By Nishan Patnaik
KORAPUT: Padmashree Kiran Seth for whom age is not a barrier as the 73 years septuagenarian is going to start a long cycle journey from Srinagar to Kanyakumari from August 15. Seth, who is a Padma Shree awardee and founder of SPIC-MACAY, believes cycling is the best mode of transportation as he often pedals in the city for day-to-day activities
As a curtain raiser before embarking on his long trip, Seth has started a cycling from Delhi to Alwar and Jaipur from March 11 and reached Alwar today.
While going from his house to Saket for lunch on Saturday, he noticed traffic jams even on the weekend. “If a large number of people switch to cycling for transportation, we can get relief from traffic and pollution,” said the professor-emeritus at IIT-Delhi
Seth, who wants to celebrate India’s glorious heritage and promote cycling as a healthy and environment friendly travelling alternative, said, “Many years ago, people cycled as they didn’t have money for two or four-wheelers, and not for health or environmental reasons. Now, only a few people think of buying cycles. Due to a high volume of motor vehicles, roads are congested and pollution levels are on the rise.
Nearly 25 years ago, I used to cycle from my home near Delhi University Metro Station to IIT-Delhi. I did it for nearly 10 years,” said Seth, adding he picked it up again around a year ago.When he visited Puducherry in December last year, Seth again hopped on a cycle and enjoyed it.
“When I returned to Delhi, I decided to purchase a bicycle as I was avoiding my preferred transportation mode, Delhi Metro, due to the pandemic. People told me that cycling was not advisable considering my age. I then purchased an electric bike, but I hardly use the motorised part. I always pedal to reach my destinations,” he said. He believes that cycling is like meditating and the government should build dedicated tracks across the city
On March 11, he started his cyclothon from Rajghat accompanied by several volunteers and members of SPIC-MACAY till the Delhi border. He will cycle along highways and will be joined by volunteers on other stretches for his trip to Alwar and Jaipur
Talking about his long journey from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, Seth said he plans to pedal nearly 50 kilometres daily. He plans to start on Independence Day and reach Delhi on October 2 to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi he added
