Karsten Wolf, a 58-year-old German doctor, is roaming across India on a bicycle to know more about its rich cultural heritage and is touring eastern parts of the country now.

On Thursday, he reached Siliguri, pedalling all the way from Calcutta, which is around 600km away. He is a resident of Cologne, which is a 2,000-yearold city spanning the Rhine river in Germany and around 7,000km from India.

This is Karsten’s fourth visit to the country.

“Before medicine, I studied sports and philosophy. As philosophy needed a second subject, I chose Indology to learn Sanskrit. This made me feel interested in India. Around 35 years ago, I had come to India for the first time and stayed for 11 months. I really like the rich culture and the people,” said Karsten, a psychologist.

Before reaching India, he moved through 14 countries, which include his homeland and other nations like Slovenia, Croatia, Oman, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Saudi Arabia.

“I flew from Dubai to Calcutta as I could not get visas, which I needed to move through the countries lying between the UAE and India to reach this country on my bicycle. From Calcutta, I paddled to Siliguri in five days. I will visit Darjeeling and Sikkim in the next couple of days,” he said.