Rickshaw driver on top of the world

40-year-old from India pedals his eco-friendly cycle to the Himalayas

It took 68 days for Satyen Das to laboriously pedal his rickety, self-remodeled bicycle rickshaw from the seaside Indian city of Kolkata to the roof of the world - a 5,369-meter Himalayan pass. His goal: to promote the vehicle as an environmentally sound travel option.

As he pedaled toward the top of Khardung La on the world's highest motorable pass, he remembered the words of his wife and 9-year-old daughter: "You must complete this mission."

The journey was arduous. To prepare, he trained by loading his rickshaw - a carriage-styled seat hooked to a bicycle - with heavy items and cycling long distances. The 40-year-old Das modified the rickshaw, adding a third brake pedal. And when the time came to set off on his journey on June 11, he packed lightly, carrying only a few items of clothing, medicine, food and a stove, a sleeping bag and plastic sheets for an emergency shelter if the weather turned rough.

"I crossed five high mountain passes" in the region of Ladakh, Das said in an interview. At one point, he faced down a group of bears that he was relieved to see showed little interest in either him or his rickshaw.

Closer to his destination, he took shelter with Indian paramilitary forces after sighting an elusive snow leopard in the high reaches of Lakadh.

And on his way home, a German woman cycling solo in the mountains offered him food and shelter in her tent on a particularly cold night.

In total, he covered nearly 7,000 kilometers to be the first to accomplish the feat, which he hopes will be endorsed by Guinness World Records.

The idea "was to popularize the cycle-rickshaw as eco-friendly transport that does not need any fuel", Das said.

It's a mode of transport on which he and his family have relied their entire lives, with Das earning about 200 rupees ($3.20) a day transporting passengers in Kolkata, capital of India's West Bengal state. Under its former name of Calcutta, it was a home base for the British Empire when it ruled the South Asian subcontinent.

Das started as a so-called "rickshaw wallah" under his father, who also pedaled a rickshaw for a living.

He enjoyed the job, he said, because "there was no one to boss me around".

But he always dreamed of setting an example for others, and wondered how to do it being poor and with little education.

"So I thought, why not do something which is within my reach. I decided to spread the message of peace using my cycle-rickshaw," Das said.

He made his first attempt for Ladakh in 2008, carting his wife and daughter up to an altitude of 3,979 meters on the Rohtang pass of Himachal Pradesh state before running out of cash.

For his latest expedition, he received 150,000 rupees ($2,460) in sponsorship from from a local club.

"We had known about Das' interest in touring around the country" since his 2008 attempt at the Himalayas, said Partha De of Kolkata's Agrani Club.

"Hearing that someone is going on such an incredible journey, it grabs interest. It's a wonderful achievement."

(China Daily 10/11/2014 page10)