#WheelsOfChange a social initiative by Indian Motorcycle India to promote #educateTheGirlChild. Three proud owners of the ultra-luxury Indian Roadmaster Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Mr.
Niladri Saha and Mr. Bernard Lazar rode across 12 cities and concluded the iconic Kanyakumari to Kashmir Ride in New Delhi. xBhp was also a part of this epic journey and here is the full travelogue from the #K2KRide.
For a true biker road trip is the most exciting thing that could happen, however it gets even better when it gets clubbed with a noble cause. Something similar is what we have done during our k2k ride. Along with the support of Indian motorcycle and three fellow IMRG Riders, we have gone all over India lengthwise starting from Kanyakumari to Kashmir supporting and promoting the importance of girl child education.
This concept of doing k2k ride was originated in one of the IMRG events organised by Indian motorcycle in Mahabaleshwar when one of the key Riders of k2k ride Niladri Saha decided and announced that we must do something to promote girl child education which got supported by Indian motorcycle and the fellow Riders Anurag Srivastava and Bernard Lazar. The idea was to go all over India lengthwise identifying NGOs who are working closely in promoting and supporting girl child education. now the point, is is why did we choose girl child education only as a cause?
The idea is to see a better future of India and that could only be possible with a well-educated society. And as per some surveys, it is observed that only approx 33% of females in India get an opportunity to go to school for better education. On the other hand, we could also see that almost all the educated mothers have well-educated children as well. With that perspective, if all females get a good education then we could really foresee a future generation with the higher level of education, better society and grown economy of India.
With this Noble cause, Niladri started from Raipur, Chhatisgarh and got joined by Anurag Srivastava, who further got joined by xBhp’s Support in Bangalore. The official flag off happened in Bangalore from where their riders started to head to Kanyakumari.
Day 0:: Bangalore
This was the day when we officially flagged off for the ride from the Indian Motorcycle showroom, Bangalore, where we were also joined by Runa Ahlawat and other officials from the company to wish us luck and proceed with us for the event that was planned in Bangalore. From there we went to a local school in Bangalore, Rainbow homes that support girl child education. There we were greeted and welcomed by the students of the school, with some beautiful handmade greeting cards, strings of brotherhood (Rakhi) and a lovely song sung by the kids for us.
Day 1 :: Bangalore to Kanyakumari :: 665kms
Early morning we got up with a warm welcome by the thundering sound of Indian Motorcycles waiting outside our hotel to see us off. We were joined by the Bangalore IMRG rider till Salem, where we had delicious breakfast and moved ahead to our destination for the day Kanyakumari. Afterall, the ride is K2K, Kanyakumari to Kashmir, so the real ride had to start from Kanyakumari. and we still had over 400kms left for us in the day to be covered.
It might sound a long distance to cover in a day but it was cruised pretty easily as the roads are amazingly well laid and beautiful landscapes followed us all along. Till the time we entered the outskirts of Kanyakumari, where we were welcomed by thunderous applause of the thunderstorm and heavy shower. We rode close to 40kms in the rain when we finally could see some bright sunshine from the shores of seas of Kanyakumari.
As we reached our destination in Kanyakumari, Sparsa resort, which has a beautiful ocean facing view all around, we were joined by our third K2K ride, Bernard Lazar, who travelled from Kochi to Kanyakumari to join us and being an integral part of the ride ahead.
Day 2 :: Kanyakumari to Bangalore :: 665 kms
Ideally one may say that this is the day 1 for us as we are now starting from Kanyakumari and heading towards Kashmir. Crossing through the beautiful landscapes and amazing road, we once again headed back towards Bangalore. This time, a beautiful view that we missed due to heavy rain the earlier evening, caught our attention and we decided to stop there for a much deserving photography break. As we passed through one of the largest windmill fields I have ever seen.
On the way as we entered Krishnagiri, we once again encountered heavy rain, which again slowed us down. I must say when you have an amazing machine and right gears with you, nothing can stop you. You might get slow, but no reason to stop. Today because of rain and traffic the day felt a little longer, as we reached Bangalore pretty late as expected, it was already close to 8:00pm.
Well, that is not something that could tire us down, as we knew that we have an amazing journey ahead waiting for us. Next day we had to ride to Kolhapur.
Day 3 :: Bangalore to Kolhapur :: 612kms
Today we decided to stay in Kolhapur, so that next day we need to ride a little less to reach Mumbai the next day. As we had an event planned in Mumbai in afternoon. Since we knew that 612kms from Bangalore to Kolhapur is on yet again some beautiful roads, but we also knew that we will find considerably more traffic to what we have seen on Kanyakumari to Bangalore stretch, thus, we started early in the morning.
