take rest every now and then. The temperature also kept falling as I climbed higher. But I made it.
Poster of ‘Ladakh Chale Rickshawala’, a documentary on Satyen Das by Indrani Chakraborty
I went back to Ladakh in 2018 and then in 2021 to the Siachen base camp. I had a blackout there and the army personnel saved my life and looked after me. It took me 140 days to complete the Siachen tour but I received a lot of love and affection from local residents and tourists.
I met Indrani Chakraborty in Ladakh, who went on to make a documentary Ladakh Chale Rickshawala on my cycle tours. It is now the name of my YouTube channel.
In Ladakh, I was invited to the SECMOL campus by Sonam Wangchuk in 2014. There I interacted with the students about world peace. The rickshaw I took to Ladakh is kept on their campus.
Satyen Das with Sonam Wangchuk
Green message
I have always been a nature lover and the scenic beauty of all the places I visited enthralled me. When I travelled to the villages, I saw greenery all around me. The cities were polluted, hot and often very dirty but the villages were green and clean. But when it came to hygiene, the remote villages lagged behind. When this realisation hit me, I decided to talk to people I met along the way. They would approach me, intrigued by my rickshaw, and I would talk to them about global warming. I encouraged them to plant trees and save water.
had carried date palm seeds with me on my Ladakh trip and planted them on my way. This time, on my trip to Darjeeling, I took seeds of ashok flower.
My daughter, who has just passed her Higher Secondary exams, is a nature lover too. She wants to take up environmental studies in college.
Satyen Das at Ghoom station, Darjeeling
Preparations and precautions
The initial preparation for a trip involves calculating the expenses, studying the routes, understanding the weather and knowing about the area. I love to travel and I am still very fit, so I do not need any extra physical exercise ahead of my trips.
The battery-operated rickshaw has special brakes that allows Satyen Das to travel uphill
I also get my rickshaw checked and make sure all the parts are working fine. There are some risks involved like theft, bad weather, altitude sickness or wild animals. I have a few rules while travelling. I talk to local people on my way to know about the area and listen to their advice. I usually don’t travel at night.
Managing expenses
I earn around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 a month and I try to save money for travelling. On my trips, my basic expenses are for food and shelter. Most of the time I try to spend the night at some local school, club, temple, bus stand or police station to save on expenses.
The total expense for my Darjeeling trip was Rs 15,000, which included food, lodging, servicing of the rickshaw, banner etc. East India Club sponsored the entire trip for me.
On my previous trips, bikers’ groups have helped me with tents, clothes and a mobile phone so that I can document my travel tales. They love me and help me. I am blessed that way.
Road to the future
Back in Kolkata and ferrying passengers from his regular rickshaw stand in front of Gitanjali (Naktala) Metro station, Das is already planning for his next trip. My next dream destination is Kedarnath. I am planning it for next year. Hopefully, I will be able to make it. It is also a difficult trail.
