Tejeswar Maddikera: Passion trails

Tejeswar Maddikera quit his final year of engineering to follow his passion — travel and photography. He intends to cover all the 29 states of India on his bicycle, and has already ticked off 11 states from the list! His travel companion? A five-month-old German shepherd puppy, who sits cosily in his backpack while he tours the country. This 22-year-old Kurnool lad is currently in Hyderabad.

Tejeswar talks about how his tour started. “I wanted to explore, but I only had the pocket money that I would get from my parents. So I left my laptop with a friend and borrowed money from them. I bought a cycle and practiced. I was interning at Mumbai at the time, so during the day I would work, and at night, I’d cycle. I got fit and started my journey,” he says.

“When I started the tour in August, I developed a connection with street dogs. I was looking for an abandoned puppy. I didn’t find any. So I bought one. After getting it accustomed to the cycle for five days, I continued my journey,” he adds. So how did the dog get its name? “When I was in Rajasthan, a foreigner saw me and spoke to me. I then realised that he was Jonty Rhodes, the South African cricketer! This little guy is now called Jonty Rhodes,” he says. Since Tejeswar has no money, he takes bath just once in 10 days, when somebody lets him stay at their place.