Panaji: When 24-year-old Ayan Banerjee set off on foot from the Sundarbans in March, he carried little more than a backpack and thousands of organic seed packets tucked into his jacket. His goal was simple yet ambitious: walk 7,000 km across India’s coastline to champion environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and traditional practices like organic farming.Covering 35 to 45 km per day, Ayan has walked across West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, before arriving in Goa. His journey concludes in Gujarat this Dec.In Goa, his trek connected him with grassroots efforts tackling coastal ecology, waste management, and social welfare. In Bardez, he met Sanjiv Khandelwal of Sensible Earth to explore their MakaNakaPlastic initiative, which replaces single-use plastics with reusable bags stitched by self-help groups and marginalised women.In a state that has previously reported high per-capita plastic waste generation according to central pollution reports, the MakaNakaPlastic campaign offers a practical template for community-led waste reduction, said Banerjee.Ayan’s journey relies on community-based shelters. Over the months, he has slept on floor mats at NGOs, blind schools, old-age homes, orphanages, religious ashrams, medical centres, and Ayurvedic retreats, or at roadside dhabas along highways. In Goa, however, he spent five days with cousins near Palolem beach.At the ASRO Community Care Centre in Tivim, run by Caritas Goa, Ayan spent time with children living with HIV/AIDS. Ayan said he will return next year to take the students to Odisha to see dolphins.His walk also featured discussions with Canopy By The Coast’s Nester Brian Fernandes on marine ecology, El Nino and coastal biodiversity, and with women at Bethesda Life Centre on sustainable fashion and mindful resource use.Across Kerala and Goa, he distributed thousands of organic vegetable seed packets, taking the total to over 9,000 across 35 institutions. Ayan entered Maharashtra on Friday.
