The Man Who Cycled 6,000 Miles for Love: The Incredible Story of P.K. and Lotta

Six years ago in Gothenburg, documentary filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel received an unusual proposition. Two young people, a brother and sister named Karl and Emily von Schedvin, approached him and handed him a book.

“We love your work, and this is the story of our parents. Would you like to turn it into a film?” they asked.

At the time, the director simply nodded politely. But after reading the book on a plane during a vacation, he realized he had discovered a story of extraordinary emotional power. That was the beginning of The Cycle of Love, a documentary about one of the most remarkable love stories of the 20th century, The Telegraph reports.

An Astrologer’s Prophecy and a Fateful Meeting in Delhi

In late 1975, Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, known to his friends as P.K., was living in Delhi. He was a 26-year-old Indian art student from the Dalit community, traditionally regarded as the lowest social group in India and subjected to severe discrimination from childhood.

Despite the barriers he faced, P.K. had earned a scholarship to study at an art academy and supported himself by painting portraits on the streets of Delhi.

When he was a child, P.K.’s father took him to an astrologer who predicted that the artist’s future wife would come from a distant northern country, be born under the sign of Taurus, be musical and — most mysteriously — “own her own jungle.”

One day, while P.K. was working near a fountain, a young Swedish tourist approached him. Her name was Lotta, she was 20 years old and had traveled to India with friends.

P.K. immediately sensed something special and began asking her questions:

• When was her birthday? It turned out she had been born in May, under the sign of Taurus.
• Was she musical? She sang and played the piano.
• Did she own a jungle? Lotta smiled and explained that her grandfather, a Swedish nobleman, indeed owned land and woodland near Gothenburg.

Everything fell into place for P.K. He immediately told the young woman that she would become his wife.

Later, when he took her to the famous Konark Sun Temple — a photograph of which Lotta unknowingly already had at home in London — the couple became even more convinced that fate had brought them together.

They married according to traditional Indian customs in P.K.’s home village, but Lotta soon had to return to Sweden to continue her studies.

6,000 Miles on a Secondhand Bicycle

The separation proved unbearable. A plane ticket cost an astronomical amount by the standards of the time — 40,000 rupees, equivalent to roughly 18 average annual salaries in India.

So, in January 1977, P.K. bought a secondhand women’s Raleigh bicycle for 60 rupees, packed a sleeping bag, tent, paints and brushes, and set off for Sweden on two wheels.

He had no map. He knew only one thing: the sun rose in the east and set in the west. His journey would cover almost 6,000 miles, or roughly 9,600 kilometers.

The trip became an extraordinary odyssey filled with unexpected encounters. Along the way, complete strangers repeatedly came to P.K.’s aid.

• A visa problem in Pakistan: Well-wishers helped him buy a plane ticket to Kabul — his first flight ever — while his bicycle was transported separately in a van.
• A dramatic rescue: Along the way, he came across an Austrian tourist named Leanna who had been seriously injured in an accident. P.K. took her to a hospital. In gratitude, her family later sent him a train ticket to Vienna and helped him sell his paintings.
• Across Europe: Strangers shared money with him and helped him cross international borders.

After 133 days on the road, P.K. arrived in Gothenburg on May 23, 1977, and called Lotta.

“It was such a precious moment,” Lotta recalls. “I came to pick him up. For a while, we simply couldn’t speak — he hugged me and cried.”

Half a Century Together: A Quiet Home in the Swedish Woods and a Fight Against Prejudice

Nearly 50 years after those extraordinary events, P.K. and Lotta are still together.

They live in an old wooden house surrounded by pristine woodland — the very “jungle” mentioned in the astrologer’s prophecy — near the Swedish city of Borås. They have two grown children, Emily and Karl.

Their remarkable journey became the inspiration for the documentary The Cycle of Love.

For the family, the project is also an important statement about overcoming social and cultural barriers.

“We met: East and West, he was from the so-called untouchable caste, and I came from a noble family,” Lotta says. “He was ashamed of the caste system, and I was ashamed of being part of the aristocracy. But love brought us together. We want to share a simple message with the world: despite all the divisions, most people in the world are incredibly kind.”