Days of dust. Thoughts you think when you walk across India

[An excerpt from the journal I wrote on my walk across India which possibly, if i don't edit this part out, will be in the book I am writing].

These are the Days.

Your life has never felt fuller, more real, authentic, as simple yet as hard as in these days. One chai after the other, one cheap motel after the other, one night sleeping on unknown floors after the other, you are pushing through. All those past lives resurfacing, echoing through these days of extreme fatigue and happiness.

These are days of dust. Your boots, your clothes, your beard and your backpack. All covered with a thick layer of dust. You are being dreamt by the Gods. Even in the dreams you dream within the Dream, there is dust. It’s everywhere.

Hundreds of trucks painted in bright, vivid colors launched at breakneck speed into the world shatter the flesh of the motherland into a billion fragments, and the back of the trucks all say the same thing:

"Horn OK please. Blow Horn OK. Blow horn please. Please horn".

Once they pass, all you are left with is a trail of brakelights and dust.

Some days you walk for so long and talk so little that you start having full conversations in your head with questions, answers and often even moderators. Sometimes it’s the monotony of the road, sometimes your mind that resists being present in the moment. Sometimes it’s your inner Voice, the one you fought so hard to get back, that speaks to you in the form of a surreal interview.

- Mr. Vagaboots, thanks for accepting to have another interview with us.

- My pleasure.. you are with which newspaper?

- Oh, it’s a small outlet called.. “you’re going crazy because you’ve been walking in the 35-degrees-Celsius heat and you haven’t had a proper conversation in a couple of days”.

- I see. So this is not happening, right ?

- I am afraid so. Shall we continue nonetheless?

… as if I had a choice..

- So, Mr. Vagaboots, let’s break the ice.. how are you ?

- I’m fine. Tired, sweaty but I got used to it by now.

- Congrats on walking 1600 km across India! A few of us lost a lot of money betting you’d stop after a few hundred kilometers.

- I understand. Had I been a gambler I’d have bet against me making it this far myself, to be honest. Sorry you lost money.

- Can you describe your average day for our readers? Do you have a skincare routine? Who’s your clothes designer?

- Do you have serious questions for me or shall I leave?

- Ok, What time do you wake up?

- The alarm is usually set between 5.30 and 6.30 am, depending on how late I went to sleep the night before. If the room or place I slept in was bad or dirty or not safe I normally spring out of bed and manage to be on the road within minutes. Sometimes I don’t even wash my face, eager to leave the place. I’ll wash up somewhere on the road. If I slept in a comfy bed it usually takes some negotiating with myself. Comforts are the enemies of the pilgrim.

- How heavy is your backpack? Do you use walking sticks?

My backpack's weight has varied from 14 to 20 kilos depending on moments during this journey. I carry since the days of Dehradun a stick that used to be about 1.8 meters long, now, consumed by the friction with the asphalt, it’s at least 6 or 7 cm shorter. I use it to protect myself from aggressive dogs, snakes, monkeys and people with bad intentions and raise it to stop trucks and cars while in traffic. Mostly it’s to look cool, though.

- How much do you walk on average daily? What do you eat?

- On this walk I walked anything between 12 and 49 km in one day. Normally I walk 10 to 12 km before I stop anywhere in the morning. I don’t eat or drink anything before that moment. The first couple of hours of the days are usually the fastest kilometers of the day and generally the easiest because the heat is not as challenging. Once I didn't eat for nearly 24 hours because there was no place to buy food from. On an average day, I normally eat 2 to 4 bananas, 1 or 2 alu paranthas, 4 to 6 liters of water, 1 coca cola, 2 to 6 chais. In the evenings I have normally my big meal of the day: large portions of rice (biriyani or white rice) with whatever vegetarian dishes are available (butter paneer and chole bathura are probably my favorites). My guilty pleasures on the road are Mac Donald's cappuccinos and Domino's pizza when I feel homesick. But please don't tell anyone I ate Domino's pizza or they will revoke my Italian citizenship.