At 59, this cyclist will cover 4,300 km to raise funds for poor students!
BENGALURU: “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years,” remarked Abraham Lincoln. Most of us go through life sprinting after money, never really taking time out to stop and smell the roses and before we know it, life has already passed us by and we are saddled with regrets.
But cyclist Gagan Khosla isn’t one of them. A Delhi based entrepreneur and an adventure seeker; this 59-year-old is on a mission to cycle his way to the ends of India and for a cause. He is trying to raise funds to aid the education of underprivileged children, who are keen to study in Scindia School, Gwalior, which incidentally is also his alma mater.
“At my age, you realise what is important and it’s not money. Life needs to be lived to the fullest and we lose ourselves to the rat race and when it’s time to go, we end up being full of regrets,” said Khosla, tanned and pink faced, right back after a practice ride around CMP Gardens, where he is halting for a day. He will then resume his journey to the finishing point Kanyakumari, which is 750 kilometres away.
“This ride is dedicated to my school and we aim to raise about a crore that will go into the scholarship for children from poor families,” he said. Gagan started his cycle journey from Leh in September. He thought of this 4,300-kilometre cycle journey after he met a young Australian girl cycling her way through Ladakh’s rocky terrain, while he was on a road trip in his car with family and friends.
“There was this girl, she was so young and was riding a bicycle alone as part of an adventure trip to Delhi. After speaking to her, I found out she was actually going to pick her friends up at the capital and come back for another ride! And then I looked at myself panting and sweating in a car, and I set my mind to undertake a ride like that. I knew I had to come back and start there,” he said animatedly shaking his head and laughing.
Braving cold nights, scorching heat and extreme terrains isn’t the hardest part of the journey, he explains, what is difficult is waking up every morning and motivating oneself. He started training back in 2006 that included a wheat free diet and rigorous session at the gym for about 2 hours everyday at 4.30 am.
Khosla is carrying a bottle of water from the Indus that he wants to flow into the India Ocean when he reaches Kanyakumari. The ride is also a birthday present as he turns 60 next month, he says excitedly. “This year as I turn 60, I will have achieved this feat. It is a gift to me from my family.” The likes of him prove that age is nothing but a number!
