Green Says, “Go!”
B.O.Y. 2.0’s tour begins amidst the greenery of Darjeeling today. Kaka is set to ride to Alipurduar, a distance of 202 kms. Penchen and Sunil (of Darjeeling Enfielders) have volunteered to drop Kaka till the highway.
However, the sharp turns and intense slope is still a nightmare in the bright morning! Kaka is neither comfortable nor keen to ride on this route.
Without hesitation, Penchen swaps bike with Kaka; Sunil rides Penchen’s bike with Kaka as a pillion. Kaka is still wary riding through the valley as a pillion…
Penchen makes a calculated diversion on to a narrow road passing through the jungle! Riding past tall trees and thick greenery, Kaka takes in all the fun as a pillion! Penchen casually mentions about wild animals also using this road…!
The shortcut cuts down the total ride time for Kaka. On the way, Penchen, Sunil, and Kaka stop at the Coronation Bridge, also known as the Baghpool (named after the tiger statues on the ‘heritage’ structure) by the locals. What a fitting farewell gift for ReBirth’s lone tiger!
Penchen and Sunil drop off Kaka only once they hit a plain table land – which is 40 kms more than their intended drop-off! They display no distress of the additional trouble that they’ve willingly undertaken.
Confident on the flat road, Kaka takes a grateful leave of the Darjeeling Enfielders and rides to the next destination. But the flat road throws another challenge to Kaka – heavy rains!
Kaka is already wearing the raincoat he bought in Kolkata. Dressed in green from shoulder to ankle, Kaka continues the journey to Alipurduar without a hitch.
There, waiting on the highway, despite the rains, is the biker-host, Sagar and his fellow bikers (Teesta Thumpers, Alipurduar Chapter).
They escort safely-covered-in-the-bright-green-raincoat-Kaka to the city in their car.
“Green is ReBirth’s colour and, therefore, my raincoat’s too,” Kaka proudly justifies the colour choice of his purchase!
It also fits superbly vis-à-vis B.O.Y. 2.0 being a road journey; the green signal means to go ahead!
The Teesta Thumpers (Alipurduar), who haven’t hear d of Kaka and/or ReBirth before have arranged for a press meet in the evening. With the limited resource available to them, they manage to grab hold of a digital copy advertising ReBirth’s Bharat Organ Yatra. They print this as the welcome banner for Kaka as well as the backdrop for the press meet.
However, the banner leads to confusion – it reads B.O.Y. 1.0’s statistics! Kaka clarifies the confusions and shares the current happenings… B.O.Y. 2.0 is correctly covered in Uttar Banga Sambad, Alipurduar.
Despite being unaware, the Teesta Thumpers continued their role for B.O.Y. 2.0 in Alipurduar; they did not stop. Despite the heavy rains, they stood on the highway for Kaka; they did not make excuses. Despite completing their role, the Darjeeling Enfielders rode another 40 kms for Kaka’s comfort and fixed his bike’s break liners; they did not leave him marooned.
Despite the misconceptions surrounding us in the society, ReBirth chooses to spread mass awareness about the sensitive topic of organ donation.
Despite knowing that all green waste is recyclable, why don’t we do the same for our organs!?
Day 57
Darjeeling to Alipurduar | 202 kms
– Juhi Kothari/Shetty
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