At Seventy, this Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Legislator’s grit and resilience of bicycling a distance of 702 kilometres – from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari after battling a serious neurological condition – Chikungunya Encephalopathy – has not only earned him accolades among his constituents and throughout the State of Karnataka, but the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself called upon him to congratulate on his feat and inquiring upon his journey and health.
Bengaluru’s Rajajinagar constituency MLA S Suresh Kumar has been an avid cyclist from before. He had earlier, at 51 years of age had set off for a bicycle journey all the way from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee tenure when the Golden Quadrilateral project Highway was underway.
Heading a group of 12 cyclists under the banner – The Rajajinagar Pedal Power, MLA Suresh Kumar began the journey on December 23rd departing from Bengaluru around 4 pm. The journey went on for five days covering a total distance of 702 kilometres with almost 37 cycling hours.
The Daily Guardian met with the BJP legislator Suresh Kumar and interviewed him on Friday about his Bengaluru-Kanyakumari bicycling feet. Though the legislator was busy attending to issues of footpath vendours along with law and order and traffic policemen at his constituency, he was very excited to talk about his cycling feat – and the icing on the top was the phone call from the Prime Minister himself calling upon him and congratulating him for his grit and resilience even at the age of 70 – mentioning the way forward for the Fit India Movement.
MLA Suresh Kumar told NewsX that he was planning for the bicycling journey over the past couple of years when all of a sudden he was diagnosed with Chikungunya Encephalopathy – a serious neurological condition which even rendered his fingers difficult to move. He has been undergoing physiotherapy and been on medications for a while after which he became confident enough to set off for his bicycling journey. “My neurologists were extremely happy that I took up cycling despite my condition. I find cycling – my way of meditating, most importantly a detox from social media and the maddening crowd of the city. It has helped me recover physically to a great extent and regain my confidence,” Suresh told TDG.
Kumar remembers the minute details of Prime Minister Modi inquiring about his cycling and the treatment that he was undergoing. “I received a call from the PMO around 8.40 last night and the caller said that the Prime Minister wants to speak to me. Later Modi Ji was on call asking me about my cycling feat and even asked me where I stayed during the nights before continuing to cycle the next day. He (PM) also inquired about my health and where I got the treatment. I told him earlier I was undergoing homeopathic treatment and later switched to Ayurveda and ever since it has been going good for me,” Suresh Kumar told TDG adding “Modi Ji also asked me what was the difference between the cycling journey that he had taken up several years ago with the present tour and I told him that in my previous feat, I was cycling through the Golden Quadrilateral project introduced by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration and it was a remarkable and memorable journey, but this cycling journey was even more smoother on the highways that – all the 12 of us did not have a single puncture or a pedal breakdown as such throughout the entire 37 cycling hours for five days covering a distance of 702 km. The Prime Minister was very excited to hear my experiences and congratulated me for the grit, resilience and also being an inspiration to others,” Kumar smirked while he was being interviewed.
Kumar also spoke about his lifelong association with cycling as early in his career as an advocate. However, since he was unwell recently, he initially took a cycling trip to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to check if he would make it without troubles and he made it. This boosted his confidence to set off for a longer bicycling journey from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari, the MLA explained.
One of the MLA’s 12 team members said that the journey was an inspiring one and MLA Suresh Kumar led the group and kept inspiring us throughout the journey with interesting stories. The leader also taught the team members about bonding through thick and thin.
Suresh Kumar’s cycling feat – no doubt stands as a testament of grit, resilience, recovery and leadership, but also spreads a message on how to evolve into a Fit India.
