MOTORISTA: MOTORISTA DIARIES

MOTORISTA: MOTORISTA DIARIES: Since long I was planning to go for a long ride but was confused with the destination. Many of my friends suggested Ladakh, which is consi...

MOTORISTA DIARIES

Since long I was planning to go for a long ride but was confused with the destination. Many of my friends suggested Ladakh, which is considered as the Mecca for bikers, but I felt the desire to go to a place which is unexplored. I started searching online for a new & unexplored place and after a week of research I got spellbound by the beauty of Kinnaur&Lahual&Spiti district of Himahal Pradesh.
The destination was confirmed by this time but not the cause .I was actually looking for a cause whichwill motivate the riders. At that occasion, I came across acommercial made by the election commission of India, featuring the first Independent voter of India,MrShyam Saran Negi. The commercial was filmed at his village kalpa ,Kinnaur. The moment I saw the video I made my mind that I will ride to Spiti via Kinnaur to meet the first independent voter of India. 

 

Along with other five members of our bike club “Motorista”,I started the journey from Ludhiana towards Spiti. The first two days went pretty well, but the third day around 6 pm when we were just 50 km behind Kalpa, suddenly one of the bike had some mechanical problem and at that remote place it was impossible to find a mechanic. So we approached the local guys for help and they told us that the mechanic would be available in the morning. There was no hotel around that area so they suggested us to camp in the government school ground which was just 100 meter from there so we pitched our tent in the school ground. We were sleeping till 9 am as we were very tired last night. The moment we came out of our tent we saw many students around our tents. They were stunned to see us in their play ground. We all came out of the tents and started interacting with them. As I am a teacher, I started asking about their studies.  Senior students told me that they don’t have ample teachers in the school as it is located in a remote place.
We had a brief interaction with the kids and I told them if they need any assistant for admission in college across India they could call me. 

After that we bid farewell to the kids and started our journey towards Kalpa. We reached kalpa at  around 2 pm and asked the address of Mr Shyam Saran Negi. He had become quite famous in that area after the commercial was being launched by Indian government to promote voting.
We straight away went to his house to meet him. When we reached there his granddaughter told us that he is not well and it would be difficult to meet him. We requested her to allow us to meet him as we came from so far just to meet him. After requesting a lot, she asked us to wait in the lawn and she went to call him. He came out in the lawn to interact with us. He was very old around 97 but still very enthusiastic to interact with us. He shared his stories of his school days during British rule. He was also a teacher and he used to walk around 25 km daily to school as there were no roads. We gave him a small memento from our club. He whole heartedly accepted our token of respect.
The brief interaction with him made the ride significant and complete.  I felt the motive for which I came to Spiti has been achieved.
After few months, I received a call from one of the student from kinnaur whom I met in the school where I did camping. His name was Rohit and he told us that he need assistant to take admission in some colleges in Punjab. I was pleased that he still remembers us. I told him to send me his marksheet so that I can fill his form. He was interested to do BA, so I applied in all the three Government University of Punjab. I told him to come to Ludhiana for admission. At first his parents were a bit worried to send him as I was a stranger to them and I have only met him once. Finally after some days his parents send him to Ludhiana after talking to me over phone. They had faith on me that I will take care of him. Their faith motivated me to travel to different university to fill his form. After some months he got admission in Punjabi University, Patiala. I was so glad that I kept the promise which I made to him. After all the riders should keep their promise.
His parents have called me to visit their village. I am planning to go there this winter. Optimistically, I will assist some other students from that village to get admission in good colleges next year.