At a time when news of communal clashes keeps pouring in and videos of hate are doing the rounds on social media, two friends and bikers from Odisha’s Jharsuguda district have set on a different mission.
The duo--Dipak Pandey and Asif Khan on Tuesday kicked off a bike expedition from Puri Jagannath Dham with a message to spread communal harmony. The young bikers from Odisha will cover a distance of 12,000 km to 13,000 km during the trip to ‘Char Dhams’ in the country.
“It will be a two months journey and we will be visiting Rameswaram, Dwarka Dham, Badrinath as well. We will also be visiting 12 Jyotirlings during our bike expedition,” said Pandey.
According to Pandey, the sole intention of the road trip is to spread the message of communal harmony. Not only Hindu religious temples, the biker friends will also visit and offer prayers at Ajmer Sharif, Haji Ali and other places as well.
“We are all one and it is the real beauty of our country,” Pandey added.
According to Asif, they will cover 80 per cent of the country in the road trip. “We will interact with people and spread the message of love. It will be a great learning experience for me as it is a first major road trip,” he said.
Tushar, an experienced bike rider said that covering the entire country will be challenging.
“It will be a tough expedition owing to changes in climatic conditions. The entire journey is about 13,000 kms and the ride will be tough keeping in view the road conditions in the country,” said Tushar.