Pedal For Peace

While traversing across the mystical realms of Incredible India, my spirit is enriched by a multitude of diverse experiences, opportunities, and people. Am absolutely in love with this country, its warmth, flavors and hospitality.However, sometimes am faced with overwhelming situations, where I suddenly becomes the cynosure of all eyes, drawing unintended attention from the locals, who glare at me curiously yet innocuously. I am often addressed as “Negro”, which offended and agitated my mind initially but after allowing it time to settle, I see things more rationally, culturally and empathetically owing to realization and identification ofa clear gap in knowledge between the Indian Sub continental and the African communitiesabout each other’s culture and beliefs.Incidentally, incidences of altercations between the Indian and the African communities, apparently provoked by Racial prejudices are on a rise causing this gap to grow into a chasm which if not bridged soon, will become insurmountable.

Advocating for cultural inclusion to bridge the knowledge gapAm on a mission to address this gap and ascertain the deeply embedded reasons for the growing friction between the two communities. The core objective moreover is to acquire a deeper understanding and broader perspective on the 3R’s associated with racism, “Racism: Reality,Reasoning and Response”. Consequently, this campaign involves achieving the same through a multitude of human interactions which will result in acquiring an empirical understanding of the reasons for the growing acrimony between the two communities. 

As a part of the campaign am travelling across India on a bicycle while interacting and interviewing people along the way and recording their responses through the means of Videos and textual documentation. The campaign will include travelling 7000kms. 

Besides, another salient feature of the campaign is conducting workshops/seminars in educational institutions in 12 cities across 14 states en route.The information collected will be analyzed, shared with the respective consulates and used to propound a solution for mitigating the situationand further fostering Indo-African bonds of friendship and brotherhood.