Two motorcyclists to venture on South Asia ride

Bangalore, Dec 2: Two young and enthusiastic motorcyclists, under the banner 'Borderless Bikers', will tour the SAARC countries in their maiden international ride from December three to May one, 2007.

Srinidhi Raghavendra, a journalist working with Education World - The Human Development Magazine, and Kishore Patwardhan, a self-employed entrepreneur actively involved in adventure and biking activities, have decided to cover over 25,000 km riding through 62 major cities and eight countries during the next five months.

While Srinidhi intended to spread the importance of quality education to all children in the South Asian region, Mr Patwardhan wanted to promote India as a tourism destination.

Talking to newspersons here, Srinidhi said, ''Millions of Indians eke out a living doing odd jobs due to lack of education and poverty. Providing these masses quality education right from the beginning is the only way to bring them out of the vicious poverty-illiteracy-poverty cycle.'' According to UN studies, South Asia hosted the largest illiterate population (850 million).

Mr Patwardhan said, ''Though India has vast tracts of lush green forests, long beaches, snow capped mountains, rivers, yoga and spirituality, it attracts only two to three million international tourists annually. A small country like France attracts 30 million, Britain 25 million and the US over 40 million. This difference may be due to inadequate tourism promotion and lack of infrastructure.

During this tour, we plan to promote India as a destination.'' About funding, Srinidhi said the estimated expenditure of Rs 11 lakh partly came from sponsorship by corporates, NGOs, motorcycle clubs and individuals. Two-wheeler giant TVS was supporting the expedition with bikes and maintenance, Cramster with specially designed motorcycle luggage and Rotary International was making hosting arrangements in various locations on the route.

UNI