Du chakay duniya

Du Chakay Duniya (Meaning :The World on Two Wheels in English) is a Bengali book written by the first Indian Globe -Trotter Bimal Mukherjee (1903 - 1987) based on his experiences of traveling through the world on a bicycle. In 1926 Bimal Mukherjee went on an epic world tour on a bicycle. Already before that he had completed touring India on his bicycle during the period 1921 - 1926. Banking on a meager budget and an insatiable thirst of knowing the unknown world he went on his epic adventure of world tour. He traveled through Arab, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Britain, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Greece, Egypt, Sudan, Italy, Switzerland, France,Denmark, Germany, USA, Columbia,Ecuador, Peru, Hawaii, Japan, China,HongKong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and many other countries before returning back to India again in 1937. As the fist Indian globe trotter he has jotted down all of his amazing and awesome experiences of globe trotting in this book. Amarendra Chakraborty, the famous editor of the popular Bengali travel magazine Bhraman [http://www.bhraman.com/] has done this great job of editing and re-publishing this adventurous journey of Bimal Mukherjee. In Chakraborty's words as on the editorial of the book, it won't be an exaggeration to call this book as the national treasure of all the Bengali's.

The Book

The famous chief editor of Bhraman [http://www.bhraman.com/] and great travel enthusiast [http://www.bhraman.com/Editorial/Editorial_May08.pdf Amarendranath Chakraborty] was amazed at the fact that neither he nor his knowledgeable peers had any idea about India's first globe trotter before as late as in the middle of the nineties.He came to know about this adventurer from the writings of another famous globe trotter Bimal Dey and thereafter a lot of research ranging from Kolkata through Hrishikesh to Geneva.After printing an edited version in his magazine Bhraman, one of the readers of the magazine informed him about the book Du Chakay Duniya.After painful searching for the publisher and months and months of trial Chakraborty finally managed to grab a copy of the book.After finishing the book overnight Chakraborty fell in love with it and contacted Bimal Mukherjee's son Siddhartha Mukherjee and daughter in law Anuradha Mukherjee.Du Chakay Duniya was reprinted in Bhraman during 1995-96.After that Chakraborty re-published the book in 1998 under Swarnakshar Prakashani Pvt. Ltd.It was the first Swarnakshar publication of the book.However, the first publication dates back to June,1986.

Foreword by the Writer

The foreword written by Bimal Mukherjee in the book Du Chakay Duniya in Bengali is like the following section after translating in English:

"Who does not want to see the world.But fulfilling the desire of traveling the world without any money in your pocket is time consuming and a very tough job.It took me over a decade,1926 to 1937.I earned money on the roads - sometimes being a photographer, sometimes a sailor, sometimes pilot, sometimes giving lectures in schools and colleges over different topics - doing various types of work in fishing boats, teaching in schools and also working in dairy farms. There were countless measures of how I had earned money by means of physical labor. It feels as if I have taken many a birth in just one lifetime. I have tried to grow my experience through all forms of work. I got the chance of meeting so many different people from so many different nations and culture. They all have helped in broadening my mind and also helped me to get rid of a lot of prejudice. My journey has been successful. Mother had inspired me a lot to write this book. For twelve long years i have written a letter every week to her. She had written "All the incidents of your life are secured with me. You must have to write a book as soon as you finish your journey". That is why this book is here after almost fifty years of completion of my journey. I dedicate this book to the young generation of India.

Calcutta - 19
1st January,1986 "

The Journey

India

Ashok Mukherjee,Ananda Mukherjee,Manindra Mukherjee and Bimal Mukherjee started their epic adventure from The Town Hall in Calcutta on 12th December,1926. Ashok Mukherjee led the team of four friends on their bicycles. They went through the temporary pool over the Hooghly river to enter Howrah as there was no bridge to cross the Hooghly river in those days. Bimal Mukherjee's mother became senseless as he went to bid her goodbye. He felt very guilty that time as he loved her a lot, but on second thought again strengthened his mind and set for the journey. Thousands of people gathered to wish them luck and hundreds rode with them up to Chandernagore for their first night halt. They felt over weighed during their first day of journey with the weight of the steel trunks on the cycle carriers along with the weight of their guns. They all abandoned a lot of goods to lighten their carriages. Next day they again set on their journey towards Bardhaman. They went off Grand Trunk Road then to visit Ranchi to bid farewell to Ashok and Ananda's relatives. Ashok and Ananda were cousins. From Ranchi they again followed G.T. Road to go through the jungles of Palamou. In that jungle they spent a night at an inspection bungalow to experience their first encounter with a tiger. They went through Uttar Pradesh being invited by lots of wealthy Bengali families. Also, many non-bengali families were similarly enthusiastic about them. Everyone used to ask them that what would be the benefit when they end their journey? Very few adventurers have gone ahead keeping any benefit in their minds. Main aim behind Bimal Mukherjee and his team's adventure was 1) to prove that Bengali people were not cowards and 2)if they would be successful then a lot of young men and women would believe that nothing is impossible. They reached Delhi via Benaras and Allahabad. Delhi in those times mainly consisted of the present day old Delhi. They stayed at the care of Judge S.Das who used to be very influential. He took them to the Foreign Secretary Sir John Hayes and ensured that they were provided with all the necessary documents so that they would not be harassed by foreign governments. Sir John helped them a lot by writing letters to all the governments and British ambassadors to those governments up to Constantinople. They then went through the princely states. Alwar, Jaipur, Gwalior and Jhansi to name a few. Everywhere they got great reception and hospitality. In Jhansi a gorgeous young lady Ms.Pinto came to meet them riding a bicycle.She told them that she was coming from Karachi via Delhi to search for them.On asking why the lady answered smartly that she wanted to travel the world on bicycle with them. Bimal Mukherjee could not but praise the guts of the gorgeous lady not more than 21 wearing a blouse and shorts looking like a true sportswoman. But all four of them were unanimous in their decision of not taking the risk of having an attractive young woman as their companion. Ms.Pinto was very offended at this. After having lunch with them she wished them best of luck and told them that she was amazed to see the lack of courage in them. She also told them that she would travel the world on her own if it required so. They went through Ajmer, Pushkar, Udaipur and Jodhpur thereafter to enter the great Indian desert of Thar.They wanted to experience the desert in their own country itself as they will have to come through many more deserts in their journey ahead.it was impossible to ride a bicycle in the desert. So they has to carry their cycles and walk over the heated sand all day only to cover a meagre distance of 7-8 miles. They used to walk tracking the railway line that had gone till Hyderabad of present day Pakistan. After crossing Barmer and Mirkhaspur just as they were getting acclimatised with the desert conditions and were acknowledging the fact that how demanding the desert can be, they got to see the end of it. Finally they reached Hyderabad in present day Pakistan. From Hyderabad they set for Karachi. On the way they were plagued with the problem of tyre puncture as the thorns of the cactus trees used to present this threat every now and then. They risked their life while crossing a railway bridge over the Indus river. It took them two hours to cross that enormous bridge over the railway slippers carrying the cycles on their shoulders. If a train would have come in the span of those two hours it was death for them. Bimal Mukherjee accepts that it was a hasty decision at that point of time. They should have waited for the boats to come to cross the river. The main aim for visiting Karachi was to take a ship to Iraq or Iran. After four days of waiting they got the work of deck passengers in a ship of B.A.Company. The ship took them to the port of Basra in Iraq.

External links

* [http://www.bhraman.com/ Bhraman Magazine]
* [http://www.bhraman.com/Editorial/Editorial_May08.pdf Amarendranath Chakraborty Chief Editor's Column - Bhraman]