If cycling up an artificial wall was not enough, Sangeeta Samad opted to take up another arduous task: she pedalled all the way to Kathmandu in Nepal in support of the girl child and her education.
The 22-year-old Tata Steel employee was part of a nine-member expedition team that travelled 1,140 km from New Delhi to Kathmandu from March 1 to 10.
"The expedition was really challenging. I developed a pain in my legs during the first two days of the trip. But, things settled to a nicety after that till we reached Kathmandu," said Sangeeta, who competed in the zonal sport climbing competition in Darjeeling last year and came second (in lead and bouldering categories) at the state climbing meet held at JRD Tata Sports Complex last year.
Sangeeta, who is a mechanical assistant at Tata Steel's coke oven wing, has also done rock climbing and was part of the out door leadership programme conducted by Tata Steel Adventure Foundation in Uttarkashi.
She said her cycling expedition was flagged off from Delhi on March 1 and concluded in Kathmandu on March 10. "Varsha Sasane (Maharashtra), Amita Das (Bengal) and Sumiya Kousar (Jammu) were among those in the team. Support staff comprising five men followed us to the destination," Sangeeta recalled.
She says he came to about the trip via Facebook and subsequently contacted Vikram Singh Panchal, the organiser of the expedition. "I bought a new racing gear for the challenge," the resident of Sakchi added.
Two support staffers, Vinay Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar, acted as navigators during the trip. "The two remained 12 km ahead of us in a car for booking hotels (for night stay) and arranging lunch at dhabas. We pedalled till 9pm everyday and rested our limbs at night. We used to hit the road again at 6am the next morning," Sangeeta recollected.
Munish Vashist, who was part of the organising team, said the trip was very well conducted and Sangeeta was very sporting. "It was a satisfying trip. The girls showed a lot of interest in the trip," he told The Telegraph over telephone from Kurukshetra.
The team, on a beti bachao, beti padhao mission, visited Swayambhunath temple and spread awareness about the need to protect and educate girls.
"I also took time off to visit Pashupatinath Temple. I am very satisfied with the expedition and look forward to taking up similar challenges coming my way in future," Sangeeta signed off.
