WHILE learning Zen meditation in Japan, I was introduced to Sitting Zen and Walking Zen as parallel forms of meditation. This did not come as a surprise to me as in India we have a long tradition of walking as a spiritual exercise. The value of a pilgrimage lies in the journey, not in the destination. And pilgrimage has always been associated with walking; the more arduous the walk and the more remote the sacred site, the greater its spiritual value. But even in the political history of our country, marches undertaken on foot, like Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March, or the occasional padyatras launched by political leaders or social activists, are meant to demonstrate commitment and dedication. But, for today’s affluent generation, pilgrimage is best undertaken in short helicopter rides, and around the sacred temples, as near the venerated Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand, there are guesthouses or luxury tents equipped with gas heaters and with all creature comforts laid out. This is more about adding one more notch to a bucket list of pilgrimage sites, not much different from dropping onto Mount Everest by helicopter, taking a selfie, and making “history”. We have drifted far from the original spirit of pilgrimage and even adventure, where walking was both a physical and a spiritual exercise. This drift from our cultural and spiritual moorings is most starkly visible in our urban spaces, which penalise the pedestrian and privilege the car or motorcycle user. There is a massive share of taxpayers’ money which is spent on expensive flyovers and wide roads in our cities, but no thought is given to those who walk to work, or go on foot to do their daily shopping or, even if they don’t need to, take pleasure in walking, mingling with people or savouring the sights. In India, the motorist is king. In Delhi, only 13 per cent of people own cars, while 87 per cent use public transport, or bicycles, or more generally walk to their destinations. And yet the urban infrastructure in Delhi is almost entirely built and maintained for the convenience of the motorist. As is inter-city transportation, whizzing at high speed on the country’s expanding network of 4- and 6-lane highways.
The right to walk on demarcated spaces, the apex court has said, shall override the privilege of motorised vehicles. Istock
Even where sidewalks line our city roads, they are encroached upon by hawkers and roadside vendors. More often, they become parking places for cars and motorcycles, so the humble pedestrian is compelled to walk on the road and be exposed to the risk of being run over by a speeding vehicle. This is happening ever more frequently in Indian cities. Between 2019 and 2024, over 1.8 lakh pedestrians died across India — run over by motor vehicles, falling into open drains or manholes, or simply suffering fatal falls on disintegrating pavements. It is the tragedy of a five-year-old child being struck by a tanker while walking to school which triggered the Supreme Court ruling on June 19. It has recognised the right to walk in safety as integral to the freedom of movement guaranteed under Article 19(1)(d) of the Constitution. This should be read with an earlier judgment of the court on May 14 last year, which recognised the right to walk in safety as being guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, which deals with the fundamental right to life and dignity. The latest ruling is clear and explicit: “The primary right of movement under Article 19(1)(d) is the Fundamental Right to Walk, a right that precedes the right to move on wheels… the fundamental right to walk on demarcated footpaths shall override the privilege of a motorised vehicle.” What is of particular interest is the manner in which their Lordships of the Court linked this issue to the larger cultural and spiritual traditions of the country: “Walking is a struggle for the not-so-fortunate, meditation in motion for many, resistance for others, discovery for the inquisitive, a cohesive strategy for sharp socio-political minds. It did certainly inspire and ignite some of the ideals of the freedom struggle.” This is important because the issue is not merely one of ensuring safe and clean walking spaces in our cities, but of reversing the cultural and spiritual deprivation of a people.
For the writer, who goes trekking regularly, the connect with Nature is a valuable aspect.
One feels this loss deeply. I go trekking regularly in the mountains, and the act of walking in pristine surroundings, in experiencing the healing that silence brings, the sense of a deep connection with Nature and embarking on an inward journey that parallels the physical one — this is the most valuable aspect of the act of walking. It is this sensibility which is under constant assault in India’s congested urban spaces. India is struggling with its traffic congestion challenge despite the density of car ownership in India being only 26 per 1,000. This compares with about 800 per 1,000 in Europe and nearly 1,000 per 1,000 in the US. If India were to aspire to even a fraction of this figure, there would literally be a permanent gridlock across our cities. In a land-poor country, where will one find the parking space for these vehicles? And for fossil fuel cars, all the oil in the world would not be sufficient for an India with even less than 100 cars per 1,000. If we switch to electric vehicles, the problem of finding enough power to charge the vehicles will remain a huge challenge. If the right to mobility has to be implemented for most of our citizens, this can only be achieved through a large-scale expansion of public transport and by limiting the private ownership of cars. People have the right to mobility. They do not have the right to own and run cars. This is what the latest Supreme Court judgment conveys unambiguously. Theoretically, a citizen can now take the State to court if his right to walk on a well-demarcated and well-maintained sidewalk is denied. But one doubts whether this threat of legal action will lead to corrective action by the State. There are guidelines for pedestrian safety which were issued by the Indian Road Congress in 2022. These lay down that every public road must be lined with pavements which are at least 4 to 6.5 metres in width and should be at least 250 mm above the road surface. But these norms are rarely followed and do not take into account encroachments on pavements by motorists and two-wheelers for parking their vehicles.
In many cities of Europe and South-East Asia, sidewalks are a defining feature. Photo by the writer
There has been a controversy over removing hawkers and roadside vendors from sidewalks on the grounds that they would be deprived of their livelihoods. However, in many cities in Europe and South-East Asia, designated spaces have been allocated for such vendors without interfering with the rights of pedestrians. Some urban spaces can be designated as no-vehicle zones for safe walking and shopping. There are examples from across the world which urban planners in India could draw lessons from. The Supreme Court decisions are significant and should compel the State at various levels to translate them into justiciable laws and strict regulation. But more than that, there is a cultural and attitudinal change which only civic education and awareness campaigns can deliver. Our countrymen must rediscover the joy of walking, whether in our cities or in the pristine landscapes in our high mountains. The commercialisation of pilgrimage has drained away its spiritual energy. The ancient temples in remote locations have lost their sacred aura. In her book ‘Wanderlust: A History of Walking’, Rebecca Solnit speaks for every intrepid walker: “When we walk, the brain is unmoored from immediate tasks; the rhythmic movement of the legs coaxes the mind into a creative flow state. Trekkers in the mountains understand this intimately… In the wilderness, walking is a form of communion. The tragedy of the modern city is that it denies us this restorative experience, replacing the meditative rhythm of steps with the hyper-vigilant adrenaline of dodging traffic.” One hopes that this tragedy of the modern Indian city will begin to subside with the timely intervention of the nation’s highest court. — The writer is a former Foreign Secretary and an avid trekker
