As Ayan Banerjee stepped into Nellore in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday night, the 24-year-old climate and animal welfare activist marked a significant milestone in an unusual journey that has taken him across 2,417 kilometres of India’s coastline on foot.Ayan, who was named PETA India’s Volunteer of the Year in 2020 at the age of 18, completed 100 days on the road on June 10 as part of the Karuna Padayatra, a 7,000-kilometre walk that began in the Sundarbans of West Bengal on March 3. Travelling without a vehicle and largely sustained through community support, he aims to trace a geographical V-shaped route through nine States and four Union Territories before reaching Gujarat.The padayatra is neither political nor commercial. Instead, it is an attempt to bring attention to climate sustainability, environmental awareness, compassionate living and the welfare of animals and communities.“Walking is slow, but that is precisely why it works,” says Ayan. “It allows me to reach places that are often missed and spend time listening to people.”Along the route, he conducted environmental awareness sessions at more than 12 schools, distributed over 2,000 organic vegetable seed packets in rural communities and fed stray animals, particularly cows and dogs, using his own resources. He now hopes to distribute more than 9,000 seeds along the way as he reaches Chennai in the next leg of the journey.