When PK travelled from New Delhi to Sweden on a second-hand bicycle for his sweetheart…

TRAVEL TRENDS, WORLD Updated : Sep 29, 2017, 17:19 IST


How far are you ready to travel for love? Young lovers in romance fiction talk about crossing the seas or impediments for the sake of their beloved, but there is actually a living man who took the uncharted territory to unite with his significant other half!

Introducing Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, who was born in 1949 in a poor weaver family belonging to the Indian state of Odisha. Driven by his inherent talent for painting, Pradyumna joined the College of Art in New Delhi in 1971 and soon became the talk of the institution for his gifted talent.

Life took a new turn for this promising and struggling artist when he met Charlotte Von Schedvin in 1975. This Swedish girl was living in India as a student of academics. One day, she chanced upon PK making sketches in Delhi’s Connaught Place. Impressed with his artistic skills, he made up her mind to get hers done. They met, talked and while he was making her portrait, the two fell hopelessly in love with each other.


To take their relationship to another level, they got married. After the wedding, Charlotte embraced an Indian name ‘Charulata’, and after some time, she returned to her home country. When she was leaving, she offered to buy tickets for Pradyumna to her home country, but he gracefully refused.

For a few years post Charlotte’s return to Sweden, the two exchanged love letters to stay in touch. It was 1978 when Pradyumna decided to visit Sweden to reunite with his wife. Being a man of modest income, he did not have money to buy a plane ticket. Therefore, he sold his possessions to buy a second-hand bicycle and set off on his journey to Europe.

He travelled to Amritsar from New Delhi and then ventured into unknown lands of Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria and Denmark. His second-hand bicycle deceived him twice, and he had to go hungry for a few days, but undeterred, he did not give up his resolve.


After 4 months and 3 weeks, he arrived at Gothenburg, Sweden. When Pradyumna acquainted the Swedish immigration officials of his purpose, the latter were left wondering how a woman of a royal bearing could marry a poor Indian guy.

Anyway, they sent the info about Pradyumna’s arrival to Charlotte and she happily came to see him. The best bit about their love story is that her parents gave their approval to the marriage.

Now, it has been 40 years since Charlotte and Pradyumna’s wedding and the couple lives in Sweden. Pradyumna has been bestowed an honorary doctorate from Utkal University of Culture and serves as the Odiya cultural Ambassador of India to Sweden.


It’s quite inspiring to know about a man who travelled from New Delhi to Sweden on a bicycle withstanding hunger, thirst, danger and bad weather for his ladylove. It is an example for the generations to come.

Do you know someone who could endure a long journey for love? Share with us.

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