Leaving Valletta: the start of the walk to India

Jaydip Lakhankiya began the walk from Valletta on 21 February 2026. The departure report in the Times of Malta records the send-off and his plan to collect litter each day on the way to India. Malta was where he had been studying and preparing; India was home.

Before setting out, Jaydip had taken part in cleanups in Malta. The departure coverage reported roughly 800 kg of waste collected during that preparation. That weight belongs to the Malta cleanups before the international walk. The bag counter used during the journey is a separate record, not a conversion of those 800 kg.

The opening section could not be walked continuously. Leaving Malta required a ferry to Sicily, followed later by a crossing from Sicily to mainland Italy. From Sicily, the walking route followed Noto, Syracuse, Augusta and Catania.

In Noto, a meeting with a Bangladeshi man became the subject of Jaydip’s Day 2 video. After the send-off in Valletta, the journey was settling into days of walking, collecting litter and meeting people along the Sicilian coast.