They cannot walk nor can they stand straight. That has not stopped a group of young men bound to wheelchairs from joining a memorable march from Meerut to Delhi to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1857 Mutiny against British rule. Singing patriotic songs and chanting slogans, the group of a dozen physically challenged are the cynosure of thousands of participants walking briskly since they set out from Meerut on Monday – with many more lining the streets. And the young men, the youngest 18 years old and the others all below 24 years, are enjoying every bit of it.
“Though we are on wheelchairs, it is a pleasure marching with thousands of youths from several states,” said Dinesh Kumar, a school student, who lives in Meerut. “Meerut is  famous for its role in the (1857) uprising and we want to keep up the spirit.” Dinesh Kumar is not the only occupant of his wheelchair though. Squeezing into it is another handicapped and lanky young man, Salhabaz. "Mangal Pandey Zindabad!” chants Dinesh Kumar. The Mutiny was one which turned from a soldiers' revolt into a mass uprising and came to be known as India's first war of independence.
The government-backed Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangatan has organised the walkathon in memory of those who died in 1857. The marchers will reach the Mughal-built Red Fort in the Indian capital on Friday. The rally was flagged off from Meerut's Victoria Park, the very spot where the 1857 mutiny by Indian sepoys against their British colonial masters erupted. The event, etched in Indian history as just the Mutiny, is also called the First War of Independence.  The handicapped men pedal their own wheelchairs, stopping, like everyone else, only for food and to rest. The wheelchairs are decorated with plastic Indian flags and colourful posters of the seminal 1857 revolt. As they cannot shout like others, tiny microphones have been mounted on the wheel chairs to join the frenzied patriotic sloganeering.
The Meerut-Delhi march includes a tableau of the court of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, followed by 85 horses of the Remount Veterinary Corps, 500 cadets of the NCC as well as young men and women from all over India.
Anuj Sharma is also on the wheelchair and believes: “Being handicapped is no hindrance to patriotism. One may be physically challenged but nothing can come in the way of success.” “This rally has whipped up my patriotism and helped me understand our history better,” added 24 year old Sharma. Following him closely is Izaz, 22: "Youth power, if united, can do wonders for India. We must forget our religious differences and join hands for the country's betterment."