post news network, Bhubaneswar, June 20: After travelling more than 7,700kms on cycle and meeting over one lakh people in states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh among others, the 40-year-old journalist-cum-activist, Rakesh Kumar Singh has reached Bhubaneswar, Saturday, on his way to fulfil his mission of making people aware of the necessity to treat women as equal to men.
Rakesh, alongside journalism, works in various projects related to communication. He undertook his painstaking and ambitious journey March last year and vowed to venture into different parts of the country and meet people during his journey to fight for the noble cause of equality of genders.
“I started my cycle journey last year. I had a single goal – to reach out to maximum people and create awareness among the public about the need of equal treatment of the less-privileged gender. We often come across cases of atrocities against women. I believe that criminal minds, which breed in our society is behind those atrocities and it is the need of the time to destroy that mindset that begets crime. Through my mission I try to educate people so that these budding criminal minds are killed at its infancy,” said Rakesh.
The activist on cycle had been toiling hard to ensure that his message reaches out to a number of people and he can get maximum output from the arduous task he has undertaken. “I often travel to villages, hamlets and big cities. I often come across many people during my journey and try my best to interact with them and counsel them on gender rights, so that the fate of women in the country does not lie in the hands of some people with criminal mindset,” he says.
In order to ensure that the passersby read his message, he has tactically deployed some techniques. His cycle has some messages inscribed on it in different languages to cater to the needs of different people speaking diverse tongues. He also has a flag at the back of his cycle for people to understand that he is not any cyclist, but one with a mission.
“To reach out to the people, communication is very crucial. I carry with me a projector, puppets, posters and other materials, which help me in demonstrating my messages through proper channels. I have got overwhelming response from the public through my means of communication,” said Rakesh.
He is undeterred by the hurdles he has faced on his way. He does not want to leave any stone unturned in his mission. He has plans to pedal ahead with his mission. “I am not giving up. I plan to continue my journey till 2017. It will culminate with my entering the national Capital with 500 like-minded cyclists to make the people of the country aware of the importance of my mission,” Rakesh said.