We have a deep admiration for all the advocates out there who work to raise awareness about leprosy, as well as the funds to combat it. Om Satija is one of these advocates, who has put his whole heart and soul into a physically and mentally demanding 110-day One India Run, all to help children affected by leprosy.
Om Satija has just become the youngest person ever to run the length of India. At only 23 years old, the Melbourne-based athlete, physiotherapist and musician ran 5,000km over 110 days, starting in Kanyakumari and finishing in Srinagar.
The purpose of this incredible feat was to promote fitness, resilience and social responsibility among the youth of India, while also raising funds for Udayan Kolkata, a foundation working to support children from leprosy‑affected and marginalised communities.
Insights into the One India Run Experience
Mr Satija was kind enough to answer some questions from The Leprosy Mission Southern Africa, sharing insights into his journey and the inspiration behind it.
Q: Could you describe the first time you encountered leprosy, and how the experience affected you?
A: I first encountered leprosy when I was 10 years old. I’d gone to Rishikesh in India with my family for a little trip. It was the middle of winter, it was in January. It was a very cold night up in North India. And my Dad suggested to my brother and I that we should distribute some blankets and warm clothes to the homeless people who were sleeping in the streets.
We were distributing blankets to the people on the streets, and we came across a group of beggars next to the famous Ram Jhula Bridge in Rishikesh, who had leprosy. I did not know at the time what it was, and I vividly remember seeing they had ulcers on their hands and on their feet. There was one guy who had an amputated leg. And this memory, seeing people like that, with those ailments – just so neglected – obviously left a bit of a mark on me. I’d never experienced it in my life, growing up in Australia, or even seen it on TV or anything.
Q: How did you learn about Udayan Kolkata, and what inspired you to raise money in support of them?
A: All these years later, when I had this idea that I wanted to run across India, and I wanted to support a cause doing it – I came across Udayan Kolkata through Steve Waugh’s Foundation work in India, many years back. I spoke to them and I was very inspired by how they were using education to lift these kids out of poverty and stigma. And I thought to myself, “This was a full-circle moment for me”, seeing it all those years back, to try to make a difference for the next generation of people – the kids of those people who had leprosy. To give them a shot at a better life, and not end up the same as their parents.
Q: You’ve now run through multiple states, cultures, climates and communities across India. What moments or encounters have stayed with you the most?
A: That’s a really tough question! What has stayed with me most? I think many things, both good and bad.
One thing in India is there are a lot of stray dogs, and unfortunately when you’re running on the highway, you see beauty, a lot of wonderful things, but also a lot of dead stray dogs. I saw a stray dog actually die in front of me, and that was a very, very stark and harsh “reality check” moment. Seeing that is something that’s stayed with me.
Other moments and encounters – there was one where we were running past a temple, hearing some loud drums. Next minute, one of my guys is telling me to stop running – it’s 12 k’s done in the day, still a long way to go – it’s 8am and he’s dragging me to the temple. And we’re taking our shoes off, and we’re dancing inside the circle of 10 or 15 drummers just blasting it, high energy, in the middle of the temple, in the middle of some random highway in the south, and that was just a nuts experience.
I had two or three more such experiences over the run, there was a religious celebration with speakers, and suddenly I’d stopped my run halfway and started dancing with the locals, or there was a wedding celebration going on, and that was an absolute blast. Those were amazing.
Other encounters and moments were just kindness from people. As small as random people bringing me a cold water bottle when the saw me running. Or in Punjab, the Gurudwaras would let us stay, doing a langar (free community kitchen) there. And then also seeing places like the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Golden Temple in Amritsar. It’s hard to count.
But probably one of the biggest highlights was visiting Udayan Kolkata and the kids there, halfway through the run. I played saxophone for them at night. And the energy there, and the joy and the happiness was something that will stay with me for a long time.
Q: How has your understanding of India changed since the run?
