This Indian man did something unthinkable to be with the woman he loved against all odds

Love has the capability to bring people together against all odds, beyond cultural boundaries and across oceans. People have been known to do the unthinkable to be with the person that their destiny is linked to. Charlotte Von Schedvin was a blue-eyed young woman hailing from Swedish nobility while PK Mahanandia was a poor student from India who was seen as an "untouchable" in his country’s caste system. Despite these differences, it was love that gave Mahanandia the courage to sell everything that he had to buy a pushbike and cycle from India to Sweden to be with her.

The story began in the winter of 1975 when  Von Schedvin traveled from Sweden to India to meet PK, who was a painter and had shot to fame by drawing a portrait of Indira Gandhi. Schedvin had made the journey specifically to meet him and have her portrait done, but the two fell in love while it was made. Even though Von Schedvin had to return to Sweden, the two never stopped longing for each other and were constantly exchanging letters.

However, Mahanandia did not have enough money to buy a plane ticket but he didn't let that stop him. The artist decided to sell everything and set off on his journey on 22nd January 1977. In those days “only a Maharaja could afford a flight to Sweden,” explained Mahanandia, via CNN Travel.

P. K. Mahanandia was only nine years old when his mother shared a prophecy written on a palm leaf. She told him that he was destined to marry a “a white woman, from a faraway land”, and that she would also be a Taurus involved in music and will own a jungle.

"We’re not going to arrange any marriage for you," Mahanandia recalls his mother saying – an unusual decision at the time, in a country where many unions are still arranged by parents.

On the other hand Charlotte Von Schedvin always loved Indian culture and was already a fan of films like “Siddhartha,” as well as the music of Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. “I was fascinated by East meeting West,” she told CNN.

Trusting his love for her, Mahanandia decided to take his bike and cycle through the Hippe Trail which was the route that stretched from India through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and the former Yugoslavia into Europe. He set off on two wheels with just $80 but when he arrived in Sweden he had more than $800 which he had earned by painting portraits for food and money along the way.

He finally arrived in Boras on 28 May 1977, more than four months after his departure from India and today the couple have been married for four decades. The pair have also dedicated themselves to promoting art and are offering cultural scholarships to Dalits in India. Mahanandia is also a recipient of an honorary doctorate from his state university and in 2005, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his feats.