Kiran Deshpande had floated the idea of a 42 km walk on Gandhi Jayanti (Oct 2). Oct 2 is also Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti. Kiran had done a 45 km walk by himself on Oct 1, 2019. Anu Palnitkar and I (Samir Palnitkar) were intrigued by the idea. Oct 2 is also Anu's birthday. She was completing 49 years and entering her 50th year. Therefore, Anu planted the idea of extending the distance from 42 km to 50 km. Kiran was immediately enthusiastic. Kiran, Anu and I were in for the entire 50 km. He created a plan and circulated to his groups. He got a very enthusiastic response for friends and family to join for a part of the walk.

We completed the 50 km walk in 11 hours 46 mins. Here was the route map.

General Route was:

1. Start at Vascon Paradise (Kiran's Home) in Baner
2. Go to Pune University Gate via Parihar Chowk, Bremen Chowk
3. Sancheti Hospital
4. Sangamwadi Bridge
5. Aga Khan Palace in Kalyani Nagar
6. Koregaon Park
7. Pune Camp
8. E-Street, MG Road
9. Golibar Maidan
10. Shankarshet Road
11. Sarasbag
12. Tilak Road
13. Alka Talkies
14. Karve Road
15. Paud Road (More Vidyalaya, Krishna Hospital
16. Chandani Chowk
17. Necklace Area
18. Pashan Circle
19. IISER
20. Abhimanshree Society
21. Baner Road
22. End at Vascon Paradise (Kiran's Home) in Baner

How it happened?

We reached Pune University via Parihar Chowk and Bremen Chowk. Shashank Patkar walked with us till Pune University. Then he turned back from Pune University. Kedar Paranjape joined us at Pune University at around 5.45 am.

Ramesh Mirakhur walked with us till Sancheti (total about 10 km from start) and then he turned back. We felt very encouraged by Shashank, Ramesh and Kedar's participation. From Sancheti Hospital, we turned towards Sangamwadi bridge and saw a beautiful sunrise.

We continued on to Aga Khan Palace. The Aga Khan Palace is a majestic building. The palace is closely linked to the Indian freedom movement as it served as a prison for Mahatma Gandhi, his wife Kasturba Gandhi, his secretary Mahadev Desai and Sarojini Naidu. It is also the place where Kasturba Gandhi and Mahadev Desai died.

From Aga Khan palace, we started walking on Nagar Road towards Koregaon Park. From there we entered Pune Camp, bypassed Empress Garden, went through E-Street and MG Road towards Golibar Maidan. Devendra Deshmukh joined us around Seven Loves Chowk. Tushar Kavle (Kiran's sister's son) also joined us around Empress Garden.

There we turned right on Shankarshet Road. Kedar Paranjape had a prior appointment, so he left at around 9.45 am from Shankarshet Road. 

On Shankarshet Road, Darshan Rathod's wife and daughter were waiting for us. They served us delicious fruit and theplas. Btw, this picture below was clicked by Darshan's little daughter :)

Darshan and Salonie left us at Shankarshet Road. A quick note, Salonie has done multiple full iron mans.

Then we continued on to Sarasbag. It was around 10.15 am and it was beginning to get really hot. In the picture below, Devendra Deshmukh and Tushar Kavle.

From Sarasbag we turned on Tilak Road and reached Alka Talkies. On Tilak Road, Anand Godse joined for the walk. Anand is very interesting because he has a Ph.D in Suryanamaskar. So cool! We reached Alka Talkies.

We turned on Karve Road, continued beyond Nal stop and turned right on Paud Road. Near MIT College, Devendra Deshmukh bid us adieu.

We continued on towards Krishna Hospital. Here my mother (Susham Palnitkar) came to meet us with chocolates and water. Manju Kavle (Tushar's mom and Kiran's sister) also picked Tushar up. Tushar walked almost 13.5 km with us inspite of his knee surgery. Brave effort!

At Krishna Hospital, we had reached about 33 km at about 11 am. While Kiran, Anand and Anu were walking strong, but I hit a wall. It was getting very tired and I had to sit down every 1 km. Plus we had to climb Chandani chowk ascent. I had a real hard time in the last 17 km.

We went from Chandani Chowk towards Bavdhan and Necklace area. Here is a picture a the necklace area.

We continued on to Pashan Circle. Now, every step was becoming a challenge for me. Lot of mental toughness was needed to continue. At Pashan Circle, we had completed 42 km. 8 km more to go!

We continued past Armaments Research and IISER and turned towards Abhimanshree Society. Just a few more km left. Good news was that the weather became cloudy and we felt a few rain drops. The reduction in heat reduced my exhaustion, but still covering those last few km were a challenge.

From Abhimanshree, we turned left on Baner Road to do our final stretch towards Vascon Paradise.

On Baner Road, near Hotel Mahabaleshwar, Rajani Deshpande (Kiran's wife) had come to greet us for the final stretch. She walked the final stretch with us. When we reached Pancharatna Store at the corner where you enter Vascon Paradise, our GPS watch told us that we had done on 48 km. But we had promised ourselves 50 km, so we had to complete the 50k. Therefore, we shot past Kiran's home, walked an extra 1 km on Baner Road towards the highway and walked back 1 km just to complete the 50 km. Anand Godse joined us on this last extra stretch as well :) Well done Anand! It was a pleasure walking with you. 

Special kudos to Kiran. At 65 years of age, he walked very strongly throughout the 50 km without getting tired or exhausted. Amazing!

We finally reached Vascon Paradise around 4.30 pm and completed our Gandhi Jayanti Walk. It was time for celebration. Kiran, Anu, Samir and Anand were present when we finished the walk at around 4.30 pm. 

It was a very challenging experience, but it was amazing. We got a chance to view the city of Pune in a different light, from a walker's perspective. Normally, we would just drive past in a car and not pay any attention to what's happening along the road. Walking gave us a very different perspective.

It was also a great way for Anu to celebrate 50 on 50 birthday, 50 km walk as she completed 49 years and entered into her 50th year.

The next two days will tell how well we recover from this grueling event. But we sure had a lot of fun!

Enthusiastic Participation was the Key