Carrying messages to 29 states, 4 union territories

After Sharat Sharma retired from his journalism career, he wanted to do something that would change things for him and people around.

Thus started his solo ride on March 18 this year from Delhi on a Royal Enfield Himalayan, which intends to cover 28,000 kilometres that will include 29 states, four union territories and Bhutan. The biker who reached Bengaluru after covering 19 states and Bhutan and 18,300 km so far has clear messages to communicate.

“I rode into Karnataka from Gadwal and Alampur in Telangana,” he details.

After Karnataka, Sharat will be covering Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Dadar Nagar Haveli, Daman, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Chandigarh.

“I believe that every individual has three innings in life. The first innings in life are where you are trained from a child to becoming a professional. The second, where you don social and career roles and try to balance it all, while your dreams and wishes take a backseat. The third innings is where you are free from responsibilities and can finally try to fulfil your dreams. The thread that strings all these three innings is good health though, which is utmost important,” he says.

Sharat believes that “age is just in the mind”. “Often people who get caught in the rat race do not have time to take care of themselves. What is the point of wasting all your hard-earned money on medicines,” he points out. A regular sight on the roads that bothers Sharat is the haphazard behaviour of motorists. “From overspeeding to not wearing helmets, one can see bikers doing all sorts of gimmicks on the roads. It is important that one maintains road safety,” he says.

He points out, “According to the Ministry of Road Transport, in 2016-17, a total of 150,785 people died in accidents, of which 52,500 were bikers. 18.3 per cent of these were riding without helmets and 46.3 per cent of total accident victims were between 18 and 35 years. I want youngsters to follow traffic discipline and enjoy bike rides as part of one’s life journey.”

While on a ride, Sharat avoids mobile phones and other distractions. “My phone is safely tucked away in my camera bag. I do not use it to attend calls or for GPS and navigation tools. Localities in any region are the best GPS as they would know exactly which roads are in bad condition,”

Wherever Sharat rides through, he likes to enjoy the local cuisine. “I stayed in Bengaluru with family. I enjoyed the masala dosa and coffee, idli and vada. There are so many beautiful memories to make,” he adds.

Follow his journey on Instagram (@bikeblazer)

Coffee table book plans

“I am travelling with a Nikon D5300 and have clicked 15,000 photographs by now. There will be a stock of 25,000 photograhs by the end of this trip. I intend to select the best of the lot and document it into a coffee table book.”
Sharat Sharma, biker