With Just a Cycle & His Dog, This Karnataka Man Is Riding Across 8 Countries to Rebuild His Childhood School

The early morning sun glints off a lone bicycle as it cuts through the highways of southern India. Strapped to it are a few clothes, a sleeping mat, a camera, and a small trolley carrying a bright-eyed mongrel named Bhairava. 

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Trucks thunder past, rain clouds gather without warning, and the road stretches endlessly ahead — yet 28-year-old Sudarshan Sanchari keeps pedalling, his eyes fixed on a dream born in a place far from these highways.

From broken classrooms to big dreams

That place is a small village in Chitradurga, Karnataka, where the classrooms of Shri Kariamba High School once shaped the futures of three generations of his family — his father, his brother, and himself.

Last year, when Sudarshan walked through those corridors again, all he saw were cracked walls, broken benches, leaking roofs, and the fading memories of the childhood he once had. The school that had given him confidence and belonging was now fighting to stay alive. The sight shook him. 

That day, he made a promise: He wouldn’t just repair a roof or donate a few benches. He would rebuild the future of the school — completely. And he would do it in the most extraordinary way he knew.

"I’m cycling across 8 countries with my dog Bhairava to rebuild my village school in Karnataka.

My father, brother and I studied there — today its walls and benches are broken. After leaving school due to financial hardship, I know how much education matters.

So every kilometre… pic.twitter.com/khDLag0jma

— The Better India (@thebetterindia) November 18, 2025

Sudarshan grew up watching his parents struggle to make ends meet. Financial hardships forced him to leave school early and take up a salesman’s job. But he understood the value of education, of what it could unlock, of what it could change.

So when he saw the condition of his school, something shifted.

Pedalling for a purpose

He packed a small bag, secured his tent and camera equipment, and started pedalling from Kanyakumari. By his side sat Bhairava, his dog that gives him courage on lonely highways and unfamiliar borders.

Their mission: cycle across eight countries, convert every kilometre into awareness, and every story into a brick for rebuilding his school.

Sudarshan dreams of creating an institution where children don't just memorise textbooks, but learn AI, new languages, art, music, filmmaking — skills that prepare them for the world beyond the village.

The journey so far

The journey has tested him in every possible way. Broken bikes in the middle of nowhere. Hostile weather across borders. Nights spent with empty pockets and an uncertain tomorrow.

But through it all, the kindness of strangers has carried him forward — meals shared, a floor to sleep on, a toolkit offered without hesitation.

Recently, Sudarshan reached Belagavi, where he spent time with the city’s cycling community and screened his self-shot documentary. His stories from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia left the audience in awe of his mission.

For countries where pets aren’t allowed, Sudarshan has arranged for friends to temporarily care for Bhairava until they can reunite — a testament to the deep bond between the two travellers.

Over the last four years, Sudarshan has pedalled nearly 60,000 km. Now, he is on his boldest expedition yet — a 780-day journey to Cape Town, South Africa.

But at the heart of this vast, continent-spanning mission is something beautifully small and deeply personal: a desire to give children in his village the opportunities he never had.

Sources:

‘Cycling Nomad’s Journey of Discovery: Youth from Chitradurga Travels the World with His Pet Dog’: by Uday for All About Belgaum, Published on 15 October 2025

‘Chitradurga youth embarks on 780-day international bicycle tour with pet dog for company’: by B Rishikesh Bahadurdesai for The Hindu, Published on 23 October 2025