Leisure & Travel

Equal Education for All odyssey (concl.)

EducationWorld’s special correspondent Srinidhi Raghavendra recently completed a 18,700 km motorcycle odyssey to highlight the importance of education equity. In March he concluded the final leg of his journey covering the north-east, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu before returning to Bangalore on April 15

EducationWorld’s special correspondent Srinidhi Raghavendra together with Kishore Patwardhan under the aegis of Borderless Bikers, Bangalore was on a South Asian motorcycle odyssey from December 2006 to April 2007. The objective of the mission was to spread the message that the people of India and neighbouring nations need to demand Equal Quality Education for All. The duo traversed 18,700 km during their epic four and a half month tour, through 25 states in India, crossing over into Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar. The expedition was supported by EducationWorld; TVS Motor Company; Intel; and Cramster, Bangalore.

In the September 2007 issue we featured Raghavendra’s diary notes recording their journey through the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and military ruled Myanmar. Given below is the account of the last leg of their journey through north eastern states of India, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

March 6, Imphal-Kohima. The ride from Imphal to Kohima (145 km) was uneventful except for a brief stop at a Nagaland border police station where we were invited to dine on dog meat, which sub inspector Shungring Anal insisted was a wondrous delicacy while ushering us into a dingy sheet-roofed room where a canine carcass was being roasted on a rotating spit. As vegetarians, the culinary exhibition was somewhat too repugnant even to witness, and we made quick excuses to hit the road to Kohima (pop.78,000) where we were once again welcomed and provided excellent accommodation and welcome vegetarian fare in the officers mess of the Border Road Organisation’s (BRO) 15 Task Force. We were glad to be heading out of the insurgency stricken area of the north-east where people live under the omnipresent shadow of the gun and are subject to threats, bandhs and extortion by militant groups. It’s hardly a surprise there’s a constant outflow of young people from the seven sister states to places like Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata.

March 7, Kohima-Kaziranga. We had 220 km to negotiate, most of it through dense forest of the Karbi-Anglong and Kaziranga sanctuaries. Keeping this in mind we set off at the crack of dawn (7.30 a.m) for Dimapur, stopping briefly at the Project Sevak headquarters to thank Brigadier B.D. Pandey for his kind support throughout our tour of the north-east and Myanmar. We reached Kaziranga at 5.00 p.m and booked a room in the Assam state forest department’s guesthouse (Rs.200 per night). While it was still daylight we decided to do some game spotting from the forest watchtower at the entrance of Kaziranga National Park. We were in luck and spotted one-horned rhinos and elephants grazing in the surrounding forest and grasslands. The powerful telescope installed atop the tower gave us close-ups of these gentle, hulking herbivores.

March 8, Kaziranga-Guwahati. The next day we signed up for Kaziranga National Park’s (KNP) wildlife safari. KNP is one of the world’s best preserved and well-administered game parks. Dedicated forest officers and the Assam state government have ensured that the population of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros is the largest in the world at 1,855. Sprawled over 860 sq. km and accorded world heritage site status in 1985, KNP is situated on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra river and was declared a national park in 1940. It hosts a thriving population of Indian elephants, swamp deer aka barasingha, hog deer, sloth bear, Royal Bengal tiger, leopards, capped langurs, hoolock gibbons, wild boar among other wildlife species.

Starting at 7.30 a.m our guide-cum-driver was ready with KNP’s safari jeep to take us into the rugged wilds of this epic park and after checking out its diverse wildlife, we returned to base camp to resume our journey to Guwahati (pop. 8.8 lakh). Already familiar with the road we rode swiftly to Assam’s capital city and retired early to bed in a comfortable room provided for us at the BRO officers’ mess.

March 9, Guwahati-Baghdogra. The distance from Guwahati (Assam) to Baghdogra (West Bengal) was 520 km on NH-37. After riding through several stretches of forest and national park, we entered West Bengal at the border town of Kochugaon. After a small mishap and slow riding, we reached Baghdogra at about 7 p.m, and once again checked into the BSF Kadam Tala officers’ mess.

