It's a love story worthy of film and may soon reach the big screen.
Mahanandia Pradyumna Kumar was born in 1949 in a family of poor weavers of Odisha, India. Since childhood, he showed artistic talent, but belonged to the lowest caste in India, the Dalits or untouchables, and his family did not have enough money to fund their education.
His childhood was hard; for being Dalit sometimes he was stoned when he tried to enter the temple of his people. After several failed attempts to study art as a result of their economic situation, managed to enter the University Khallikote Brahmapur in 1971 and later enlisted School of Art in New Delhi.
Mahanandia rose to fame in his country when by chance I saw happen to the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereskova, he drew and he could deliver the portrait. The story made headlines in the press in his own country and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him to do a portrait.
So he obtained permission from the authorities to continue working under the sacred source in Connaught Place, Delhi , from where he expelled before: now police guarding to protect it.
It was there that he met Charlotte von Sledvin, a Swedish 19-years studying in London. He ran 1975 and Von Sledvin, who was on tour in India, heard of his portraits. She appeared before b Mahanandia for the draw.
"He was an expert in making portraits," she recalled many years later. "I had read about it in a newspaper and had gone with him to make me a picture. But he could not make me one perfect and I had to come to him for three consecutive days. That's when he told me that he had already decided in the sky, which was to be his wife. I knew I had found my soul mate. "
It was more than a crush. In a time when interracial marriage was frowned upon in Europe and in India, PK Mahanandia and Von Sledvin they married.
Now a post that tells the incredible story has gone viral on Facebook , where it has been shared more than 64,000 times.
In 1977, after marriage, Von Sledvin had to return to Sweden and asked her husband to follow her; even he offered to pay the airfare. But the artist had something else in mind.
PK Mahanandia had no money to make the trip and refused to let his wife will pay, but decided to go to Sweden by bike, the only means of transport that does not need fuel to operate. He sold all his possessions and bought second hand to embark on his journey in 1977.
He left New Delhi and across Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, the then Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria and Denmark. During their journey, the artist drew portraits of people he met, which served to feed and continue traveling.
Her bike was broken many times and had to hitchhike in cars and trucks. After four months and three weeks, he arrived in Gothenburg, on the west side of Sweden on May 28, 1977.
Border guards could not believe her story because, well, Von Sledvin is related to the Swedish royal family, but the girl, who had traveled there, was confirmed.
The couple lives since then in Boras, Sweden.
After 40 years of marriage and two children, PK Mahanandia is Cultural Ambassador of the Odiya tribe of India to Sweden. His people, who once shunned as untouchable, now gives an enthusiastic welcome every time you visit.
It is well known in Sweden as an artist and works as a consultant for Arts and Culture, under the Swedish government. His paintings have been exhibited in major cities around the world and have appeared in UNICEF cards.
Now Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali is planning to make a film about the love story of Charlotte Von PK Mahanandia and Sledvin, and is in talks with Warner Bros to produce.
Photos taken from Facebook