While we were on the way, I was contacted by some of the riders in Belgaum who wanted to meet us, as we pass through Belgaum. We quickly said yes! as who would to want to meet the fellow bikers. As we reached Belgaum, we were welcomed by Belgaum Superbikers Club. It was so good to see fellow bikers greeting us, and taking out time on a busy weekday in the afternoon. We had lunch together and then from there we rode some distance together as well.
We reached Kolhapur by the evening, where once again we were welcomed by some of the fellow bikers who were good friends of Niladri, Anurag and Bernard Lazar. We spent some good time together and then called it a night. Next day, we had to ride to Mumbai.
Day 4:: Kolhapur to Mumbai:: 376kms
Today we had to reach Mumbai before 4:00 pm, as we had to meet students at Asha foundation, Mumbai. Hence, we started little extra early today. Enroute, we were invited by few our other fellow riders in Pune to stopover for a break and as they wanted to contribute towards the Noble cause of girl child education.
After a short break in Pune, we again headed towards our destination for the day, Mumbai! Today was considerably very hot and humid, we all were feeling dehydrated very often, and had to take number of breaks than usual. After entering Mumbai, while we knew that the destination is around the corner and just a few kilometres away, we could not wait to take yet another break near Powai at a close by McDonald’s. Till the time we were riding, we didn’t realise it, but when we took the break, we understood, it was highly required, as we all were badly dehydrated due to hot and humid weather of Mumbai.
Since we knew the students are waiting for us to reach, we could not have just waited and rested there any longer, so we decided to move ahead to our destination. On the way, we were joined by the few other riders from Indian motorcycle dealership Mumbai, who eventually guided us to reach the destination.
All our tiredness and exhaustion went kaput, as we have seen the excitement of the children on seeing us or I must say our bikes. We had some great interactive session with the kids at Asha Foundation for education, where we have had some good quality time spent with the kids and a lot of fun. We also, distributed bags to the kids at Asha foundation to encourage the students to study with more zeal and enthusiasm.
Well, one other day came to rest, and now all I could see was the hotel room, where could just get fresh and rest to recharge myself.
Day 5:: Mumbai to Ahmedabad:: 531kms
The previous day was tiring and required a much-needed rest. Hence, we thought we will rest little longer today, but it felt thunder god was not in favour of this idea, as I woke up with one of the loudest sound of thunderbolt I have ever heard at 3:30 in the morning. It was 1.5 hour earlier the planned time. And then the thunderstorm continued and I continued to be awake. I thought I’ll utilise the time well, and get ready a little early. And so all my other fellow riders too. But to our ruined plans, Zeus was angry enough to be shouting and raining his wrath till 7:30 am, and the ride that was planned to start at 5:30 am started at 7:45 am.
Now, if you are starting your ride in Mumbai on a weekday, close to office hours and that too in rain, what else do you expect but TRAFFIC. The distance that was planned to be covered in 30 minutes took us over 1 hour to cross and get out of the mad rush of Mumbai traffic. As we exit Mumbai, we stopped for a small break to let our machines cool down and straighten our body. But who knew, that small break will cost us the wait for 2 hours, as right then we got a flat tyre on my bike. And I must tell you, no one could have prevented that puncture, as it was full length 3 inches nail punctured into my rear tyre. Well! bikers find their own ways to have fun in the most adverse situations as well. All thanks to the support vehicle that was with us all the way, we got the puncture fixed and moved ahead from there to Ahmedabad.
On the way to Ahmedabad, when we reach Vadodara, we were again greeted by some of our local biker buddies in their city. We had spent some time chitchatting in the nearby McDonalds and then moved ahead to Ahmedabad. As we reached Ahmedabad, on the outskirts again we were welcomed by fellow bikers who then lead us to our hotel.
Day 6 and 7:: Ahmedabad to Jodhpur:: 454kms
Next day when we reached Ahmedabad, we have visited a local school Saraswati Vidhyalaya to meet and encourage the girl child education. We were also joined by the Mr Pankaj Dubey, MD and CEO of Indian Motorcycle and Polaris India, along with other company officials i.e Runa Ahlawat, Anil Sopore and others. We spent some real quality time with the students there and give away school bags, books and monetary contribution for the better education and facilities for the students. In the evening we had some great time with the fellow IMRG members of the Ahmedabad.
Next morning, we moved from Ahmedabad to Jodhpur. As we were crossing the miles Enroute, we met many more bikers, who were also going to Jodhpur for a bikers’ festival organised by Harley Davidson. It felt good to ride along with so many other fellow bikers and see the bond of brotherhood everyone has for each other. Doesn’t matter if you know each other already or not, what matters the most is the bond of biking brotherhood.
