Nagpur women for 25,000km road trip

 

 

 

TO PROMOTE women empowerment, two city women will begin a 25,000-kilometre expedition across India from Zero Mile on Wednesday. The journey, titled ‘Bharat Ke Rang, Naari Ke Sang,’ will be undertaken by Dr Anshuja Kimmatkar, a doctor, author and Limca Record holder, and Lakshmi Mathare, an entrepreneur and social worker. The self-funded expedition will take them across long stretches of deserted roads, dense forests, river crossings requiring their car to be ferried, waterlogged areas, and high-altitude mountain roads, including Lachalung La Pass, the world’s highest accessible road.

 

“In our country, when a new car is bought, families tend to stamp the feet of family’s youngest woman onto the vehicle, which marks its auspiciousness. But when the same feet demand pressing against the accelerator, brake and clutch, we think twice. Not many Indian women drive cars. I want to motivate them. Also being a doctor, I want to educate women and their families about various issues like dealing with the taboo of menstruation cycle,” Dr Kimmatkar explained the motives behind their initiative during a press conference on Monday. “We will travel independently in a Maruti Suzuki Fronx, enduring the risks of the terrain while interacting with communities to understand the status of women in different regions and educating them about their rights and responsibilities holding ‘chaupals’,” added Mathare.

 

The round-trip will be guided by Atul Kumar Choukse of Atulniya Adventure who will provide all the technical support. “I will be monitoring their journey online through two GPS devices and two cameras installed in the vehicle. We are expecting to complete the journey in 45 days but it might take up to two months,” said Choukse. The first flag-off will be held at Gandhi Chowk, Ramtek, at 8 am by Minister of State Adv Ashish Jaiswal. A second flag-off will take place in Nagpur at Zero Mile Square at 10 am by MLC Krupal Tumane.