Home is behind, the world ahead

Home is behind, the world ahead.

Before I set out on Te Araroa, I wrote the walking song from The Lord of the Rings in my journal. On Ninety Mile Beach, at the beginning of the trail, I picked up a shell. I held the two together against the sea for this photo, and then the shell went into my pack.

I’m carrying that shell like my precious, the way Frodo carried the Ring. A small thing, always with me, a reminder of where I started and why I’m walking.

Why this song

I’m a fan of Tolkien, and these lines have meant a lot to me for a long time. In 2014 they stopped being a song and started describing my life.

I come from humble beginnings in India. I worked my way to a place I could not have imagined as a boy in Chennai. Then I quit my job. I left behind everything that was comfortable, and everything common sense told me to hold on to. I moved to New Zealand and decided to walk and run the length of the country on Te Araroa, with no safety net, no guaranteed paycheck, and not much in my possession.

Home was behind me. The world was ahead.

Many paths to tread

Standing on that beach, I was facing the unknown, and my deepest fears with it. But I also felt the joy of the open road. The song holds both. There are many paths to tread, and some of them go through shadows, to the edge of night. You don’t get the open road without the fear that comes with it.