His Solo Peace Walk Follows a Well-Worn Tradition

On Oct. 2, 1982, the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, Prem Kumar left his hometown of Ahmadabad, India, and started walking. His destination was Ahmadabad, India. The long way.

Kumar, inspired by Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence, was determined to walk around the world to promote global peace and understanding.

Nearly four years, 14 countries and 8,000 miles later, Kumar, looking a bit tired, strolled down Pacific Coast Highway through the hills of Dana Point Friday on the next-to-final leg of his solo peace march. His goal for the day was Corona del Mar, about 12 miles away.

A student of physics, international politics and Indian philosophy at Gujrat University in India, Kumar said he decided to make the walk after working on a paper on international disarmament and how it related to the development of Third World countries.

He came to the conclusion that there are four major obstacles to world peace: religious disharmony, the widening gulf between rich and poor, nationalism and racial discrimination.

These problems exist, he said, because of the communication gap between the peoples of different nations. He set off on his walk to help bridge that gap.

“What I am doing isn’t anything new or unusual,” he said, moving his wiry 5-foot, 7-inch frame along at an easy clip. “In India there is a tradition that whenever there’s a need to promote any new idea and to develop public opinion, people walk.”

In some ways, the tradition of walking to spread a message is universal, he said, citing Jesus Christ, Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a few of history’s great walkers. Kumar even met with a disciple of King’s, Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, during his walk through Georgia.

Kumar, 29, was wearing running shoes, jeans and a navy-blue sweater. He carried a cloth bag containing his personal belongings, including his journal, and a cloth banner tied around his waist proclaiming his mission and his itinerary.

“Peace Walk Around the World,” the banner reads. “India Rome Belgrade Budapest Vienna Bonn Bern Paris Brussels Amsterdam Dublin Belfast London Boston Los Angeles Hiroshima Nagasaki.”

He walks with the banner facing behind him, so that people will feel more comfortable stopping and reading it, he said. Drivers coming up behind him often honk their horns or flash their lights after reading it, he said.

Kumar said he is not sponsored by anyone and depends on donations. He never has to worry about his next meal, Kumar said. Rather, “my difficulty is, where shall I go? There are so many invitations.”

After he reaches San Francisco, which he expects to do on May 27, Kumar said he will fly to Japan for his journey’s final leg, a walk from Hiroshima to Nagasaki, where he plans to end his march on Aug. 9, the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb.

“The success and failure of my walk depends on how effective the whole world will be in achieving peace,” he said. “But for one person, I have been very effective. . . . This simple and modest action has touched the lives of millions of people.”