Ayodhya: Pedalling to Ayodhya from Ahmedabad, 18-year-old Sunil Rathore has travelled more than 1,500 km on his bicycle to catch a glimpse of Ram Lalla.
He began his journey on 21 December and arrived in Ayodhya on 17 January. “We got to know that from 18 January onwards, restrictions would be placed on entry to Ayodhya, so we planned it in such a way that we could enter the city before that,” Rathore, who comes from Rajasthan, told ThePrint.
His brother Sharwan Singh, who took a month off from work, joined him for the “grand event” of welcoming Hindu deity Ram.
“I took a leave of one month and wanted to be part of this mega event. Lord Ram is finally returning after a 500-year vanvaas,” said Singh.
On their way to Ayodhya from Ahmedabad, they met three other cyclists from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow).
So, what kept them going and how did they manage the logistics? To this, Rathore explained: “Jahan shaam hoti, (in the evenings) Ram bhakts used to let us stay in their houses, hotels, and farmhouses, and we used to eat at their places too.”
The brothers plan to do their darshan after 23 January and then return — this time by bus and not cycle.
“Our family was very happy when we told them about our decision and people from our village asked us to pray on their behalf (Ram Lalla ko pranaam). Our family motivated us,” said Rathore.
Although the brothers were visiting Ayodhya for the first time, they said they had heard stories from their elders about the poor upkeep of the holy town.
“Our elders used to tell us that Ayodhya was not this way. There were hardly any roads. In fact, Ayodhya had narrow broken roads where even a cycle couldn’t pass. Look at the situation now. The kind of development that has taken place feels like we are in heaven,” he added.
They had initially planned to walk the entire distance, but they changed their mind and chose a cycle to raise awareness about the environment. “Now that Ram Mandir is complete, we have promised ourselves that we will undertake our journey to Kashi-Mathura on foot once it is ready,” he added.
Drive from Bengaluru
The brothers were not the only Ram bhakts who made a special journey to Ayodhya. Three childhood friends from Bengaluru, Karnataka, have driven all the way to the city in their car — an “embodiment of Ram’s journey from childhood to his return after 14 years’ exile”.
“It took us 27 hours to reach from Bengaluru. We were committed that we would not cross 100km speed. We decided on a car as we didn’t wish to rely on flights and trains, which are getting either cancelled or delayed. At the same time, we had not decided when we would return, so a car made sense,” said Prabhakar Rao.
Calling his car a “rath (chariot)”, Rao — who is joined by his school friends Gopal Krishna and Ravi (who goes by his first name) — said that whenever there is a movie release, they see posters and cars displaying pictures of heroes as they go from one place to another.
“For the whole world, there is only one hero, and that’s Lord Ram. He is the expression of the entire world. We are 90s kids and we have grown up watching Ramayana on TV screens. So, we decided to paint our car with the story of Ramayana and go across spreading his message of love,” he added.
For Rao, the three friends in their late 40s are like “Ram, Laxman and Bharat”. “Our fourth friend could not join due to some issue,” he said.
“We have to teach our children epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita and how to respect our elders, like Ram who went into exile to fulfil his father’s promise,” he stressed.
The Son of a kar sevak, Rao said “We are continuing the tradition of our family as our father was a kar sevak. He must be smiling watching all this from above.”
When asked if he had taken time off from work, Rao said that he works with a private firm, and as part of that, he has organised many events. “But this is the ‘event of the lifetime’ which I could not have missed.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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