Delhi boy Krishanu Kona has set off on a bike tour which may land him in the Guinness Book of World Record for the longest distance covered. He speaks to Riya Sharma about his planned six-month journey
While most boys in their early 20s dream of a perfect job, weekend trips with friends, partying on a Saturday night, Krishnanu Kona harbors a dream quite unlikely for a 23-year-old boy. He harboured a dream to make it to the pages of the Guinness Book of Records by covering 50,000 km in six months on his bike. When opportunity came his way, it took him split seconds to quit his high-paying job at a multinational company and set sails.
Krishanu took off on his sojourn early this week and by the time we spoke to him he has already reached Pathankot. So excited he was about his adventure that he didn’t even let us finish our question, “Yesterday, I stayed at a Gurudwara and people were so helpful. They let me stay for free and offered me food. This is the beauty of travelling alone — when you have nothing planned and you just let things flow.”
He hopes to break the set record in Guinness book of world record set by a man who travelled 38,000 km on his bike. “I wish to cover 50,000 km in six months. I have started in Delhi and after Pathankot, I will leave for Uttarakhand and then I plan to cover East which will be followed by South and then Central India via west and then finally back to Delhi,” he said.
The international marketing graduate from Delhi school of Economics shared, "I was never a geek and always wanted to do something adventurous. The idea of setting this record struck me last October, when I was in Uttrakhand and covered 163 km in a day. So I thought why not give India a tryIJ That experience was short lived and I had other commitments. Plus, I had my job, too. I wanted to venture into a journey where time wasn't a constraint. And this opportunity was perfect."
Sharing more about his adventure, he said, "The whole idea is not to stop at a hotel but to gather different experience and learn local stories. I want to observe the lives of the people of the places I come across in my route. I don't have time to write but I am recording videos which I will share on a video blog so that people can people can experience my journey." The rider has no set target but he shared with us that he plans to ride 10-12 hours a day. "I sometimes cover 280 km a day," he chuckled.
Travelling alone is an uphill task with several hurdles involved. We were curious to know how he prepared for it. He sounded quite frank when he said, "I have only worked on the mental aspect. You can't take down the pressure of going alone. You have to think about how to handle the situation and to prepare yourself. I know that there would be days when I would think why I took this upIJ But I want to push myself during those severe situations."
In an interesting turn of conversation we found out that Krishanu had initially planned to take public transport to complete the record. But Nilanjan Bhowal of Design Constorium advised him otherwise. "He suggested that I do it on my own vehicle. In fact his company is actually bearing the expenses of the whole trip," he added.