25 kilometers of goodness | a walk by the beach

March 22nd to April 1st, 2023

After spending about ten days in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh with no running water, sleeping on the floor with various bugs, and having to walk 5-7 minutes to use the restroom or take a bath, all I wanted to do was relax for hours when I returned home to Kerala. However, a friend had recently told me about his adventures walking 54+ kilometers twice, which intrigued me. So, we decided to walk 20 kilometers instead and also paint on our way, combining our shared love for painting.

April 2nd 2021

I got up at 4:40 in the morning, even though I had less than five hours of rest after crazy, exhausting days in the village. I packed a small backpack with fruits, peanut butter stuffed dates for energy, a couple of electrolyte powder sachets, my polaroid camera, some cash, and earphones for emergencies.

It was not the first time I went for a walk, however, it was the first time I was planning to walk about 20 kilometers. And I loved the kind of packing I did for the walk. We had fruits, electrolytes, and pretty much everything we needed, except for a collared T-shirt to protect me from the sun.

What follows is our day’s experiences captured in photos .. and a video made by Raja. (click to watch)

Saw some ghost crabs, some egrets, and a very elegant dog, all enjoying their Sunday morning at the beach.

We reached the 9th kilometer where we had planned to take a break and paint. The sun was starting to come out, but I learned that it only feels uncomfortable if you let it.

Many random acts of kindness were bestowed upon us that day, such as someone letting us use their home to wash our feet after putting them in the sand, and a generous uncle offering us his scooter because he assumed we were unable to catch a bus on our way to some place. Raja even got me my most favorite biscuits in the world as a reward for finishing what we had set out to do.

So many things failed to have been captured such as vibing to temple bhajan, singing songs on our way, running during my 23rd kilometer because I felt so good.

Also, big cheers to my friend Rajarajan for his greatness that everyone feels so easy push their internal limits when with him, for always sharing his adventures and a chance to relive them, and lastly, to arrange jackfruit bulbs for me.

Nihal Kaur