NathanFollowing Her Heart
Mahanandia then asked Von Schedvin if she was interested to have tea with him. Mahanandia was truly nervous but she felt that he was an honest man and wanted to know the reasons why he was shooting her with all these questions. They formed a strong bond and soon she went to Odisha with Mahanandia to meet up with his family. They were both taken by surprise about all of these incidents.
The Konark Sun Temple
Mahanandia took his female friend to see the Konark Sun Temple. “I became emotional when PK showed me the Konark. I had this image of the temple stone wheel framed in my student room back in London, But I had no idea where this place actually was. And here I was standing in front of it,” she recalled. Von Schedvin spoke about going to meet Mahanandia’s family saying, “It was like coming home.” She believed that she had spent her previous life in India.
A Tribal Ceremony
Mahanandia and Von Schedvin fell deeply in love. “I didn’t think, I just followed my heart. There was no logic,” Von Schedvin exclaimed when asked why she went with Mahanandia. The pair held a tribal wedding ceremony for spiritual marriage. Von Schedvin even wore a sari. “When I was with her, I felt taller than the sky,” Mahanandia admits. They then stayed in Delhi for a month but soon Von Schedvin had to go back to Sweden.
A Tearful Goodbye
Von Schedvin needed to get back to Boras, Sweden to finish her studies and got back to work. She planned not to return to India in the August of 1976, but her mother told her to communicate via letters to see if this love was real. Mahanandia had a year left in college and did not want to accept the plane tickets from his partner. He was determined to find his own means to get to her. Since his love for her was real, he did not mind a long distance relationship if it was just for a while.
The Letters
The lovebirds used letters to communicate for a year or two. The distance soon got the best of Mahanandia who decided that he needed to get to Sweden quickly. He had no money for a plane ticket nor did he have money for a bus ticket. He was not so good with geography and so he devised a plan to travel to Sweden. His confusion of Switzerland with Sweden made him take the next step.
“I’ll Ride There!”
Mahanandia sold all that he had and bought a second-hand bicycle for 60 rupees. He made a plan to follow the hippie trail but backward to get to Sweden. He went on this courageous journey and started on January 22, 1977. He covered a distance of a whopping 3,600 km (2,236 miles), riding through the Pakistani deserts, the Afghani mountains, and even Europe.