Ride4Ride! Mission Incomplete for Cyclist Shameem
Mangaluru: “At the age of 50/60/70, when sitting in an armchair at home/balcony and looking back into memory lane; it would be really painful if I have to regret that when I had the time and capacity, I didn’t even try.” I truly believe in, “Do whatever you can do, before you can’t do only”, with only one main target running in my brain “To see where I stand in the Crowd”. Possibly, I may not be a champion to win a given race by coming First of the lot. I agree, I might not be having that lightning Speed. So, whats wrong in making the finish-line so far/big, that only very few will ever think/dare about it; and I will have genuine chance to be the deserving champion (with pride and respect)”
“With all these simple, yet heavy philosophy, I want to “Try Whatever I Can Try”, to “Do something, so that if not anybody else, but I should RESPECT myself”. And, my belief in all these made me initiate all these. On a mission to live above-said stuff, I started planning, and now, am all set to go for yet another Solo Cycling Expedition, “Bharat Bhraman : Ride-4-Pride”. Never-the-less, I want to give some genuine reasons to my parents, family to be proud of me (which they, of course, are, without any reasons yet) “, and these are the words what this cyclist had to say during Team Mangalorean first interaction with him, when he was gearing up for the 8,000-km Kanyakumari-Kashmir (Leh)- ‘Kanyakumari Atulya Bharat-Bharat Bhraman’ Solo Cycling Expedition.
We all used to cycle in our school days, and love to cycle in early mornings of weekends/holidays. Cycling 10-20 Kms is very good fitness activity suggested by doctors; but if one zero is added to make it 100 Kms, becomes a TASK. For sure, nobody in weirdest of their dreams would dare to mistake of adding one more zero to make it 1000 Kms. Yeah, right. On cycle!! Presenting here is, SSS Shameem, Assistant professor at Dept. of Computer of Applications, MIT, Manipal, who took up a herculean task of travelling the entire length of India, all the way from Kanyakumari to Kashmir (Ladakh) on Cycle, all alone. He started, he rode; he underwent all the challenges. Unfortunately, due to severe climatic challenges and related health problem, he couldn’t reach Ladakh, but very promisingly he completed 3,520 km in 23 days (+ 3 days of rest); all alone on cycle. This statistics could have been much better (keeping in mind his earlier 4 years of endurance sports experience); but on a SOLO, self-supported, long trip it’s not a bad feat either.
He feels, the love and support of thousands of well-wishers all across the country pushed him so far, and quite visible was the appreciation-encouragement from Manipal family. He says, “I couldn’t achieve what I planned and promised. But, I still and always believe, regretting of past is a foolish thing; rather learning from it and preparing at present for a successful future is the real wisdom. I failed, but I can proudly say, I tried my best, achieved a bit and learnt a lot.” He started this (failed) attempt for LIMCA records with a flag off from Kanyakumari on 23-May-2016; and ended the expedition (due to bad health) at Patseu (Himachal Pradesh) on 18-June-2016.
He fell short by 320 Kms to Ladakh. During the journey, he crossed 13 states (& UTs), 53 districts, 52 cities and countless townships; met connected with a lot of strange-lovely people. Having a vast experience in endurance sports, cycling and running, he just added one more feather to his cap by registering his name to become the only few of the Indians to ever cycle the entire length of India; and possibly the only second one to do South-North ever and that too in the heat of Summer; and possibly the first one to attempt Himalayas on a Road bike (strictly not meant for mountains; but he covered 300+ kms with the same).
More than those, he was and he is still very proud to represent the brand Manipal in national level in the Sports domain as well. Undoubtedly Manipal has many other better sports-talents, but in this unique way he also tried to deliver his bit of contribution to the family he belongs to, “Manipal”. He also met and associated with some of the Manipal Alumnus (even his own students), which was a great feeling altogether. He shared and updated daily proceedings on social media without fail, and thousands of well-wishers from all cadres of society and age-group were encouraging him throughout.
For his unique and noble attempt, he got a huge positive response from mass-and-media, Govt. officials, Private sectors, Police Dept. of different states, Indian Railways, and the great Indian Army. Never to miss out, the unconditional support by Manipal Group itself, throughout in each stage, was un-matchable.
Justifying to his self-claimed identity, which he feels very proud of: Muslim by Birth; INDIAN by Heart; Human by Nature; Professor by Profession; Family person by Emotion; Trier and Achiever by Determination; he says he came to know a bit of the Real India more closely in these 30 odd days. He started with a message to spread i.e. of Unity and Humanity; but he realized that amongst all the diversity and present-visible disturbances, still lies a lot of brotherhood and attachment for each other among the people of India, irrespective of cast-creed-religion-region-language-gender.
He already has a huge impact on the students of Manipal, and many are getting inclined towards running and cycling in a more serious way; even some doing good in related sports events as well. Proud-parents Sk. Habibun Bibi and Sk. Anwar Hossain are always his role model and source of inspiration, for which he apologies with God-almighty for respecting them more than HIM. Friends and family members are always a major source of inspiration for him. Also, his student, whom he calls as friends, were always encouraging and cheering him up. His department, institute, university, and all known-unknown “friends” were very supportive to him from the very beginning itself.
Others who encouraged his efforts are -MIT Director Dr. G. K. Prabhu who was personally interested in this event. Other officials of the Manipal university were also very encouraging; prominent among them were SOAHS dean Dr B Rajsekhar and Col. Prakash Chandra of Gen Services. Personal encouragement of Udupi SP Annamalai sir (who himself is an avid cyclist and rode with Shameem at quite some occasions) was very inspiring for him and all. Shameem wants to Specially mention the amount of support provided by the Great Indian Army at the remote places of Himachal Pradesh, at the time of urgent needs.
One of the Largest countries in the entire Planet Earth; and one personal covering its entire length by Cycle, doing it all alone, is never a small thing, whatsoever. It needs guts and courage, apart from a lot of mental strength and a huge amount of love and support. This time around, all these were with Shameem. Hoping to see him escalate to further heights and taste real success as well. Interestingly, Shameem is an endurance runner and cyclist; with a vast experience of many marathons, half-marathons and brevets (long distance cycling events). He has an inspiration, and it’s all very simple! All details on www.ride4pride.weebly.com . He has also successfully completed 1500 Km solo Cycling expedition in Dec-2015 from Bangalore to home/Odisha; crossing Hyderabad, Vijayawada, and Visakhapatanam.
Also, through his expedition he promoted the message of “Live and Let Live”, and proceeded with this cause of “Being Human; the Human that God- Almighty created”, which he himself tries to follow to possible limit. He believes “It’s okay if you can’t make someone laugh, but don’t make one cry. Don’t be the REASON of PAIN to anybody.” Apart from this, he also wants to help those financially challenged athletes whose talent go waste due to lack of resources. On a personal note, he is already in the process of helping a few such talents; but that support (from his small-in-size pocket) can hardly make a difference. But, it can obviously make a beginning; and that’s what he is trying/aiming with this Double K2K fund-raising.
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