On the road, for cause and effect

His India is green At a restaurant on a cacophonic street in Thane the waiter impatiently clicks his tongue glaring at 25 yearold Vaibhav Desai who has not touched his coffee Desai barely aware of the waiterrsquos restlessness to have him vacate the table speaks softly about his mammoth 20000 kmlong cycling trip across India and its connection with environmental issues In July 2010 Viswajit Dilip a maritime engineer travelled to Togo island in West Africa to work on a ship which modelled itself into a hospital and further travelled to Ghana and Ethiopia In December 2010 the computer engineer left his job to cycle across India and is on an ongoing mission to spread three simple messages on the way mdash the importance of banking and planting seeds supporting cowsheds in rural areas and encouraging the use of natural chemicalfree cattle products His project called Green Cycle Green Earth is selffunded and Desai blogs about it and spreads the message through social media ldquoTravel isnrsquot just about gaping at the sights I travel to understand peoplersquos connections with the place and learn something about myself on the way the way Buddha and Swami Vivekananda did perhapsrdquo he says a tad sheepishly ldquoTo people it seems like I am spreading a message but it is as much a personal questrdquo Since 2010 Desai has cycled deep into the west and south of India and spoken to NGOs civic authorities panchayats and schools wherever he has gone ldquoI am not an environmentalist so I try to gather as much information as I can and request authorities if I may give lectures for freerdquo He has barely been rejected In fact his bicycle and tshirt which carries the message of the project and website details often has locals calling out to him and asking him about his mission After being on the road for more than a year Desai is still rendered speechless by incidents mdash like when schoolgirls from a remote village in Kerala where he delivered a lecture called and told him about how they trek for several kilometres to work at an environmental NGO to do their bit Mallikarjun Singh extreme right Ranjul Goswami centre and Bertram Fonseca along with Anil Uchil rode 1940 kilometres across four states over 21 days to raise Rs 10 lakh for two charities as part of the event Cycling4Change They kickstarted their project at the Gateway Of India last month ldquoThanks to my travels I have seen a side to India I wouldrsquove never believed existedrdquo he says Last year while travelling from Nagpur Desai swore to make the Rs 30 in his pocket last for at least a day But the cash was untouched till he reached Odisha because every few kilometres locals would offer food and shelter without him asking for it ldquoOnce I stopped to pay respects at a Gurudwara and the attendant not only gave me food but also lsquodonatedrsquo Rs 50 I donrsquot think he even understood my project fully because he kept smiling into spacerdquo he laughs Log on to wwwgreencyclegreenearthcom On the road for cause and effect Heritage heroes Aniketh MJ and Sulesh Kumar were climbing the corporate ladder with wellpaid jobs at a global investment banking firm in Bengaluru till they left their jobs in June 2010 and June 2011 respectively But even as you read this the two 24 yearolds will be en route to the Mahabodhi Temple at Body Gaya Patna a UNESCO World Heritage Site where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment Vaibhav Desai began cycling across India in December 2010 as part of his project Green Cycle Green Earth and has covered almost 20000 kms till date The boys will probably be discussing their recent adventures on the road from having scouted for the onehorned rhino at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam to wandering around the seaside wonder of Mahabalipuram in Chennai MJ and Kumar are currently tripping around the countryrsquos length and breadth while they are on a sabbatical from work and studies to spread awareness about our tourist places listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites ldquoThese 28 heritage sites are what put India on the global maprdquo MJ tells us over the phone ldquoAt each site we fill out a form that details how well it is maintainedrdquo Subjects of study include security toilet facilities accommodation facilities the availability of a knowledgeable guide and hisher credentials and defacement of the walls among other things The pair chats up visitors to get their perspective too Says MJ ldquoAt the end of our travels we are going to compile a report based on our surveys and hand it over to the UNESCOrdquo On its part UNESCO has been encouraging their efforts by publicising the cause on their website The enthusiastic pair which has so far covered 10 sites is sticking to a tight budget and moving around mostly in local transport They have been constantly blogging tweeting and ldquoFacebookingrdquo about their travels in a bid to generate more interest in heritage and conservation Mumbai figures in their scheme of things though only in the first week of May which happens to be among their last days on the road Log on to fromtigerstotombswordpresscom Working on vacation If you go strictly by stereotypes according to 25 yearold Viswajeet Dilip most fellow maritime engineers work hard during the four months at sea and party even harder when they return home for their twomonthlong paid leave But while his peers are busy checking out the latest luxury cars and watches you can safely assume that Dilip is either rubbing shoulders with locals at a sweaty crowded local bus en route to Hampi or planning another stint as an engineer at an ocean vessel that provides healthcare to third world countries like Togo in west Africa Dilip has travelled extensively since 2008 mdash Thailand Indonesia Malaysia Zanzibar Karnataka and so on But in 2010 he signed up with Mercy Ships which planned to work in Togo for nine months During his monthlong stint on the island Dilip woke up at 5 am to spend time with patients because his work with the engines hardly gave him a chance to see the result of his labour ldquoThe world has enough misconceptions about India and in turn we have the same about say Africa Yes Togo is poor but it isnrsquot full of disease and squalor like I assumed The locals are just as smart even sly when they want their wayrdquo he smiles He says he was surprised that he was the only Indian among the 400 volunteers on the ship ldquoIt was a different world hilarious at times mdash a dating pool for some and a break for others who were sick of their empty corporate lives For me it is the best way to see my worldrdquo says Dilip who funded his air travel and further travelled to Ghana and Ethiopia too ldquoI understand my destinations now instead of just whizzing past them Regular leisurecentric travel doesnrsquot do this to yourdquo he says Pedal pushers Four city folks mdash Anil Uchil 41 Mallikarjun Singh 28 Ranjul Goswami 43 and Bertram Fonseca 31 mdash came together with their trusty bicycles for a journey that took them from one iconic landmark to another mdash the Gateway of India in Mumbai to the India Gate in Delhi last month They rode 1940 kilometres across four states over 21days to raise Rs 10 lakh for two charities The event Cycling4Change saw the four push the pedal through Surat Vadodara Ahmedabad Udaipur Ajmer Jaipur and Bharatpur to raise awareness about childhood cancer and raise money for CanKids an organisation working for kids suffering from cancer and Magic Bus a sportsfordevelopment NGO that works with children from marginalised communities ldquoSomething changed in each of us when we met kids suffering from cancer in a hospital in Ahmedabad which was one of our stopsrdquo Uchil tells us over the phone ldquoThat changed our perspective towards both the trip and our livesrdquo The four constantly updated their Facebook page while on the road making note of the terrain the villages the breaks they would take the locals and passersby along with a constant reminder for their followers to get into action and donate for the cause ldquoWhen on a cycle you notice a lot of that you wouldrsquove missed in a vehiclerdquo says Singh ldquoYou can easily blend in and connect with people without harming the environment We are now planning to make this an annual event We might even take it to different cities and have people joining in for parts of the trip if not all of itrdquo Log on to wwwfacebookcomCycling4Change