Gyani Hindustani, a man on a mission to cycle from Rameshwaram in Kerela to his home in Uttarakhand spreading awareness on social issues on the way, has arrived in Pune. He is determined to complete his journey despite being mugged in Solapur. DNA caught-up with him to discover his story.
A 43-year-old Gyanendra Singh alias Gyani Hindustani, who hails from flood-ravaged state Uttarakhand, is on cycling expedition from Rameshwaram in Kerala to Uttarakhand and spreading awareness about various forms of crime in the society. Singh, who reached Pune two days ago is visiting various colleges and hostels in the city and interacting with students to make them aware of the dangers of ragging and opening a dialogue to curb the menace.
So far he has cycled more than 6000 km visiting major cities like Kochi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and now he is in the city for next couple of days.
A writer and social activist, Singh has done several such cycling expeditions in the past - the current expedition being his sixth attempt. "I embarked on the current cycling expedition on April 29, 2013 from Rameshwaram. Finally I aim to reach my home state visiting various states and their major cities where I would mostly meet with college students and other groups. There are several forms of crime, which take place in the society every day, Be it crime against women, crime against children and so on and so forth and there is need to create awareness among the society especially youth, who are more prone to fall prey and even commit crimes."
He further said that here in the city, he has been visiting colleges and hostels and interacting with the students and making them aware about the upward graph of crime in the country.
"Since they are students and majority of them live in the hostels, I have been enlightening them on the ragging issue, which is burning topic in the education field," he said.
During their interaction, Singh made the students aware how a ragging incident can ruin the life of a student.
"I ask them whether they have proper anti ragging cell in the college, which is mandatory for education institutes," he added.
Apart from the ragging, Singh said he interacted with girl students and made them aware of the crimes against women and eve-teasing besides telling them to be strong while tackling such menaces.
Singh, who is a graduate in Tourism studies said it was his longest cycling expedition. "I do not have much money and during the journey, I usually sojourn at temple, ashrams and schools," said Singh.
He said that from here, his next stop would be Mumbai and from where he will decide where to go.
In his earlier expeditions, in 2002, he had embarked on the cycling expedition to spread communal harmony after the Gujarat riots.
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