A Hero Impulse bike. 1,20,000 km. Guinness World Record. This just about sums up Lucknow boy Gaurav Siddharth’s Guinness World Record official attempt for the longest motorcycle journey in a single country. The 23-year-old psychology graduate who set out from Lucknow on September 17 last year was in the city recently on the fifth leg of his adventure that covers Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and south Karnataka.
Gaurav will travel through all 29 States during his ride. He has clocked nearly 79,000 km in the first four legs of the journey and overtaken the distance travelled by American biker Danell Lynn for the record for the longest motorcycle ride in a country. Early in 2015, Gaurav had travelled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari on a bicycle.
In this ride, he has tried to ensure that to the extent possible the riding gear and products used by him such as GPS, gloves, jackets, helmet, and the motorbike itself are made in India.
His route map for the State involves catching up on the Onam revelry, the boat races at Alappuzha, visiting Kodinhi village that is famous for its twins, meeting P.T. Usha at her academy, and Munnar, a nearly 3,000-km ride.
Blogger and raconteurGaurav writes blogs on his experiences and is also a raconteur of sorts. He tells of the Ramnami tribe in Chhattisgarh who tattooed the name of Rama all over their body in protest against being denied entry into temples, and the Bullet Baba temple near Bikaner where a Bullet motorcycle is worshipped.
The ride is his way of spreading among the youth the message of road safety. Gaurav is concerned about the carbon footprint he is racking up, and wants to work for environmental restoration once he is done with his ride in March or April next year. .
He hopes his travels will stand him in good stead while he attempts to pursue a career in the IAS. There are also plans to bring out a book on his experiences.
