A talk show by students of a Chennai school

The Interact Club of Ganapathy Iyer Girls High School in Chennai and Rotractors of Sathyabhama College were in for a rare treat. The school’s parent club, Rotary Club of Madras Temple City had arranged for a session for them to meet two young Rotractors, Dhanush M ( 24) and Hemanth YB ( 23), who had started a cycling expedition across India in an attempt to create a new Guinness World Record. Both are B Com graduates, working with the Government Health Department and as a farmer respectively.

Their idea was to cover 24,000 km ranging over 24 states and four Union Territories of India within 240 days with 21 days of complete rest . Once completed, this would qualify as a Guinness world record for the longest journey by cycle in a single country, the previous record being pegged at 19000 km . They were both carrying 40 kg each in their haversacks for the entire journey .

Carrying with them the Rotary message of global warming , literacy and women’s empowerment, the boys have met and interacted with 220+ Rotary clubs and 160+ Rotaract clubs till now. In addition, they have met Chief Ministers / Governors of five states.

Reaching Chennai from Pondicherry – they had clocked 23600km . The last leg was to cover Vellore- Kolar- and reach Bangalore.

Hemanth and Dhanush walked in to the school to a hero’s welcome – the excited students could not stop clapping.. Student Krithikka asked them about the inspiration for this quest. It was undoubtedly the global warming and the need for people to go back to simpler lives , and stay more connected with nature. And what better way than to cycle!

To Bhargavi’s question on travel during Covid, they shared that they were mostly unaffected by the Covid issues as much of the country was on the mend. The floods in Assam did affect them though and it was challenging to compete the daily target of 110 km.

Their daily routine was to wake up and start early, 6.30 am, and cycle through the day. They would meet Rotarians and the general public in their travels, and speak about their experiences. Speaking for both, Dhanush said it was really heartwarming to receive the unconditional love and blessings from complete strangers both on the roads and from the extended rotary families who literally waited on Highways to receive them and took them into their homes .And they picked up a smattering of the local language.

There were also fun moments – as when an elderly woman with poor eyesight asked them for a lift and could not fathom why they were unable to indulge her.

Another question about the food – they said they ate the local food wherever they travelled and believe it or not – not even a day did they fall sick. They have both lost 17-18 kgs in this journey though.

And in reverence to their vegetarian hosts in Gujarat and Rajasthan they avoided eating eggs and non-veg food for 40 days. Assam was most difficult and they managed without breakfast having just milk during that time.

In response to a question from Sandhyashree, Dhanush said the biggest change it brought about was self-confidence. Sharing with the girls about their humble backgrounds -and govt school education in Kannada medium, Dhansuh said that last July when they started he would have never thought he would speak to a huge audience like this – that too in English

When asked about family consent he said that they were initially against the idea – but after they covered the first 10000 kilometres – they warmed up to it.

When Dheepalakshmi asked – What do you expect from us for your effort? – the boys motivated them to take the message locally into the community and it was spontaneously decided that they would plan a cycle rally around their area to speak the message of global warming and cleanliness .

It was truly an inspiring session for the students and the adults .

(Vidhya Srinivasan is the youth services coordinator of the Rotary Club of Madras Temple City)