(In the second part of the blog, Anirban narrates his ride experience through Hindi heartland affected by addiction to tobacco)
From Kulti, my next stop was Topchanchi, a
small town in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district. Who has not visited Topchanchi
cannot make out its scenic beauty. I was spellbound by the small hillocks with
lush green forests decorating both sides of the road in the Topchanchi area.
From Topchanchi town
onwards, I noticed that gutka (chewing tobacco) consumption was very high
instead of smoking. Here, I met Akhilesh Jadav, Topchanchi block development
officer. He was very excited about my bicycle tour and the anti-tobacco
campaign. After I started my ride from Kolkata, several newspapers and TV
channels covered my bicycle tour and campaign. Several people in the small town
seemed to have been aware of that. I delivered a small speech in a village
school in Topchanchi that was arranged by Jadav.
The next day, I
took a night halt at Giridih district’s Bagador, a very small town, around 45
km from Topchanchi. Here, I stayed at a house in a Muslim village. Next morning,
while I was leaving the town, I stopped a while and thought how lucky I am to
have born in such a beautiful country. The next night, I stayed at a roadside dhaba
in the Dobhi region.
In the dhaba, I
took class of truck drivers, cleaners and helpers as they all are addicted to
different forms of tobacco. But the reaction from them was mixed, which I
carefully noted it in my diary. My next destination was Aurangabad in Bihar where I stayed at a gurdwara with the help of
a Panjabi friend in Aurangabad. Kudra
is a hamlet on the border of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but nothing exciting
happened in the village except I spent the night at a small temple there.
Longest state to
ride
The district
magistrate in Chandauli in eastern Uttar Pradesh was more than forthcoming in
supporting my anti-tobacco campaign. I was greeted by the district magistrate
himself. Like the BDO in Topchanchi, he also and arranged a speech of mine among
his office staff and even he promised me that he was going to print posters,
hand bills to distribute within his jurisdiction. That night I put up as a
guest at the district magistrate’s sprawling bungalow.
Varanasi, the
holy city, is really vibrant and colorful with different sadhus, food-sellers,
shops and temples making the ancient town cosmopolitan. I visited different ghats
and talked to people of different caste and creed regarding the effects of
consuming tobacco. Here also additional district magistrate Mangla Prasad greeted
me and arranged a lecture in a co-education higher secondary school. Prasad also
arranged my night stay there at his bungalow.
Gopiganj, a
small town in Badoli district of Uttar Pradesh, was my next stop. Here also I met
villagers and tried to highlight the harmful effects of khaini and gutka. While
chewing tobacco is popular in this part of India, not many people were addicted
to smoking much. I put up at the local police station for the night and got a
good reception there from the police staff. In all this while, I calculated
that I have already spent some 20 days after leaving Kolkata.
My next
destination was Allahabad, commonly known as the Prayag where three rivers
meet. On way to Allahabad, I met Anil Joshi, the Padmashree man with his
bicycle team. He was very glad about my bicycle trip and its motto. Joshi, the founder
of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation, embarked on a
mission to study jal-zameen-jungle from Jalpaiguri in West Bengal to Dehradun
in Uttarakhand in November. I met him by sheer chance and he offered me to be a
guest of honour at Allahabad University with his team. Along with Joshi, I
stayed about two-three days and by this time we crossed Khagra where we stayed
in a small village house. He also thanked and appreciated me for coming out
with such a noble cause.
About 10 km
before entering the city of Kanpur, I left Joshi because he was on a different
mission and on different route. In Kanpur also, I maintained my routine to
inform and alert the common people and so-called uneducated class of the
society about the effects of tobacco in any form. In Kanpur, I was felicitated by
Dev Sing, Kanpur CMO, and by his kind co-operation I stayed at a government
bungalow. While entering Akbarpur, some villagers stopped me to know about my
mission. But after knowing about my bicycle trip in a nutshell, they were
overwhelmed and appreciated me from their heart. The panchayat mukhiya arranged
my stay at the panchayat samiti’s guest room.
On my ride from Akbarpur
to Auriya, I crossed Etawah --- the confluence of five rivers Yamuna, Chameli, Sond, Paur
and Kuyare --- near Chambal ghati, the place known for its notoriety of dacoits.
After crossing Firojabad,
famous for bangles, I reached the city of Taj Mahal --- Agra. It is
also a city of mixed culture and religion. The city of love’s greatest monument
also carries a distinguished historical value in the world’s modern history. We
know about the epic love story of Shah Jehan and Mumtaj, and the construction
of the Taj Mahal on the Yamuna bank. However, I maintained my routine of
cycling along with informing and awakening the common mass about the lamentable
effects of tobacco even in the city that epitomised love. In Agra, I was
welcomed and amicably treated by the city’s biggest gurdwara.
From Agra, my
ride towards Delhi covered two important cities. One is Mathura, one of the
oldest cities of the civilization. The Mathura district magistrate also offered
me a stay at his bungalow. These night rests helped me work relentlessly in the
daylight hours when I could talk to people, teach youngsters about the evils tobacco
can bring to the society. My last halt before New Delhi was Palwal where I got
an accommodation at the police guesthouse.
Never ever I felt
alone during my tour on the saddle as most of the people could understand the
problem tobacco addiction can bring to a person’s health.
(Revisit this blog on September 21 for the last and challenging part of his ride for cancer awareness from Kolkata to Kashmir. Picture of Topchanchi Lake sourced from the Net)
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