Day 4: Varanasi to Dhanbad

We were supposed to wake up at 5:00 am today. But as we were tired a lot, we woke up at 6 am, that too at the wake up call of the receptionist. We ordered some tea. Getting freshened, we got ready in not much time. Then, we left the Diamond hotel and collected two newspapers which covered our story yesterday. We, then moved on towards the GT Road. On the way was the Raj Ghat Pul, where we halted for sometime and clicked some morning pics.
Some pics clicked.

 

Then clicking pics, we moved on towards the GT Road. We were at once shocked at watching a board reading Dhanbad 550kms from Varanasi. But, thankfully it was only 420kms. We faced many challenges while riding our bikes. Bungee cords again didn't prove to be much of a help initially, our bags were not fixed. But, later on, I got an idea of fixing our bags with another bungee cord which  proved to be very beneficial. Then, it was fixed like glue on the rear seat and I drove the bike very easily.  Then, after driving 120kms, we reached a dhaba called Kajal Line hotel at some village in Bihar. Had different type of aalo ka paranthas there. While we were having our breakfast, we met  a person from Patna, who was a doctor by profession. He offered us some sweet dish prepared by his mom, and we really liked it. Also, while discussing about Naxalism in the nearby areas, we got to know about a looting incident, which happened only last night. The truck driver was beaten very harshly and the things were looted. We were somewhat scared at that. But, spirit didn't go. We just saw each other and moved on.

Some pics clicked.

The truck that was looted a night before.

 Then we kept moving on. There was a different scene in this area from that in UP. Here, we found date trees and some dense forests along the road side. The villages were different too. The huts were built with the help of straws used as their rooftops. Every villager had goats, buffaloes etc kept as their pets. It was altogether a new scenic view in front of us. After riding for another 120kms, we halted at some open area as we were scared to halt at a place where dense forests surrounded the roads. We clicked many photographs there. Some of those are

 After this rest, we decided to reach Dhanbad without any further stay in between. Then, in another 2 hours, we reached Dhanbad. Where, President Rtn Viresh Doshi had made arrangements for us at a hotel, Abhinandan Hotel. We were escorted to the hotel. Then, after we got freshened, Viresh ji called his friends and fellow rotarians to the hotel, where we had our lunch together. After the lunch, They took us to the Free Jaipur Limb Center, which is their own project. The centre gives free jaipur limbs to the needy. This project was started three years ago with the help of the wife of Late Rtn Gerrey Powell from UK. The project manager and incharge of the center, Rajesh Prashad ji showed and explained about the center. We had our photo session with Dainik Jagran outside the center and then a discussion about polio amongst us all, including the reporter. I explained them about the mission, we are taking the expedition for. It was great learning that people from the nearby regions were well aware about the Polio Vaccine and they regularly got their children immunized. After the discussions,we left the place.

 Some pics clicked there.

 

After the Center, we left for a repair shop. Our bikes needed some service. So we met the mechanics Green Singh ji(not hari) and Umesh Singh ji. Umesh Singh ji repaired my bike and Green Singh ji repaired Deepak's bike. They were very happy to learn that we have driven all the way from Chandigarh to Dhanbad. They refused to take money from us, but we gave them the money forcibly. Then, we came back.

Some pics clicked there.

After the service, we came back to the hotel and slept for good 3 hours. Then at night, we were invited for the new year party by PDG Rtn Kamal Sandhvi ji.We enjoyed there and then came back to the hotel and am writing this blog now.

Some Pics clicked.

Day 3: Kanpur to Varanasi

Today was the best day of the trip so far. We woke up in the morning at around 8am, though we had planned to wake up at 7am. We were very tired yesterday, so we couldn’t wake early. Anyways, we somehow managed to get ready by 9am and leave Shagun guest house, where we stayed in Kanpur. While we checked out, the worker at the guest house started cleaning our bikes,  that too without us asking him to. That was so nice of him, and I was touched by his gesture. I thanked him from the core of my heart and left the place. 

We drove for around 120 kms towards Varanasi on the NH2. Then, we took a halt at a Dhaba(Indian restaurant) called OM DHABA in a village called Diguli. We saw three children(all below 10 years of age) working there, while the elders were sitting gossiping with each other. 
Deepak and I were shocked. We confronted the elders sitting there and asked them, why didn’t they themselves worked, while the children were made to work. 
To this, one of them replied while giggling, they want to work here. 
I asked,” Don’t they study?” 
He said ,” if they wanted to study, then why would they be working here?” 
I was stunned. In a discussion with another village folk sitting among us, I got to know that it was their parents who made them to work and earn money for them, while the parents would sit at home and enjoy. 
I called all the three children and asked them to write their names, I was more than astonished having seen that only one of the three children was able to write his name. 