March 10, Baghdogra. Bleary-eyed and weary after a massive tour of north-east India and Myanmar during which we logged 2,441 km, we decided to rest for a day in Baghdogra (pop. 15,800) and catch up with our correspondence. While walking the bustling streets of the town, we encountered a group of bikers from the SSB (Seema Suraksha Bal), a paramilitary force recently constituted to guard India’s borders. These bikers were on a 2,500 km ride from Arunachal Pradesh to Delhi along the Bhutan and Nepal border areas carrying the message of ‘National Integration and Unity in Diversity’.

The scale of the SSB expedition was amazing. For every riding member there were two outriders to take care of their administrative requirements. Moreover the SSB team had on board a professional photographer, doctor, cook, helper, mechanic and male nurse accompanying them in three backup vehicles. And here we were, a solitary twosome on our trusted steeds, pushing the limits for the visceral thrill of adventure biking.

March 11, Baghdogra-Gangtok. The 120 km ride to Gangtok, the administrative capital of the state of Sikkim (pop. 540,000) took us through verdant forests and hilly terrain. We rode at a leisurely pace, often stopping to absorb the panoramic valley views enroute to Gangtok which we reached at 6.00 p.m. Before entering the city, we took a detour to visit the sacred site of Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre where several hundred young students chanted Buddhist prayers rhythmically. The sounds of cymbals, gongs and mystical chanting enriched the experience of visiting this earthly nirvana which offers spectacular views of the surrounding mountain ranges.

In Gangtok (pop. 55,000) at the Sikkim-Manipal Medical College, Dr. Philip Raj, professor of surgery and a native of Bangalore welcomed us warmly and lodged us in one of the college’s most comfortable guest rooms.

March 12-13, Gangtok. We began the day with Dr. Raj who gave us a two-hour grand tour of the sylvan hillside campus of Sikkim-Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (estb.1999 at a capital cost of Rs.42 crore). Promoted by the Bangalore-based Manipal Education Group, the college boasts an enrollment of over 1,250 students instructed by 250 faculty.

Riding up into the lush green hills of Sikkim, we were lost in admiration of the splendid panorama around Gangtok. This tiny stamp sized Himalayan state has a plethora of natural, cultural and religious attractions. Since it acceded to India in 1950 it has made remarkable progress in terms of power generation, telecom and tourism. Every small town in Sikkim has broadband internet and mobile telephone networks. Surprisingly this is one state in which the Indian Postal Service is advertising quite enthusiastically, with every street corner hosting a hoarding, poster or kiosk screaming out the services offered by India Post.

From our base in Sikkim Manipal University in Gangtok, we visited the Namgyal Institute of Tibeteology, Hanuman Tok, Ganesh Tok, Himalayan Zoological Park and took a ride on the Gangtok Ropeway. The zoological park is extraordinary in that it houses animals in near natural conditions. Walking across the vast mountainside which houses the zoo is akin to walking through an evergreen forest replete with wildlife.

March 14, Gangtok-Baghdogra via Darjeeling. Starting out from Gangtok at 8.30 a.m we negotiated winding mountain roads to reach the town of Namchi (pop. 2,500) and visit the recently installed mega statue of Padmasambhava aka Namdrup Tse crowning a hill overlooking the town. The mammoth colourful statue is a great work of art and its location offers a beautiful view of Namchi and surrounding valleys.

A few hours at Namdrup Tse and we proceeded to Jorethang (35 km) and further up to the cooler climes of Darjeeling (45 km). The road from Jorethang to Darjeeling was the steepest stretch we negotiated in our entire five-month odyssey. We proce-eded with caution up the steep and curvaceous road and after what seemed an eternity, we reached this quaint and salubrious hill station at 3.30 p.m.

After paying a quick visit to popular hangouts in town — the Mall, Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and Snow Leopard Breeding Center — we proceeded downwards via Kurseong to reach Baghdogra at 7.30 p.m.

March 15-16, Baghdogra. Our hosts at BSF officers’ mess, Kadamtala, insisted that we spend an extra day to rest before we began the final leg of our journey from Baghdogra to Bangalore. We were only too pleased to accept their suggestion because a long ride lay ahead of us. Moreover we heard about the violence at Nandigram over the issue of land acquisition for Tata Motors and the subsequent bandh announced by opposition non-communist parties. So we decided to stay put in Baghdogra BSF campus for another day. It gave us a chance to catch up with administrative and laundry work.

