Patna man walks 6500 miles in 1000 days

Today commemorates the 1,000th day that Patna Village resident Boodhan Laltoo walked 6,525 miles through the streets of his neighbourhood for the sake of good health and long life. As a result, he said he no longer experiences arthritic pains in his legs and he felt stronger and fitter. When Laltoo, known as Baljit to villagers, began his ritualistic walk, he never imagined he would accomplish this feat. Since his start on October 2, 2001, he has not missed a day of walk, despite heavy rain or feeling unwell.

It all started after nursing a habit from age nine when his uncle gave him the daily task of delivering 30 bottles of milk to customers in the Petit Valley area. “I had to make two trips and when the bicycle didn’t work, I had to walk from Diamond Vale to Petit Valley with the bottles on my head,” he told Sunday Newsday. “I was nine years old and that went on until I was about 14 years.” At his retirement in 2001, as a sanitation worker at the Diego Martin Regional Corporation for 28 years, 63-year-old Laltoo decided that his time at home could better be spent doing something he enjoyed. While he occupied his time taking care of his animals, garden and fruit trees, he recalled how refreshing it felt walking through the village on his way home from work. Six months after retirement, Laltoo recorded walking 3/4 mile in 15 minutes. The next day he progressed to 2 1/4 miles and not long after, Laltoo had walked eight miles in one morning.

“I walk early in the morning just as the place gets bright. I leave home about twenty to six or 6 o’clock and I would come back home, see about the dogs and the fowls, the trees, have lunch, then take a rest until about 3 o’clock and I’m back out to see about the animals,” he said. “I never feel tired.” His pre-dawn breakfast comprises two slices of bread and a glass of water every day. His route begins on North West Drive, past Patna River Estate Government Primary School, through Fuller Street, into Woodpecker Lane and around the circular. He then takes Cicada Street, “down the stretch” past NHA’s new housing development project, through Sea Trace and back up to his home on North West Drive. “That’s one round. If the rain catches me while I’m outside, I take out my umbrella, which I never leave at home, complete my rounds and come back home. If it is raining heavily before I leave home, I wait till it eases up then I go out,” he said.

He receives great encouragement from his wife Basdaye, his three daughters and two grandchildren. “My wife doesn’t walk with me because she is sickly, but if I sleep away she would wake me up. One thing I must say is that I always put the Lord in front. If I forget to pray before I leave, I say it on the road.” Laltoo has every single round, mile and hour recorded in two books which he updates as soon as he returns from walking. “The recording comes from the bookeeping I did when I had a shop. It is all mental.”