As far as brotherly bonding activities go, running the length of India is probably not top of most siblings’ lists – that is, unless you are Om and Rajas Satija.
“We’ll probably wake up some days hating each other, but I think that’s the beauty of it,” Om Satija says. “That’s where the bonds are created and I think we’ll grow together.”
What began as a playful idea to become the first brothers to run across India has coalesced over 18 months into the One India Run, which will see 22-year-old Om, supported by his brother 21-year-old Rajas, attempt to go from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 100 days.
Weeks away from the January 26th start date, Om is still coming to terms with the mammoth task that awaits them.
“I think naivety is a weird superpower. We genuinely thought, kilometre to kilometre, it’s a cool run. It’d be amazing to see India,” Om says of the run’s genesis. “A lot of times when you think of such things, the idea is a lot more appealing than the reality.”
“We’re not even taking a conventional route – there’s a National Highway 44 that runs down the middle…we’re going down the east coast. No one’s done this and it’s arguably a lot more stupid and ridiculous to try it!”
But slaying Goliath is familiar territory for the self-described ‘small skinny kid’ who grew up playing AFL and cricket and was captivated by triathlon runners.
“I always saw myself as this underdog trying to fight for attention…like I was trying to work twice as hard to get noticed when I would play a sport,” Om reflects. “You could say it’s a chip on the shoulder, but I think that’s the beginning of a lot of what I’ve tried to do in life.”
Hope is the thing…that runs
“There was something within me which called me to try and do something crazy, like run across a place like India and see if I could believe in myself…that if I put in the work that I could be capable of it,” Om says.
That ‘something’ of which Om speaks is not just an outlandish personal quest to realise his inner strength, but the desire to empower others. Aged 10, on a holiday in Rishikesh, he distinctly remembers seeing leprosy afflicted beggars go ignored, and has felt empowered to fight the stigma surrounding the condition since.
Though a curable ailment, families affected by leprosy continue to face stigma and rejection from society, leading to poverty. The One India Run will raise funds for Udayan, a Kolkata based NGO providing education to leprosy affected children which Rajas and Om have developed a close relationship with.
“I met a gentleman called Swapan, he was in the first batch of Udayan kids in 1974; he became a paramedic and has spent his whole life working towards the care of Udayan kids,” Rajas remembers. “He’s in his mid-50s now – I look at him as testament to the power of hope and education.”
“We’re just so inspired and want to give hope to those kids. Udayan has a 100% vocational placement rate. What they are doing to bring these kids out of poverty is just remarkable.”
Equally, the brothers feel a deep sense of pride and connection with their Indian heritage and hope to represent the younger generation of Indians on the global stage.
Part of that generational experience, it seems, is enduring the concerns and doubts of their parents.
“I cannot tell you the number of fights to this day that we’ve had with our parents,” Rajas recounts. “Mum said, ‘I’ll do anything for you guys to just run across Australia, I’ll sponsor the whole thing from our own pocket. Don’t do India.’”
“They obviously look at us like we are coconuts – I mean, Om and I were born here – we’ve been back to India quite a few times, but running across India is a whole different beast.”
But having grown up with yoga and meditation, Om sees the journey as a ‘pilgrimage’ and says they aren’t afraid of facing the challenges of the 5000km journey head on.
“There are probably going to be days where I’m going to wake up and my whole body wants to quit,” he muses.
“I think as extreme and painful as that might be, the ability to transcend the limitations of what your body and mind might say and power on and find who you really are and what you’re really capable of – that to me is a kind of pilgrimage.”
Just keep running, says Pat Farmer
As part of their preparations, the brothers reached out to ultramarathon runner Pat Farmer, who previously completed a ‘Spirit of India’ Kashmir to Kanyakumari run in 2016.
“[Pat] said, ‘the running will be the least of your problems – it’s organising all your sponsorship and your PR and everything else’,” Om remembers. “At the time I was so naïve. I had no idea about any of those things. I thought I just had to find a place to stay and run every day!”
Indeed, part of the battle has been cultivating sponsors; so far, these include A2B and Mahindra, with whom Om will undertake a 220 km simulation run around Port Phillip Bay over four days later this month.
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Equally, the brothers have made many sacrifices – Rajas is taking time off university to support his brother, and Om has put his cricket aspirations, saxophone gigs and physiotherapy studies on hold to get himself to a place where he can average 50km a day.
“Every time we kind of start feeling sorry for ourselves, we’re like, ‘this is our choice’. There are a lot of people in the world who don’t have the ability to do anything like this,” Rajas says.
They regard Pat Farmer as the ‘catalyst’ for this journey and have taken to heart his no-nonsense advice.
“Before Pat’s North to South Pole run, his million-dollar sponsor pulled out, so he sold his house to make it happen…He said no matter what path you’re on, even if you have to crawl to Kanyakumari, finish what you started,” Rajas recalls.
“[We thought] let’s go balls to the wall. Let’s throw everything at it.”
With Rajas currently in India scouting out the route’s safety, Om is learning to sit with the uncertainty.
“When you run, you get a lot of time to your thoughts, and this came to my mind: courage is not trying to deny that fear exists – I’m s**t scared,” says Om.
“I think [courage] is the opposite – you acknowledge the fears are there. You look it in the eyes, and you just take it head on; you embrace it.”
Find out more, and donate to the One India Run via their website.
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