Bengaluru: Lt. Col. Srikrishna Vaidyakingam, a runner, has been on a millet-based diet for the past six months ago. He feels it has improved his fitness. "I have been able to run extra miles due to the millets. In fact, it has transformed my health.” Now, he wants to share this experience with others.
Col. Srikrishna is one among 14 marathoners for whom endurance runs, cross-training and a healthy millet diet have been an integral part of life for the past couple for months. As they get ready for a 13-day journey starting December 15, these like-minded runners who come from diverse professions, have one mission in mind: spreading the message about the goodness of millets.
The runners, or yatris as they call themselves, would be covering 13 places across the country under the banner of Mera Terah Run — Miles for Millets.
Mera Terah Run was conceptualised by Jagdish Damania, an IT professional and endurance runner, along with Sindhu Naik two years ago. While the last two runs were held as a fund-raiser for rural development projects, this time the runners wanted to focus on the ‘super food’.
“People who are unable to be a part of the entire journey would be extending support by either walking or running in their city," says Ms. Naik.
The run will start from Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. The runners will then take a train to Hubballi, followed by a road trip to Surashetty Koppa in Karnataka. They would be travelling to Hyderabad and Zaheerabad in Telangana, Sewagram and Wardha in Maharashtra, Bargi and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Ganiyari and Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
In each place, the group will be running 13 miles (half-marathon). The run will culminate at Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh. It will include six train journeys and a couple of short road trips.
Along the way, the team will interact with local communities to spread awareness on millets and meet farmers to understand the challenges in bringing these super grains back to Indian plates. They would be taking part in a millet mela in Hubballi, an Open Street Day in Raipur and judge a cooking contest.
The event is funded by the runners. “Each one of us puts in money for the train travel. We keep expenditure minimal by staying in dormitories. In some places, food is sponsored by our local hosts. Each person spent Rs. 25,000 for the 13-day journey last year. It would be more or less the same this year,” says Mr. Damania.