In the meanwhile, Deepak distributed the Polio caps to the children and told them about the campaign. 
We asked the elders about the reason of children not going to schools. They told that there was no teacher to teach at the school. We were left with no words but worried about the children’s future. 
While, we were discussing these things, there was another folk scolding one his workers as he allegedly stole a mobile phone of his. He used a stick to beat him and to make him confess for his misdeed. 
The whole incidence and the scene was altogether a new experience for us as we savoured gobhi ke paranthe with mirchi ki chatni  and tea while this was happening around us.
There was one Suresh Singh with long moustache in traditional rural attire, sitting on a charpoy. While talking to him, I found that he often visits Chandigarh, so, I gave him contact number and asked him to contact me while he comes to Chandigarh. 
After we finished our breakfast, we left for our destination, THE HOLY CITY OF INDIA - Varanasi. Here are some pix enroute Diguli.

We kept driving for another 60 kms, before we  found the holy river Ganges flowing under the bridge we were riding on. We stopped for some time and enjoyed the beautiful view. 

Then on we decided not to stop before reaching Varanasi as we were getting late than the time we had earlier intimated to Rtn Rajesh Gupta, President Rotary Club Varanasi East, who was taking care of our visit to Varanasi. 
Around 3pm, we reached the rendezvous point, the Raj Ghat bridge where we were supposed to see Rtn Rajesh ji.  He reached there in no time and took us to his office in a building called Atithi Bhavan. We remained there for another 2 hours while media reporters visited us to interview us and ask our experience till now. 
They wanted to know more about the objective of our trip which we shared with them. And we also shared the pinnis that Rtn Lokesh ji had given us to everyone's delight. 
Then came a photographer named Anirudh Pandey ji. He was a very impressive person and told us everything about the city. A few things that he told us was Varanasi is called the city of streets, city of lights, mini India as people of almost every region reside here, etc. 


He also told us that people in Varanasi have a low standard of living. Another thing he told us was the area called Assi. According to him, people from different intellectual, political, monetary level gather to have tea at Pappu aur Poi ki chai ki dukan and talk to each other as if there is no difference in their living standards. 
There was a lot that we learnt during that two hours, and learnt a lot about the city. I could see tear and grief in his eyes as he narrated the recent bomb attack in the city.  Anyways, he was to rush to his office urgently, so he took our leave and left.

After that, Rajesh ji took us to the highly congested streets of the city, where driving even a cycle was a tough task, but we were riding our bikes there. It was a new experience to ride in such congested streets. He took us to a panwala and bought us banaras ke famous Pan. 
We bought new bungee cords. (remember our cords were broken on the first day). Then we reached our hotel called Diamond Hotel. 

After freshning up we moved to Rtn Pradeep De’s school, where Xmas and New Year eve function was organized by the Rotary Club Varanasi South. 

 
Little children were performing there. We also participated in a game to sing a song based on a few words given to us.  It was fun. Deepak and I sang Punjabi songs. 

 

 
We were honored by the Rotarians present there and we discussed about our expedition to create awareness to eradicate polio. Rotarians that were present in the function were, Rtn Rajesh Gupta ji, Rtn Pradeep De ji, PDG and NCM Rtn Dr VN Singh ji, Rtn Amar Chand ji, Rtn Sanjay Aggarwal ji, Rtn Rajesh Saxena ji, and Rtn Deepak Asthana ji. 

We also met some Rotaractors there and interacted about our projects and the normal discussions went on while having our dinner. While we were having our dinner, Rajesh Gupta ji came and told us he was leaving. It was a sad moment for us as he became very close to us. Anyways, bade him Good Bye. The Rotaractors helped us reach our hotel and then bidding them good night, we came to our room, and this was the time to update our blog.

A Happy New Year to Polio Warriors

Follow Gaurav & Deepak

You can follow Gaurav & Deepak's journey on GOOGLE LATITUDE and know their current status. Just Go to Google Latitude, register yourself and send request to add Gaurav as Friend. As they move from one city to another, they keep on uploading their status, and you can keep a tab too.
Send in your new year greetings, and share their journey with your friends.

Day 3: On to Varanasi

The duo have reached Varanasi at 3:00pm. Great going and best wishes to them.

Day 2: Delhi to Agra to Kanpur

It was a fresh morning today with a little cover of fog around the city. We got a knock at the door, I opened the door to find a service man carrying a kettle having tea. He was serving the morning tea to every room in the guest house. We had the tea and got ready, as we were supposed to have our Breakfast and then depart for Agra.
Having had corn flakes and bread in our breakfast, we moved towards the reception of the guest house to find the Rotarians Rtn ML Aggarwal, Rtn Amit Jain, and Rtn VK Jain waiting for us. We greeted them and then, as were getting late, Rtn Amit Jain, flagged our trip off.

Then while on the way to Agra, we were met by Rtn Lokesh Gupta. He gave us some namkeens and atte ki pinni to eat on the way and the literature and other relevant material relating to the campaign. It was a very nice moment that time. We clicked some pics while waiting for Rtn Lokesh Gupta ji.

As Lokesh ji left us, we started for Agra. The journey till Ballabhgarh was very tiring and full of traffic jams. But, the NH2 after Ballabhgarh was really very smooth and awesome. We enjoyed riding through the smooth roads and mesmerized the along lying sarson fields. But, the main problem I faced on the roads was people coming from here and there and having no sense of crossing the roads. They were surpassed by the Trucks coming from the opposite direction(wrong way) on our road. It was really scary and we were made to drive very cautiously and carefully. Anyways, then taking rest for about 2 times on the way, we reached  Agra, covering a distance of about 240 kms and driving for 4 hours. Some pics of our journey till Agra.