A: My understanding of India has completely changed. I’d only been a handful of times as a kid, in a bit of a sheltered environment. Whereas running across India, you’re seeing everything raw and unfiltered. You’re going to places that no one really goes, seeing remote communities. And I definitely see India in a lot more of a layered way.
I think a lot of times, people can just look at it on the outside and judge it, both positively and negatively – generally negatively, just off face value and seeing how things are. But when I ran across India I saw that each state is different, each village can be so different, each region.
You see the disparity of wealth and living standards. Even as simple as, sometimes, I would be really heartbroken when I’d see rubbish on the side of the road, especially in an area with beautiful scenery. And a lot of it is obviously to blame on bad civic sense and lack of responsibility. But then you start to wonder, where are the café guys and the dhabas (highway eateries) throwing their rubbish – there’s no waste management system. A lot of people just live in poverty and they can’t care about it anymore. For the guys running the cafés, no one is coming to collect in the district, to look after them.
There’s so many layers to why things are the way they are. You also see some after-effects of colonisation, even so many years later. There’s illiteracy as well. A billion and a half people, you just see it in the scale, even just a glimpse of it.
There are so many things about India that are very difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t been there. Even some people who have been there still don’t understand the layers and complexities of it. But the way I see it, it’s got everything. It’s got the best of humanity, the worst of humanity. The best of everything as a country and also the worst, and everything in between. The full spectrum of life, people, landscapes, weather, you can find them in India. And that’s the beauty of it too. Amidst the chaos, there’s a certain magic underneath, that’s what I’ve found.
Q: Many people still associate leprosy with fear and stigma rather than understanding. What do you wish more people knew about the disease and the communities affected by it?
A: A lot of my friends in Australia, and even in India, had no idea that leprosy was still a thing. Or if it was, they thought that it was very infectious. It’s become a bit of a niche disease, which is a good thing, but then there’s obviously so much misunderstanding.
One thing I wish people knew more was, firstly, the disease is curable. But stigma remains, and stigma is the most damaging thing. One dose of antibiotic drug therapy makes the person non-infectious. A lot of the problem is that people don’t present early enough, due to stigma.
Just even to get leprosy would mean prolonged exposure and quite a weak immune system. So people will probably not get it if they’ve grown up with good nutrition and a good immune system.
The underlying thing that I’ve found, the reason behind the misunderstanding is, people just aren’t able to have any love or empathy or compassion. And that’s what prevents them from understanding more about these communities, and realising that we’re all just people at the end of the day. We’re all just trying to do the best for ourselves and our families. I think once people understand that and maybe meet people with leprosy – even as simple as giving someone a hug, and breaking that barrier in your mind, that’s huge. But whether you meet someone with leprosy or not, that’s not the point. It’s love and compassion for all people, regardless of where they’re from, and doing our bit in the world to help each other out.
Q: What reactions did you receive from people you’ve met along the route when you explained why you were running?
A: It’s mostly been curiosity and intrigue. In the south, I couldn’t speak much of the language, but I would explain in simple English. In the north, I’ve learnt a bit of Hindi, so I could explain to them what I was doing – and at times, I was getting quite bored of saying the same thing. But it was obviously cool having people very intrigued to see a random dude in a neon singlet running along the highway!
Most people were very positive, they would always wish me the best. Even police – they were a little bit worried as to why I was doing it, and they’d stop me along the highway, saying, “What are you doing? Where are you going?” And I’d tell them, and they’d say, “Oh that’s amazing, best of luck, please stay safe”.
I think 99% of my interactions were pretty positive, and everyone was super encouraging. Sometimes they’d follow me on social media. A lot of people would take photos of me, and selfies, and share them with their friends.
Q: What was the most difficult part of your journey?
A: It’s hard to pinpoint a moment… in the first two weeks, we had a lot of logistical troubles. And then there was the point before halfway, where it was just a grind mentally every day. I had moments out there where I felt, emotionally I hit rock bottom, not just physically or mentally.
