monalisa patsani
post news network
Bhubaneswar, July 24: A journey of 20,000 kilometres takes more than just a man and a machine to accomplish. It requires, more importantly, a rare combination of willpower and a strong mission to pursue such as one to support literacy.
Bharath R has both and a sturdy friend in his Royal Enfield 500K to take him through such a 120-day solo ride. The 27-year-old had started his journey from Chennai about a week ago and arrived in Puri Saturday after sojourns at Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam on the way.
Bharath’s journey will take him through cities in India, into Nepal, Bhutan and back.
“I will cover all 28 states and halt in 58 cities which includes one each in Nepal and Bhutan.” And the objective that keeps him going is “to visit government schools and collect data on infrastructure, availability of teachers, sanitation facilities and other aspects”.
“Literacy rate in India is poor especially in remote areas and the situation is almost similar in Nepal and Bhutan,” Bharat said.
A member of the youth wing of Rotary Club, he has undertaken the journey with support from the club and will be visiting 34 Rotary districts in the course of the journey. The data he collects, he says, will be used to seek help from Rotary International to aid education under its ‘Happy School’ project.
However, the rider’s initial experience in Orissa has been disappointing as he has not got an opportunity to interact with students of the state. “I have requested three or four schools to provide me with data,” he said.
In the one week on road, Bharath has visited 21 schools in the three cities besides three others along highways. He relates his experience thus: “Inside cities, the major problem is that people are opening too many schools without adequate number of teachers. The teacher–student ratio is poor in these schools as there are only 5–6 teachers for 500 students, which is inadequate. Schools on highways have sufficient teachers but they lack proper infrastructure. I found one school along the highway in which two classrooms had no roof.”
That Bharath is serious about his mission is testified by the fact that he is out on the road away from running a company. “I am a bike enthusiast, and biking is my passion. I run a company in Bangalore, but I am on a break since February to do something different. Social service is my other passion. So I thought why not follow both at one go,” he added.
This is the first international expedition that Bharath has set out on. He has been a biker for five years and has been on several short trips in the past. He feels the number of youths taking to biking and going on long expeditions is on the rise.
“The reason for the trend I believe is that people are getting bored of leading mundane lives. People like me, who are adventurous, want change. I can’t do the same thing over and over again. Probably that is what drives me to explore new things, visit places, do things differently.”
Bharath also finds the greenery of Orissa “refreshing”. “It is a good thing that people here are very conscious about nature and environment. I got to participate in a plantation drive and also donated blood at a camp here,” he said.