We reached Agra at 1:30 pm. Rtn Shivraj ji (NPM), Rtn Inder Chand Jain ji(President), Rtn Jagjit Singh ji(Club Trainer), and Rtn Mrs. Mithilesh Jain (Secretary) were their to receive us at Prem Food Court. We, then had our discussions regarding our mission and the trip we are carrying out. Then came the press people, who asked us about our mission etc. After that, we had our lunch and then as the time was flying by, we completed our lunch and headed towards the parking where our motorcycles were parked. While I was walking towards the parking, a waiter came nearby and asked me if I was their to perform something. To which I replied, "Yes buddy, we are here to perform something, which is 'CREATING AWARENESS ABOUT POLIO'". (I could not click pics there)
Some pictures that we clicked enroute to Agra.

Leaving from Agra, we had a very nice journey to Kanpur. The NH2 being a very nicely constructed Highway, left us with not much tiredness. We, then reached Kanpur at around 7:30pm. We were met by the DRR nominee for 2012-13 Rtr Ankit Aggarwal. He took us to the guest house where we were supposed to stay at night and had dinner with us, which I liked a lot. We discussed about many projects, different cultures of our places etc. It was a wonderful meeting with him. He left after that. And I am writing this blog.

Some pics enroute to Kanpur.

Day 2: Delhi-Kanpur

Our two warriors started early from Delhi and have just safely entered Kanpur, 7:40pm. As they settle down, we await more reports coming in from them. Good luck to Gaurav and Deepak.

Day 1: Chandigarh to Delhi

With PRIP RK Saboo sir flagging off our ride to create awareness among the people of India, we traveled through the busy roads of Panchkula with a unique feeling of pride in us. In around half an hour, we reached Dera Bassi, where we had an interaction session with the Rotary Club of Dera Bassi. We were greeted with great honour and enthusiasm.PP Rtn. Bhupinder Singh ji introduced us to the whole team of the rotary club, and the fellow roatarians showed an equal interest in the interactive session as we both did. It was a new experience for both of us, as we did not have such an exposure before. Anyways, one of the rotarians raised a very nice question i.e. What are we both going to do on our entire expedition to create awareness about the Virus?.

Being the team leader, What I answered was, I want to meet each and single Rotaractor and Rotarian on my way so that I can interact with them, and ask them to visit every household in their area and give a dose of Polio vaccine on the NIDs to every child below 5 years of age. Now, that we have been able to reduce the number of cases of Polio from 740 last year to 41 this year, we should not be careless, rather we should be more cautious now, as this disease may rebound back with a greater virulence (as said by Saboo sir in his speech on 24th December, 2010).

Another Rotarian, asked me to interact with the people in their native language, and ask them whats the main reason behind polio being prominent in their areas. I found his suggestion really very great. So, I will keep such a thing in my mind while interacting with the people of different areas, esp. UP and Bihar, where the cases are found to be more. After the interaction session, we took our lunch and then started off to our destination, Delhi. We were seen off by the Rotarians.

While on our way to Delhi, we met with some real problems. First, A very heavy traffic jam near Sonepat. It was really tiring. Secondly, the bungee cords which were used to hold my bag to the bike, broke and my bag fell on the highway.  It was really a horrible moment for me, as my fellow rider had gone a few miles further.  However, I somehow managed to get the things back to normal and carry on with the ride.
We reached our guest house in Delhi University at around 8:30pm and had our dinner. Then coming back to my room, I am sharing this blog with you all.  :)

Polio Warriors embark on their 8000kms Journey

Rotary District 3080 is proud to have two young Rotaractors, Gaurav and Deepak, who decided to traverse 8000 kms across the country and spread the message 'End Polio Now'. 

They were flagged off today at 1:45pm by Past Rotary International President Rajendra K. Saboo. 

Both Gaurav and Deepak are members of Rotaract Club of Chandigarh, and avid bikers, and would be riding Pulsar 220cc for this 23-days trip during which they would be travelling to Agra, Varanasi, Dhanbad, Kolkata, and via Bhubneshwar Vishakhapatnam, reach Kanayakumari on 9^th January.

On their way back from 12^th – 16^th January they would be attending the Rotaract Asian Conference in Goa, ROTASIA, whereafter reach Chandigarh on 21^st January, via Ahmedabad, Rann of Kutch and Jaipur.

Rtn. Rajendra K. Saboo said that polio is Rotary’s commitment to rid the world of this disease and save the lives of the children and today the need is to generate awareness amongst people to continue to have routine immunization of their infants as well as participate in the NIDs.

Rtn. Madhukar Malhotra, District Governor District 3080, commended the courage and enthusiasm of the young Rotaractors, for spreading the message amongst the Rotary clubs they would be visiting on their way as well as engage young Rotaractors of our country in this vital mission of polio eradication. 
Past District Governor Rtn Shubh Karn Gupta, National Committee Member of Rotary International's India National PolioPlus Society was also present on the occasion.