There was a point in the middle section, between Kolkata and Delhi, so halfway to three-quarters of the run – where it was 42 degrees every day, and I was running 50 k’s. That was just unbelievably physically tough and something I could never have prepared for. But mentally, at that point I was ready for it, and I took that on in a very positive spirit.
So, different parts of the journey were difficult for different reasons. The first bit was logistical, the second bit I was really struggling mentally and emotionally for some periods, and then the third bit, the environment was just relentless and unforgiving.
Q: What kept you going on the hardest days?
A: I’ll boil it down to one thing, which is radical acceptance. Especially when it was 42 degrees at that halfway to three-quarter mark from Kolkata and Delhi, staring down the highway. Even at the beginning, on day one I was looking down the highway thinking, “Oh my gosh, this is too far”! Radical acceptance is a way of accepting things as they are, the things you can’t control. It’s deciding in your own mind that you’re going to just be present and just focus on the next step – the next one-hour session, or just that day. And just try and get through that day, and not think about anything else beyond that.
Once you do that, you become at peace with whatever the situation is, and things naturally stop bothering you. They become easier. That part of it was a huge thing for me, that kept me going on days that just felt like it was too much. That’s probably my biggest takeaway.
Q: Has there been a particular person or community you met during the journey that changed the way you think about resilience and dignity?
A: There was actually a point in Vizag, around Day 35, when we went to visit an orphanage. It was a very last-minute thing – someone offered to arrange it for us, and we obviously said yes. These are kids from destitute families in Andhra Pradesh, one of the southern states, and they’ve been orphaned or left behind. And so we went and visited these kids, and they put on a whole show for us. It was an unbelievable experience.
You see the disparity… we took some kids from Vizag who came to our running event, they’re from pretty well-off families, and two or three of them came to the orphanage. And they live in such a bubble, they couldn’t believe the background these kids had come from. One of them was even crying.
To hear the stories and meet the kids – they were overwhelmed by me playing the saxophone, and the story of me running. It’s hard to quantify what impact you make a lot of the time, but you think to yourself, “If I can just leave them a memory, and a bit of joy and connection, that would be massive”. So that was a huge moment, along with the kids from Udayan, which the whole run was building up towards.
And the people across India, even our own drivers, and how positive they were, I learnt so much from them. They would just handle situations that we, coming from the western world, would generally complain about, and worry and stress about. You see the resourcefulness; you see how people are so hardworking. When I was running in 42 degrees, I saw an elderly woman carrying two bags of cement on top of her head, barefoot in the hot sun, and on the road which was boiling hot. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Things like that spur you on a bit and genuinely give you a lot of respect and teach you a lot about what’s important in your life. Like seeing the poor dog die in front of me, seeing death in that way was very dark, and it gave me a new perspective on what I value in life and how I want to present myself.
Q: Now that the run has ended, what do you hope people will remember most?
A: I want them to remember the stories that we captured along the way. A lot of people have told me I’ve inspired them to run, which is all well and good, I definitely love to hear that. But I think I want them to remember, if they saw me, just in the way I presented myself every day and took on the challenges. I hope that inspired them to present in their best possible way in life.
I think every day, we have this opportunity to wake up, it’s a clean slate, it’s a clean script and we can write our own story. I want people to present positively and give their best to what they’re doing, have integrity, follow through.
The biggest thing is to have the courage to take action and do something you didn’t think was possible. So if they remember that – the courage, the love and compassion, and just to show up as your best every day – that would mean a lot to me, if people told me that I inspired them to take action. And I’d like them to remember seeing India in a different way through our social media content.
Final Thoughts
It was humbling and inspiring to about Mr Satija’s journey, and all the joys and challenges that came with it. We certainly can all take up the call to act with compassion and courage.
Find out more about Om Satija’s journey across India:
- omsatija_ on Instagram
- The One India Run website
- Om Satija on LinkedIn
Find out more about Udayan Kolkata and how to support them:
To help fight the spread of leprosy in Southern Africa, make a donation to The Leprosy Mission: