On 29th January, my colleague Binayak and I went to Nelmangala to participate in the "Save Arkavathy"Walk. The Walk was organized hoping that the participants would learn from the experiences of the villagers along the Arkavathy River and be able to generate interest in them to join the walk.
One of the participants was 70 year old Narsimha Chetty. Mr. Chetty is a retired Sub-registrar who enjoys participating in such events. He is a bachelor living in Bangalore with his brothers and their families. He has been participating in such walks since 1986. In 2006, he read in the newspaper about a person who was walking from Kanyakumari to Delhi to create awareness about water issues. Mr. Chetty joined the person at Bangalore and walked with him till Delhi. The whole walk took about seven months from January 2006 to August 2006.
When asked what draws him to such events, he answered nonchalantly, "I don't do this for fame or money. I just think this is a nice way to pass time. And if it helps create awareness in the process, all the better!" Though he probably did not realize it, he was my sole inspiration to keep on walking till we reached our pit stop.
- Nandini PS: The title refers to him as 'old man' just so the title itself could be catchy. Otherwise, he was young enough to put the rest of the youngsters there to shame!