March 17-Baghdogra-Berhampore/ Murshidabad. Our aim was to cover at least 405 km to Berhampore aka Murshidabad. We retraced our journey on the NH-34, which is a two-lane highway with medium quality surface. The initial leg took us through verdant hillsides of W. Bengal’s sprawling tea estates, producers of some of the world’s most exotic brews. Down in the plains the winter was over and the mercury was rising uncomfortably.

We had no option but to brave the heat and dust and unruly truck traffic on NH-34 and forge ahead towards our destination. We covered the remaining 150 km in the next three hours to reach Berhampore (pop.16,000) at 4.30 p.m and proceeded to the BSF 94 Batallion officers’ mess where our accommodation was arranged, and hit the sack.

March 17, Berhampore/Murshidabad-Kolkata. Since the weather was hot and sultry we decided to ride in the relatively cooler mornings and take a break in the afternoons. Therefore we rode swiftly through Krishnanagar, Shantipur, Rajghat, Barasat — a distance of 220 km to reach Kolkata at 2.30 p.m.

In retrospect this was quite an achievement because the traffic on the unpoliced NH-37 is very unruly, and heavy truck and bus drivers show scant regard for other road users as they drive with reckless enthusiasm. On several occasions we were forced to go off road as oncoming trucks and buses hurtled towards us, honking incessantly.

In Kolkata (pop. 11 million) we were accommodated by Seva Bharathi, a pan-India NGO which is active in development and rural education sectors. Our priority was to get to the Bangladesh high commission to get visas for entry into the last country on our itinerary.

March 18-23, Kolkata. We spent five frustrating days in Kolkata with little to show for them. My application for a tourist visa to Bangladesh was rejected on the grounds that journalists were prohibited from entering the country which had declared a civil emergency in December 2006.

We punctuated our several visits to the Bangladesh high commission with visits to the city’s cultural and historical highlights. Victoria Memorial evokes the image of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and has a highly educative museum within which the city’s history is traced in complete detail.

The Belur Math and Dakshineshwar temple are the spiritual landmarks of the city of joy. The peaceful ambience of the math was so soothing; it was tempting to grab the impulse of spending a few days there, recollecting emotions in tranquility.

The birthplace of Swami Vivekananda and the Netaji Research Academy have been converted into museums and are no less a pilgrimage for anyone visiting this region.

March 24, Kolkata-Petrapole. Our journey towards the India-Bangladesh border started early in the morning. We rode out of town on NH-34 towards Barasat, from where we took a detour onto NH-35 heading for the Petrapole (India)-Benapole (Bangladesh) border — a distance of 95 km.

At 8 a.m in the morning the border town was buzzing with activity. Several hundred people cross the Indo-Bangladesh border every day by bus or on foot. India registered vehicles are not allowed to enter Bangladesh by India’s customs and excise officials unless they have a carnet de passage — a document which can be purchased from the Automobile Association of India by depositing a refundable sum equivalent to the value of the vehicle. Though world over carnet de passage has been abolished, typically Indian customs officials didn’t know this, and refused to allow Kishore to travel across the border by bike. So we decided he would travel to Bangladesh by bus and I would stay in Bongaon, a small town 6 km from Petrapole, and await his return four-five days later.

March 25-28, Bongaon/Petrapole. Bongaon town has several distance education centres of Sikkim Manipal University (SMU). Since there is no mainstream college in and around Bongaon, youth of the area prefer to enroll for distance education courses offered by SMU.

I met up with some local motorcycle enthusiasts at a cyber café, who chalked out an itinerary for me, and took off with about 15 bikers towards the forests around the area. The name of the town is derived from the thick forest (ban) that surrounds it. It’s common to see most town folk immersed in neck deep water on summer afternoons because of the unbearable heat and inhospitable terrain.

March 29, Bongaon-Digha. Kishore came back from Bangladesh in the morning and we headed towards Digha — a beach resort on the West Bengal-Orissa border. Getting out of Kolkata was difficult and frustrating. The heat was oppressive. Roads in Kolkata convulse with traffic, which made me wonder why people in Bangalore complain of bad traffic conditions. They should visit Kolkata to learn how well traffic is managed in Bangalore!

March 30, Digha-Cuttack. After an early morning swim on the beach at Digha we visited the ancient Chandaneshwar Shiva temple and headed towards Cuttack at about 10 a.m.

