How far would you travel to be reunited with the person you care about the most? Mr. Pradyumna Kumar “PK” Mahanandia was willing to travel any distance and by any means necessary. This is the story of a man who rode his bike from India to Sweden for love. This man rode his bike from India to Sweden to be with his true love.
PK Mahanandia was born in a rural Eastern Indian hamlet.

Mahanandia was regarded a “untouchable” by society due to the country’s strict caste structure. Though he had a loving family and a joyful existence, coming to school made him realize that he was different from the other kids because of his caste.”Every time I touched someone, they ran away to wash themselves in the river.” The society regarded me as impure. “I was called an untouchable and a Dalit,” he recalled.

At school, he was forced to sit outside the classroom, and if he got too close to the temple, people threw rocks at him.Because of his caste, overcoming poverty in India was practically impossible. A British school inspector and his wife paid a visit to Mahanandia’s school one day. The teacher allowed him to sit in the back of the classroom on this particular day as long as he did not touch anyone.

The inspector and his wife each had a flower garland to offer to a student of their choice. The man gave his to a girl in the front, while his wife confidently strolled to the back of the room and offered hers to Mhanandia. “She could see that I was an outcast,” he recalls. “She stroked my hair and exclaimed, ‘Your lovely curly hair!'” He returned home and told his mother about the event, declaring his love for the inspector’s wife. His mother then told him about a prophecy made about him when he was a baby.

According to the prophecy, he would marry a white woman from a distant nation. “My parents were also told that my wife would be from a faraway land and born under the zodiac sign of Taurus, that she would be the owner of a jungle or forest, and that she would be a musician, playing the flute,” he told National Geographic. “I had strong faith in the prophecy and now know that everything on this planet is predetermined.”

Mahanandia was a broke art student in Delhi in 1975. Despite the fact that he was frequently homeless, his love and passion for art helped him to properly hone his skill. He’d made a name for himself by painting portraits of politicians and celebrities. However, one day, he painted someone far more essential to his life than any politician or celebrity.A young Swedish girl with blue eyes and blond hair approached him and asked if he could paint her portrait.

She had driven from Sweden to India with pals on what was then known as “the hippie trail.” This line followed most of the Silk Road, which no longer exists due to conflicts in several nations. Charlotte Von Schedvin, his future wife, was this woman. He recalls meeting her as if it were yesterday: ” The date was December 17, 1975. A lovely blonde woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes approached me.

It was getting dark. I felt as if I didn’t have any weight when she appeared in front of my easel. Words are insufficient to explain how I feel.” He began asking her questions about herself as he painted. He rapidly noticed that she possessed all of the characteristics mentioned in the prophecy: A white lady from a distant land, Her zodiac sign is Taurus. She is a flutist. Her family owns some forest in Sweden.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. He was so nervous that he had to paint her three times before he got it perfect. The couple spent more time together after that and rapidly fell in love. However, she had to return to Sweden a month later.Charlotte, for one, had wanted to visit India since she was a child. “I’ve wanted to visit India since I was a child.” “I had a teacher when I was about 11 who showed us black and white films about India, like Elephant Boy,” she said. “Later, I went to work in London, where I met many Indian people and learned about Indian culture.”

She claims she was lured to the location when she noticed PK sitting there doing portraits.They wrote a lot of letters back and forth. After a year and a half of writing to each other, Mahanandia felt he couldn’t live without Charlotte any longer. He sold all he owned, purchased a bicycle, and embarked on the hippy trail. He primarily biked from India to Sweden, however he did some hitchhiking along the way.

Charlotte wrote him encouraging messages along the way. When he eventually came, he and Charlotte hugged and just cried. They’ve been married for over 40 years and have two children together. Charlotte and PK are still as much in love as they were when he biked all the way there. They claim that the secret is that there is none at all. “Marriage is a spiritual as well as a physical union.” Recognizing this enables love to spread like ripples on water,” he explains.

“When I walk into the house, I leave my ego outside.” The ego is linked to the mind. My human mind is what I call a crazy monkey. But when you leave your ego outside, there is simply openness on the inside of the house.” Mahanandia has had several possibilities in his life because of love. It has also enabled him to heal and forgive people who have shunned him and thrown rocks at him. To him, love is the most powerful force in the universe, capable of changing people’s lives forever.