Outdoor Tourism fascinated me since my childhood, when I used to bunk
classes to be at horizons on beach..walk long long miles wondering why
not many are doing the same. During my hostel life at Ravenshaw..It was
always rush back to home to start the walk again. I had limited time to
friends, classes, and khattis  than walking alone on beach,
occasionally a foreigner would appear and join me on. I had several
friends like that who kept me informed how walking is trekking back at
their home and asked if I try trekking on mountains. Till that time I
had two things on mind..to complete my graduation and to earn for my
parents to support them. Like me many children of Orissa at that time I
had hardly any ideas or information on trekking or the benefit of it.
One of my walking friend, who is a Japanese revisited Puri and offered
me to help finding a work in Osaka and I flew to that splendid island
country in 87 February. And I came back India on 89 September and made
promise never to work in a foreign land in future.

I was back again to walk..This time it was organized walk from Konark
to Gopalpur.This exploration beach trekking was sponsored and organized
by Directorate of Sports headed by Anadi Sir ....a high spirit IPS
officer who loves adventure and Orissa.
I was thrilled to do this, for many years walking 200 kilometers on
beach towards Chilika was in my THINGS2DO list and that too with a
group of 52 persons.
We made that in 5 days with 4 halts at
Puri,AvayMuhana,Arakhakuda,Prayagi and finally reaching Gopalpur on the
day before Holi of 90.Out of 52 participants ,48 were succeeded and
rest were rescued. The officer himself joined in a 22 kilometer stretch
from Arakhakuda to Prayagi.

The pressure of becoming an earning member of family or to stand up in
your own legs in society pushed me away from this walking habits .But
the long tranquil beach coast was always in my mind.
In 2002 I founded a small organization, Rangers Adventure Foundation,
The aim was to make support all those who loves to walk on the beach
and learn from the majestic Bay of Bengal. I was convinced that a walk
of 200 Kms from Konark to Gopalpur was an extreme zone (By this time
YHAI has remobilized the trek route from Konark to Satapada) and
encouraged participants to take small walks from the base station to
the beach. It is a 2.5 Kms stretch walk from my place to the hidden
shores amidst green vegetation. Being located on marine drive I
designed the walk as ECO PICNIC where the participants were requested
to walk if they like to the shore during the picnic before the lunch.
By 2005 the number of people those choose to walk went up to +800.Out
of which majority were the students of St.Xaviers High
School,Bhubaneswar,participants of Eco picnic of UNICEF, XIMB,small
groups and forgien travelers.

Like this my journey to reshape trekking to walking is taking big leaps
every year encouraging me add themes like full moon walk.beach camping,
beach kiting etc.
At least I am no more walking alone and bunking my work. Thanks and
gratitude to my local boys who supports me to create sustainable
activity to provide employement.And those travelers who inspired me to
go ahead with this vision of spreading the message among all  students
and enthusiastic to walk.Atleast the walking days of my childhood and
the agony of walking alone is more redefined today. I look forward to
support all those who love to walk around the beaches and estuaries of
Puri-Konark marine drive.