Hitting NH-5 our progress was pretty fast on the superbly tarred and finished road, part of the golden quadrilateral linking Kolkata-Delhi-Chennai-Mumbai. But calamity struck as we entered Cuttack. We were riding into the city looking for Samskruthi Bhavan, the hostel of Seva Bharathi (an education NGO active in the region), when a cycle rickshaw suddenly crossed my path forcing me to brake and I skidded, suffering a gash on my right knee. My sturdy TVS Apache bike took the brunt of the fall. This accident necessitated a rest day at Cuttack (pop.5.8 lakh) which helped me update our website, visit three underprivileged schools, and take in the local sights.

March 31, Cuttack. In Cuttack we got acquainted with Ashok Samantrai, a local building contractor and volunteer of Seva Bharathi. On hearing about our mission, he insisted that we visit his alma mater, which also happened to be the school where Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had studied. It gave us the opportunity to address the teachers about the importance of education for nation building.

April 1, Cuttack-Puri via Konark. Our plan was to ride to Puri via Bhubaneshwar and Konark and reach this famed temple town by nightfall. We started off from Samskrithi Bhavan at about 9.00 a.m and first went to Ashok’s house for breakfast and to meet his sprightly, widely travelled and knowledgeable father. After chatting with him and breakfast we proceeded into the city to visit the birthplace of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. (Contrary to popular belief, this great freedom fighter and founder of the Indian National Army, was born in Orissa, not Bengal). But being a Sunday the Bose Memorial Museum was closed. Therefore after viewing the exterior we rode out of Cuttack and hit NH-5 for Bhubaneshwar.

The NH-5 is busier than a main road in the city and we progressed carefully, bypassing Bhubaneshwar for a speedy arrival at our much-awaited next destination — Konark. The heat was savage and we were baking inside our riding jackets. Carrying on regardless we reached Konark at high noon, and before long, found ourselves before the architectural marvel which is the Sun Temple. Tall, vast and highly intricate, the temple carved out of stone is a thing of beauty and nothing short of a week would enable you to imbibe its aura and scale of detail.

One of the highlights of the Konark Sun Temple is the beautiful life-like sculptures of humans carved on the exterior plinths. The entire exterior of the Natya Mandapa consists of exquisite reliefs of female forms in seductive dance postures. The main temple’s plinth is a maze of erotic sculptures, dazzling the eye of the beholder. Proceeding towards Puri on Orissa’s Marine drive, the road passes through the Konark-Puri wildlife sanctuary and is flanked by the ocean on the left and forest on the right. It’s an exhilarating ride and we enjoyed every bit of it.

Regrettably the famous temple town of Puri is dirty and crowded. There are temples everywhere and touts offering a range of services are ubiquitous. Narrow, overpopulated roads characterise the residential areas of the town. The Jagannath temple beckoned from a distance but we decided to savour its marvels on the morrow.

April 2, Puri-Berhampur. The Jagann-ath temple, Puri is an enduring wonder of architecture. But unperturbed temple authorities have constructed modern cement structures left, right and centre without any respect or consideration for the temple skyline. The 217 ft. spire of the main temple is an awesome sight.

Being an important pilgrimage destination, the high point of the Puri calendar is the annual rath yatra, during which the former princely ruler of Puri sweeps the streets prior to the mighty 70 tonne chariots of Lord Jagannath and his consort Radha being pulled through the streets of Puri, and back nine days later.

To expedite our passage from Puri to Berhampur we had planned a ferry ride across the mighty lake Chilika — the world’s largest salt water lake and natural habitat of the famous Irrawady dolphins. But we missed the last government ferry and had to settle for a small leaky wooden boat. Due to cramped conditions I had to stand throughout the 45 minute crossing, as the boat cut through choppy waters. Unloading the bikes from the boat was tricky because if one of them had fallen into the brine, the salt would have corroded the engines.

Once on shore we lost no time to get onto NH-5 to head for Berhampur along a narrow, potholed, muddy, dusty 55 km road. The sun beat down on us mercilessly. Nevertheless the highway was lined with small pools of water, enabling us to stop and cool off at will. Finally, hot and bothered in our riding jackets we reached Berhampur (pop.3 lakh) at 4.00 p.m — where our host, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, an NGO working for upliftment of tribals in the district, lodged us in welcome comfort.

