Twenty-year-old S. Thulasimani of Thavittupalayam in Anthiyur, Erode district, a final year B.E. Mechanical Engineering in a college in Coimbatore, drove his bike from Kanyakumari to Agra in 41 hours. He started his marathon ride at Gandhi Mandapam in Kanyakumari at 6 p.m. on June 1 and covered a distance of 2,511 km before reaching Agra around 11.30 a.m. on June 3.
“The ride was to create awareness on using helmets and on the importance of planting saplings,” he said. He started his ride with a small bag with two litres lime juice, two packs of dates, some lime for preparing fresh juice on the way and some chocolates – for instant energy. These were in addition to a puncture kit, spare spark plug and a tool kit for the bike and about 500 awareness pamphlets.
Thulasimani’s ride was flagged off by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) of the city police T.K. Rajasekaran formally - before he took the vehicle to Kanyakumari to start the marathon ride on NH-7 in the presence of a few friends on June 1. Starting the trip without a break for the first six hours, he took short breaks for 15 minutes for every two hours – only when it was needed.
He stopped at 13 places for refilling the bike with 154 litres petrol. “At one remote place point between Seoni and Sagar, Uttar Pradesh, I ran out of fuel and purchased five litres of fuel at Rs. 200 per litre from villagers,” he said. Distributing pamphlets to the public on the way, he was given a warm reception by the Delhi Tamil Sangam. The Sangam also felicitated him in Delhi.
The motorist started back to Coimbatore by train on June 7 and reached here on June 10. On Saturday, he met City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan and Deputy Commissioner Rajasekaran, who lauded his effort. The student claimed that in December 2013 he covered a distance of 1,804 km on his bike covering 19 districts in Tamil Nadu (from Pollachi to Kanyakumari, Chennai and back to Coimbatore) in 24 hours, to create awareness on wearing helmets.
