It was his call and he accepted it, taking his first step and beginning his untiring journey on foot 37 years ago - on June 30, 1980 - as an orphaned child who lost his home and entire family in a deathly flood that washed away 20 other villages including his own, Lakhimpur (Lakshmipur) on the India-Nepal border.
"The area around Lakhimpur had 35 km of sandalwood forest which was cut by the forest mafias and the scented wood smuggled outside India. But due to large scale afforestation, there was a massive flood in Ghaghra river in 1980. Coincidently, water from a dam in Nepal was also released then. In the flood 20 villages washed away in their entirety, with houses and people. My village Purva, had a population of 4000 including my family of 60 members. All drowned. Not a single soul in the entire area survived, except me, a 13-year-old boy, then," recalls Avadh Bihari Lal.
"In the morning the rescue boats came and found me alive, on a rooftop. This was curse of God, for cutting the sacred Chandanvan, I strongly believed. The then prime minister Indira Gandhi visited our village after this incident. She told me to be a representative of humanity. The whole nation would be with me. I shall be everybody's son. I would walk for world peace and environment conservation. I would not return home but walk until I breathe my last," says Lal.
Since then, each step he takes is dedicated towards a cause. As days, months and years passed, many feet joined him. Most walked for a while before saying goodbye while others lingered on. But on June 15, 1995, two teenagers, Jitendra Pratap and Mahendra Pratap who were 12 and 11 respectively, joined feet with Avadh - the Earth Walker.
The trio decided to share a common fate. Together they took a vow - to walk forever, for life. In 2000, more boys and girls joined in to make a team of 20. There has been no looking back since then for Avadh who along with his 19 young team-mates, has walked to 11 neighbouring countries crossing steep valleys, tall mountains, rocky terrains, dangerous rivers and deep lakes. Exhibiting a die-hard spirit, undeterred Avadh is an inspiration for the people of India and the wide blue yonder.
Life is a journey, yet we don't cover it walking on foot. Earth Walker Avadh and his team do!
"So far we have walked 3,38,000 km, which is little less than the distance from earth to moon (3,84,400 km). Our target is to complete 4 lakh km in the next five years," states 50-year-old Avadh who began walking when he was just 13.
The team has over the years broken records of covering the longest distance in 11 countries on foot. The team comprising of 20 members (4 women and 16 men) has entered into the Limca Book of Records and Guinness Book of World Records as well as India Star Book of World Record Holder.
The team that calls itself ‘Dangerous, Adventure Anterved Sports Longest World Tour by On Foot Journey' walks 30 km per day and gives presentations in schools and to the general public.
"Our messages are more than one - environment protection, water conservation, afforestation, ecology balance, waste management, disaster management, save the girl child, women empowerment, education for all, clean toilets in the villages..." says Avadh who along with his team was in Goa.
Visiting schools and planting trees as a token of gratitude towards Mother Nature, the team found Goa to be a picture post-card beauty.
"Goa is such a beautiful land blessed with natural beauty. We would love to see it garbage-free and added greenery," says Avadh. "We have no political agenda. During this journey on foot, we plant various trees of Indian species, explain the importance of afforestation and motivate youth to plant trees in their own areas to make Earth green. Those who don't have land can plant in pots," says Jitendra Pratap. "We encourage people to plant at least five trees once they purchase a vehicle so that their share of pollution is reduced," adds Mahendra Pratap. The team has convinced the governments in Gujarat and Delhi to make a law of planting five trees while buying a vehicle. "Thailand government has agreed to do it to, on our request," smiles Avadh.
The team who has travelled to 11 countries - Pakistan, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Tibet, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Nepal including our own India has planted 9 crore 50 lakh trees wherever they walked. "All these trees are alive as after planting the trees we form a local committee who vows to take care of the sapling and protect it from withering. The committee also keeps us informed about the status of the trees we planted, posting pictures on social media," briefs Jitendra Pratap.
"We want to walk over the entire planet," announces Avadh who is optimistic that India will soon be a super power. "Let 20 crore young students take a vow to make India ‘Vishva Guru' (world teacher), what more do we need to make India proud?" he asks.
Team Avadh has sacrificed their lives for a cause. "We are vagabonds. All of us have decided never to get married or settle at any one place. We don't own anything. We don't carry any luggage. We have no home of our own or any permanent address. We believe in humanity and not caste, creed or class, hence we have ceased to use our surnames that give out our identities. None of us have a personal bank account or own any money or property. None of us have visited our families after joining the mission. We are all graduates and have studied and answered our exams while on our journey. We are strict vegetarians. The nation takes care of our needs - food, clothes, shoes or accommodation. When in jungles we survive by eating leaves. When we go to other countries, the Indian embassy helps us with visas. As we stick to our national language, Hindi, and converse only in it, the government gives us translators who help us in communicating with people in other countries," Avadh elaborates their life in transit.
The last country the team visited was China and the next will be Korea.
