Taking to heart Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Ekla Chalo, a 32 year old entrepreneur has set forth on foot from Vadodara to Delhi to spread the message of waste reduction.
Rajeshwari Singh, who carries with her nothing but a small bag containing her wallet, cellphone, and a change of clothes, said too many people point at problems of waste management, but do so little to reduce waste generation.
Singh, who found support for her endeavour from the UN, the Gujarat government, and the State Tourism Department, is so determined on not generating any waste that she refuses to carry a plastic water bottle, too.
“I drink from matka wherever I can or ask people to give me water. I don't buy or carry anything that is packaged in plastic. My walk is 100 per cent waste free,” said Singh. To beat the summer heat, Singh who travels 30 to 35 km by foot everyday, starts early at 4.30 am. “I take rest in the afternoon and start walking again in the evening.”
Thanks to the support of the Gujarat government, Singh gets to stay at circuit houses at her pit stops. She has planned her journey well and tries to contact organisations and people in advance so that she can talk to them about waste and the need to stop generating it.
“We are concentrating too much on waste management and too less on low or no waste generation,” said Singh. The entrepreneur, who once attempted a 50 hour marathon cooking to enter the Limca Book of Records, said she got her mother's blessings when she first put forth the idea.
Singh, who started her journey on World Earth Day, plans to end it in Delhi by World Environment Day. She will be travelling 1,100 km in 45 days. Her walk will cover 22 major cities and four states — Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, and NCR.
She begins her day with some tea and snacks and makes do with whatever she can find to eat while walking. “The evening meals are at the circuit house,” she added.
Singh admits that for her, every day of walking has been an adventure. She admitted that she had never walked so much before and is not into sports either; however, she does yoga to keep herself fit. “Initially it was difficult, but now my body has got used to it,” she said.
Talking about her adventures, Singh said she was chased by street dogs in Mehmedabad as she set out on an early morning walk. “The dog wanted to take away my shoes!” said Singh. Two days into her walk she also found that she ended up tearing her salwar and had to shop for clothes in Ahmedabad.
On some stretches, she had to fight unnecessary male attention, too. But she draws strength from the fact that many a times, after reading her placard explaining her journey, many people join her for a few km for moral support.
