The pandemic years exposed one of the biggest vulnerable sections of our society – the lesser privileged children.
When the lockdowns forced schools and colleges to take classes online, a large section of them was left out, because they couldn’t afford it.
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Many were forced to drop out of school at a young age to support their families financially.
Though students dropping out of school as their parents could not afford to send them is not anything new, the crisis has been exacerbated in recent years.
Cycling for a cause
It is during the COVID-19-induced lockdown, Gagan Khosla, a Delhi-based entrepreneur learned about this crisis.
So the 66-year-old decided to do something to bring attention to the problem and do his bit to help at least some lesser privileged children.
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To do this, Khosla is embarking on a cycle trip across the Golden Quadrilateral covering over 6000 km to raise funds for Save The Children’s Education Programme.
Khosla started his expedition on Tuesday, November 22 from Delhi.
Struggle of children struck me
“This ride is to create awareness and funds to help children who have lost their right to education, because of COVID-19. In the early days of the lockdown, I was shocked to see how the children of migrant workers were struggling and those images have stuck with me ever since. Life has moved on for most of us, but not for many of them. So I wanted to do something for them. That is how I approached Save The Children and offered to do this cycling tip to raise funds,” Khosla told Indiatimes.
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“Around 40 per cent of India’s population are children and out of this 75% are living in rural areas. And a majority of these children have lost their access to education due to school shutdowns or due to financial troubles in the family,” he added.
How he started
Khosla who has been an active sportsperson since school had kept the spirit alive all through his life and at the age of 50 he took up cycling in 2006.
“I have been running in marathons, both in India and outside. Later I took up cycling and went to Ladakh. There I met some foreign cyclist who were cycling from Malali to Leah. So I thought if these guys can do this here, coming from across the globe, why can’t I do?,” he said.
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In 2016 he also cycled 4,300km from Leh to Kanyakumari to celebrate his 60th birthday and also to raise funds for his former institution, Scindia School in Gwalior.
Ordinary man doing extraordinary things
“I don’t consider myself to be an extraordinary sportsperson, but an ordinary person who is able to do extraordinary things,” he said.
For the next 35 days, Khosla will be on the road, travelling nearly 200km a day. Throughout his expedition Khosla said he will try to meet more and more people in every city he passes through, talk to them about the importance of his mission and raise funds for the initiative.
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“I will be cycling around 200km a day, take rest and get on the cycle again. I will be putting my body through a tough physical test. All throughout I will be doing whatever I can, to spread the message. I am also spreading the word through my business networks to get CSR funds etc. I have set myself a target to raise Rs 1 crore for children’s education through this,” Khosla explained.
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Well aware of the risks
Though he done cycling in the past as well, Khosla admits that his family are concerned for him, which he says is natural, and hoped that everything will go as planned.
“My family knows that once I decide on something there is no turning back. But I can fully understand there concern, especially about my safety as Indian roads are not the safest. I always believed that you have to take some risks in life to achieve some things,” he said.
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