Quadriparetic covers 6,000 kms in eight days

Little did 33-year-old Adil Ansari, a quadriparetic who has lost around 90 per cent of his bodily movements, know that he will break the Limca records by travelling 6,000 kilometres across the country in eight days.

Ansari, who cannot grab anything with his hands, retains some of the triceps movements and drove the car using his palms. Since he has lost his finger movements, his 11-year-old second-hand car was refashioned in such a way that it did not involve any pressing of buttons.

It was on May 16, 2002 that Ansari, while diving in a river, hit his head on a rock injuring his spinal cord. The doctors had given up on him and had said he won't survive beyond 48 hours. Ansari was in 12th grade then. "I realised I won't lead a normal life anymore. There was no internet facility and I didn't know how to take life forward. I didn't want to be dependent on anyone and got a scooter modified and with encouragement from a friend began driving," he said.

A resident of Bhiwandi, Thane, Ansari covered Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Vellore before making it to Mumbai. With no control over his bowel movements, he was on a liquid diet and made very few stops for refreshments as he wanted to save time. He slept for 3-4 hours daily and travelled the rest. His toughest experience was driving for 23-and-a-half hours to ensure that he breaks the Limca record on the last day of his eight-day drive, to reach Mumbai on February 5.

Ansari found that besides Delhi, all other locations he drove to were not accessible for the differently-abled. "In our country, able-bodied people can book train tickets online but the diff-abled has to go all the way to the counter to make a claim under disability quota. Even the counter is not accessible, forget reaching the platform," said Ansari, who took the decision of going on such an expedition around a year ago.

His motto was to spread awareness about the lack of infrastructure for the differently-abled, tax benefits, employment opportunities, infra for para sports and access to public transport.

"I am a disability rights activist today. I couldn't study beyond 12th standard as the colleges would not accept me on basis of attendance. I couldn't travel everyday to college as I couldn't afford a car, its fuel and a driver. Even the salary companies offer to diff-abled are not on par with their capabilities," he said.

Everyone discouraged Ansari from taking this journey, including his wife Majeeda. "Till the very end I told him not to do it. When he left I prayed a lot, for him to come back soon. Now that he has completed it everyone is happy. I will accompany him on his next journey," she said.

Ansari has seven brothers and two sisters. Though not financially sound, he managed to gather around Rs 1.2 lakh for the trip from friends, family, the spinal foundation and Access4All, an NGO founded by Arvind Prabhoo, who himself is quadriplegic.

Access4All has a 'beyond barriers' initiative through which Ansari received help. "Ansari fought for four years to get a licence from the RTO and prove that he could drive. Driving almost 800 kms everyday is not easy and even I told him not to do it as I am familiar of what can go wrong in such journeys. In our first beyond barriers journey across India in 2011, we travelled 19,000 kms across the country but we did not drive.

This feat will get attention and create awareness even among our own people. It'll inspire them to take up such tasks," he said.

Ansari, who already holds a limca record for a quadriparetic driving 300 kms on a two-wheeler in 2013, has now set his eyes on the peaks of Himalayas, Leh Ladakh and even an across-the-globe trip.

"My main motive is to motivate diff-abled and catch government's attention on their rights," said Ansari who is also a national-level gold medalist in swimming.

Ansari broke the previous record held by Deepa Malik who drove from Chennai to Delhi in 10 days covering 3,000 kms. Ansari holds this record till June after which he will be published in the 2016 edition of the Limca book. Ansari prays his record is maintained this year and broken the next.

"I think I broke the world record but it is expensive to get their observer in the country," he said.