Gandhian Briton walks from Kashmir to Kanyakumari
Olie Hunter Smart, a photographer by profession, wants to experience Gandhian way of life.
ALAPPUZHA: Olie Hunter Smart is a 'walking' follower of Mahatma Gandhi and has travelled over 4,000 km from Kashmir to Kanyakumari by foot to experience the Gandhian way of life. A British photographer, he started his mission in April from Baba, a military outpost at the end of the Nubra valley close to the Line of Control, and reached Kanyakumari on Wednesday. He will come to Alappuzha on Saturday and talk to the kids in Hope Community Village at Muhamma where his wife Katie Jackson has been teaching them English basics for the last three weeks as part of her voluntary mission.
During his journey, in keeping with Gandhiji's simplicity, he wore only two pairs of dress and slung 26-kg backpack over his shoulders. He spent the nights on the wayside or government guest houses and spared the urban routes. He has been travelling around the world since 2013. "In the post-Brexit era, we should understand the India- British relationship better and how our colonial past could shape our future," he says.
He took the arduous route from Khardung La, one of the highest motorable passes in the world, to Leh and then to New Delhi to visit Birla House, the site of Gandhi's assassination, Jaipur and Ahmedabad where he visited Sabarmati ashram, the salt march route to Dandhi, Mumbai and the Aga Khan palace in Pune where Gandhi was imprisoned for two years over the Quit India movement, which is now the Gandhi National Memorial Society. He also passed through the western ghats and celebrated Independence Day on August 15 in a village with the locals. Later, he reached Kanyakumari where Gandhi's ashes were immersed in the ocean.
"I walked alone for 10-12 hours daily through some of the toughest terrains and harshest conditions conversing with the local people," he says. He also met British and Anglo-Indian elders who experienced British rule and talked to young Indian, British and Anglo-Indians about their multi-cultural history. He will be at the village here till December 13.