April 3, Berhampur-Vishakapatnam. Cruising along newly laid, smooth and wide roads, flanked by mango orchards and the eastern ghats, we covered a distance of 300 km in a mere five hours to reach Vishakapatnam (pop.1.5 million) aka Vizag, the coastal city of northern Andhra Pradesh where India’s largest shipbuilding yard is located. The only significant organisations here are Vizag Steel, the Indian Navy establishments and HSBC Bank.

April 4-6, Vishakapatnam. We spent the next two days sleeping, watching DVDs, eating and just relaxing. As we neared the end of our tour, these breaks became more frequent and necessary. Since Vizag is surrounded by mountains of the eastern ghats and the sea, it is cooler than Orissa.

Surfacing after two days, we made a local excursion to Simhachalam, about 15 km from Vizag. Nestled in the lush hills of the Eastern Ghats this is the site of a charming hill temple dedicated to Lord Narasimha (half lion, half man). Accessible via a motorable road, this hilltop temple’s architecture combines the Orissan and Chalukyan styles and it attracts multitudes of pilgrims from across the country. The presiding deity Varaha Lakshminarasimha is worshipped in the form of Varaha (wild boar) and Narasimha.

April 7-9, Vishakapatnam-Chennai. We started off from Vishakapatnam following a plan to reach Chennai in four days. But road conditions on NH-5 were so good that we covered the distance in just three. This long ride through the heart of Andhra Pradesh was uneventful, past small towns and endless acres of rippling rice fields.

If every road in the country is built like the NH-5, movement of goods between distant regions would be so fast that agricultural and horticultural produce would never spoil in transit. We reached Nellore on the second day from where Chennai was only 130 km, and stopped for the night at Sullurpete, about 80 km short of Chennai. After a leisurely breakfast and lunch it was a swift ride through Tada, Arambakam, Gumidipete to the outskirts of Chennai. Our hosts T. Rajagopalan and Padma Mariam had booked us in Hotel Golden Tower in the best luxury rooms, and entertained us in the evening.

April 10-11, Chennai, Mahabalipuram, etc. Starting early, we piled into our hosts’ motor car and proceeded towards Mahabalipuram on the scenic East Coast Road, stopping at the Crocodile Bank which houses several species of crocs in near natural surroundings.

The ancient Shore Temple which has been reclaimed from the sea is a world heritage site and one can’t stop marvelling at the carvings, named Arjuna’s Penance.

April 12, Chennai-Tirupathi. The morning was spent on Chennai’s lively and colourful Elliots Marina beach. Later in the day I convinced Padma to ride with us to Tirupathi and hike up the hill. So we loaded our luggage in her car while Kishore and I rode up towards Tirupathi. This 160 km evening stretch was different because there was no luggage on my bike. We cruised along smoothly, passing through beautiful countryside, until we reached Tirupathi at about 9.30 p.m, just in time for dinner.

April 13, Tirupathi. Like every adventurer, I had wondered at the beginning of this expedition, whether I would survive. So at dawn the next morning it was time for thanksgiving at Tirupathi Venkateshwara Temple. As per a vow I had made at the start of our motorcycle odyssey, I tonsured my head and waited for the darshan. But unfortunately, because of large waiting crowds the darshan didn’t happen at all. So somewhat disconsolate, we retraced our steps down the hill.

April 14, Tirupathi-Kolar. We had half a day on our hands to festoon our bikes with the national flag in anticipation of our homecoming to Karnataka, from where we started our epic journey five months ago. The highway is in good condition and was familiar territory. We zipped through Chittor and Palamner to enter Karnataka where a cool breeze welcomed us to our home state. We spent the last night on the road in Kolar. Tomorrow would be a momentous day.

April 15, Kolar-Bangalore. News of our return had reached Bangalore. As we proceeded to Woody’s restaurant on the outskirts of Kolar for our final breakfast on the road, we were greeted by friends who had driven all the way from Bangalore to welcome us. What started as a dream, culminated at the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Bangalore’s eponymous road where a gala reception had been organised for us by TVS and EducationWorld. Family, friends, colleagues and media persons were in full attendance as we revelled in a warm reunion. In the triumph of homecoming, the hardships faded; memories came unbidden .