PK MAHANANDIA CYCLED 70 KM A DAY FROM INDIA FOR LOVE
Artist PK Mahanandia sold his possessions and cycled from India to Europe for the Swedish woman who sat for his portrait.
Mahanandia set off on January 22, 1977, pedaling about 70 km (44 miles) a day toward Charlotte von Schedvin, the Swedish tourist he had met in Delhi in winter 1975.
“I did what I had to, I had no money but I had to meet her. I was cycling for love, but never loved cycling. It’s simple,” he told BBC News.
How a portrait turned into a love story
The pair met in Delhi’s Connaught Place district, where Mahanandia was known as a sketch artist. Von Schedvin asked him to draw her portrait.
She did not like the result. She came back the next day, and he was still preoccupied, so the second try missed the mark too.
Mahanandia said his mother had told him a horoscope predicted he would marry a woman who was a Taurus, came from a distant land, was musical and owned a jungle. Von Schedvin told him she was a Taurus, played piano and owned a forest.
“It was an inner voice that said to me that she was the one. During our first meeting we were drawn to each other like magnets. It was love at first sight,” Mahanandia said.
Von Schedvin also spoke to the BBC. “I thought he was honest and wanted to know why he had asked me those questions,” she said.
Her family came from Swedish nobility, the BBC reported. She had driven to Delhi from Sweden with friends, through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
She agreed to visit Mahanandia’s village in Orissa, where they toured the Konark temple. The BBC reported she had kept a picture of the temple’s stone wheel in her student room in London before she ever saw it.
Mahanandia said von Schedvin wore a sari when she met his father. He said they married according to tribal tradition with his family’s blessing.
Mahanandia also said he had faced discrimination from upper-caste students as a Dalit growing up in Orissa.
The ride
After several days in the village, the couple returned to Delhi. Before leaving for Sweden, von Schedvin asked him to follow her to Borås. They wrote letters for more than a year.
He could not afford a plane ticket. So he sold his things, bought a bicycle and took the overland route.
Portraits paid his way. “Art came to my rescue. I made portraits of people and some gave me money, while others gave me food and shelter,” he said.
Mahanandia said his legs often hurt, but excitement about seeing Charlotte and new places kept him going. He said he did not need visas for most countries at the time.
He called Afghanistan calm and beautiful, with sparsely populated stretches and people who loved art. He said people there understood Hindi, but communication got harder in Iran.
He reached Europe on May 28, 1977, by way of Istanbul and Vienna. From there he took a train to Gothenburg.
Mahanandia said he did not understand why people considered cycling to Europe such a big deal. He said he hit cultural shocks in Europe and that Charlotte supported him throughout.
What happened next
The couple later married officially in Sweden. The BBC reported that Mahanandia lived there with Charlotte and their two children and kept working as an artist. Global Indian also described him as an artist based in Sweden.
Their story is now the subject of The Cycle of Love, a documentary directed by Orlando von Einsiedel. Yahoo Finance reported that the film follows the couple’s romance and Mahanandia’s journey to reunite with von Schedvin.