Well, we reached Jodhpur and crashed for the day. The other fellow riders went to attend the fest in the evening since they were invited there.
Day 8 and 9:: Jodhpur to Delhi:: 600kms
We stayed back in Jodhpur for one day for a much-needed rest. In the afternoon, post our brunch we went out for a local sightseeing, and we ended up reaching Oasis in the desserts, a beautiful place called Osian, which has a beautiful dune and over 800 years old temples. We had some great time and breakaway in Osian and came back to our hotels to start our ride to Delhi next morning.
When we came back from our small leisure trip to Osian, art our hotel, we got to meet Royal Riders Club, Jodhpur, who specially came to meet us there. They decided to ride along with us in the morning for some distance to see us off. We rode together till the very famous, Om Banna a.k.a. Bullet Baba temple. We took the blessings of Om Banna for our safe ride ahead and started off. Just before Jaipur, in Bagru we were again welcomed by IMRG riders of Jaipur where we had lunch together and then rode till the outskirts of Jaipur. As the traffic was increasing by every closing inch towards Delhi. We finally reached Delhi by 7:30 pm.
Throughout the 4000kms that I rode on K2K ride, the bike performed amazingly in all the conditions, as we rode through different kind of conditions i.e. amazing roads, potholes, Rain, traffic etc. it just felt like rooted to the ground and gives you the amazing confidence to ride on. And not to forget the gears that I was using. While I used them for the first time, the Axor stealth helmet really did a great job. Not only that it is light and stylish, the inbuilt anti-fog system did work really good. You really don’t have to adjust your visor in different conditions for fogging of the visor. It just doesn’t fog. So ideally I would say the helmet covers all the different aspects, clear visor for the night, internal sun visor for daylight and anti-fog mechanism for fog kind of conditions.
Similarly, I used Ignyte Rambler riding jacket on this trip, which is very comfortable to wear as it is complete mesh and comes with YF – Beetle protector, which makes your protectors flexible and comfortable for long rides. As we reached Delhi, I had to bid my adieu to the other K2K riders as they continued to their ride till Kashmir and I had to stay back for some other work. However, this doesn’t;t mean you’ll not be updated with what happened next. 🙂
Day 10 :: Delhi to Jalandhar :: 377kms
On the 10th day of the #K2KRide, the riders started off from Delhi quite early in the morning. The destination for the day was to be Jalandhar.
The day started off on a pleasant note, the typical Delhi weather, on an early morning of September. The riders rode to Murthal for the first meal of the day. The cavalcade moved on & didn’t make another stop until Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar where they were received with an exceeding excitement. The grand welcome was immensely exhilarating for team IMRG and K2K rider. After the initial excitement settled down, the riders were in for another treat. The talented students of LPU performed Yog Sutra; an art form where Yoga that is performed with music. Ms. Rashmi Mittal, the Vice-Chancellor of LPU arrived to welcome the team & they talked at length, about the initiative of K2K & “Wheels of Change”. The riders also discussed the importance of spreading the awareness of ‘Girl Child Education’ with the students of LPU.
The day was full of fun, frolic, adventure & very productive discussions. After the long but fun-filled day the riders went off to call it a day, as tomorrow awaits an amazing milestone to be marked as they reach their final destination for the ride, Jammu, R.S. Pura.
Day 11 :: Jalandhar to Jammu (RS Pura) :: 235kms
All the K2K riders are full of excitement since morning as they started to ride towards R.S.Pura. Also, known as Ranbir Singh Pura. Their excitement was pretty obvious, as they were visiting the land which marks the territory between India and Pakistan and that you could see very closely. Well, after all the time came when the K2K riders reached amid massive mountains & the lush green valleys of Jammu. They began the day’s ride by visiting the National Border at RS Pura, where they interacted with the jawans from Border Security Force (BSF). From there, the next stop was a middle school – Gazipur Kullia.
The riders had a long interaction with the staff & the students of the school alike. Little did the students know that these Soul Riders had arrived bearing gifts. As the token of their humble contribution, they distributed notebooks & school bags among the students. After bidding them goodbye, the team rode off for Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple & further off to Wagah Border.
The team returned back to Delhi the very next day for our final event.
On their way back, they visited the Free School Under The Bridge for underprivileged kids from hutments on the Yamuna bank run by Mr. Laxmi. This unique school is situated under a metro bridge in Shakarpur & we had to visit it.
Mr. Pankaj Dubey, Country Head & M.D., Indian Motorcycle India who conceived the idea of the #K2KRide to contribute to the cause of Girl Child Education, interacted with the students.
The visit brought about a really good feeling & it was enormous!
