Peter Ngugi cycling in Shillong India. Photo provided by Bird, used with permission.

This story was originally published by news agency Bird on October 21, 2024. An abridged version is republished below as part of a content-sharing agreement. 

In 2016, during the winter season in Delhi, India, what started as a minor altercation powered by racism ended up in the death of an African man.

Two Indian men, seemingly in a hurry, approached a rickshaw they wanted to board, but there wasn't enough space in the public transport vehicle. Their solution was to ask an African man who had already boarded to alight to make room for them.

As you would expect, the African felt singled out because of his skin colour. He wasn’t willing to step out without a fight. A heated argument ensued and quickly escalated to a physical altercation. The Indian men overpowered the African man, pushed him to the ground, and then brought down a huge rock on his head. He died!

Olivier Masonda was a 23-year-old Congolese teacher who left the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012 to study in India. The murder was caught on a CCTV camera and sparked an uproar that reverberated throughout India: was this a racially charged murder? The Delhi Police arrested the two suspects and launched a manhunt for a third. This killing sparked collective pain and a cry for justice from Africans living in India.

The shocking murder in the open streets of India was also the final straw for Peter Ngugi, a Kenyan living in India at the time. He picked up his bicycle and cycled across the country to combat racism, in the process “breaking the internet” and becoming news himself in the days following the murder. But Ngugi’s story doesn’t start here. It started in Kenya.

Society funds trip to India

Let’s travel back to 2013, to Mikindani, Mombasa, Kenya. There lived a humble young man, Peter Ngugi, who had completed his secondary-level education and was not interested in pursuing a university education. What for when he had a passion for computers and a brain that loved business, a brain that could set him up for a career as an entrepreneur? Determined to maximise his talent, Ngugi set up a small movie shop that doubled as an electronics and hardware repair shop. Stunners Inc., he called it.

A friend noticed his love for computers and, despite Ngugi’s lack of interest in academia, advised him to consider taking a degree in India, citing the country's excellent track record in computer-related courses.

Initially dismissive, the idea plagued Ngugi. For a long while, he thought about it, and then, in 2013, he decided to apply for a course in computer science at India’s KSR Institute for Engineering and Technology.

Unable at first to raise the fees and travel costs, the universe clicked into gear, conspiring as it so often does to help a man or woman on a mission. This time, it came through in the form of local society. Ngugi said it was mama Mboga, the shopkeepers, and other small business owners, together with his friends and family, who came together to fund-raise for his travel and fees.

Landing in India

After moving to India, he was determined to do his best and return with a computer science degree.

But what we plan and what happens are mostly worlds apart, as Ngugi came to learn first-hand.

Barely one semester into his course, Ngugi realised that everything he had dreamed of was just but a mirage. The reality of the course, as he explained, “missed the advertising mark they had given.” Moreover, his society back in Kenya had only funded his first semester, and Ngugi had to work to earn and pay for his fees. Stressed and under pressure, he dropped out.

But with the expectations of his entire society on his shoulders, Ngugi wasn’t ready to fly back home. He decided to remain in India, hang tough, and hustle hard.

Thanks to a strong and closely-knit community of Kenyans in India, a friend, Munene Robert, took Ngugi in.

The Hackathon competition

With the cash equivalent to Ksh.20,000 (USD 180), which he had saved up, Ngugi enrolled at a coding institute — and became one of the top students.

While learning how to code, Ngugi entered into a hackathon coding competition organised by IBM in India, and clinched the first runner-up position. He even made news in Indian newspapers for his flair in coding. IBM was also interested in hearing his business ideas. Ngugi pitched Office Space Finder, a platform to connect young entrepreneurs with companies that have extra space they can rent out. IBM loved the idea. They funded it, setting up a then-21-year-old Ngugi with a handsome salary and a life that had earlier on only existed as a dreamed utopia deep in the recesses of his mind.

Not only did he get a budget to hire people and pay them well, but he also had a driver to drive him around in a company vehicle. You’d hit the nail on the head if you said that Ngugi had it all. But that was about to change.

Girls. Alcohol. A debauched life that seemed attractive to a 21-year-old master of the universe.

Mistakes and shame

It wasn’t long before his IBM bosses noticed his off-the-rails demeanour. In March 2015, young Ngugi was fired. He fell hard and far, straight into the depths of depression.

The shame. From riches to rags. Depression gnawed at his mind.

During his brief high-status stint, Africans living in India had looked up to him. Unable to face them again, he resorted to running away from the city. At this point, he still had a pile of amassed savings. Among the 27 states in India, there was only one that Ngugi did not visit during this time, trying to outrun his shame. He eventually settled in Meghalaya, where he volunteered as a maths and English teacher, tutoring children under the age of 11. He also taught at a school for the disabled in Shillong.

Then came the 2016 altercation between two murderous Indians and an African in a rickshaw, which would change Peter Ngugi’s life for good.

Pedalling for peace

When Ngugi heard about the incident, he was shocked and saddened. In an interview with Indian explorer and mountaineer Anindya Mukherjee, he said, “It feels like someone is stripping off the dignity of Africa and not just a person. When an attack is on a Black man on the basis of his color then it's not an attack on one individual, it's an attack on entire Africa.”

He added, “The person was killed in a simple auto-rickshaw disagreement, a day before his birthday. It portrayed that the life of an African is very cheap. It can be thrown away any time.”

He wanted Africans to live in harmony with Indians. So, he thought of creating a platform where conversations about racism and its solutions could be had.

That was when the idea to cycle through India, hosting events in schools and meeting with Indian leaders and the police to champion open talks to gain an understanding of racism and streamline solutions, struck him. His Indian friends loved the idea and funded him.

Peter Ngugi is welcomed by cyclists in Odisha, India. Photo provided by Bird, used with permission.

One morning, armed only with courage and inspiration from Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries, Ngugi started the journey that would see him cycle 5,000 plus kilometres (3,107 miles) across seven states in India — the first time he had done long-distance cycling.

Ngugi’s act became something that Indians embraced, an opening for conversations about race, status and identity that could make life in India better, and an act that changed Ngugi’s life as he knew it.

Peter Ngugi being received in Guhawati, India. Photo provided by Bird, used with permission.