At an age in which children are usually busy watching cartoons or playing video games, this 10-year-old boy from Delhi has embarked on a cycling trip of 2,500 km to spread the message of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Arab Bharadwaj, a class six student, started his journey on April 14 at Moirang, 45 km south of Imphal in Bishnupur district, in Manipur where Bose’s Indian National Army (INA) raised the tricolour on April 14, 1944.
Accompanied by his father Atul M Bharadwaj, who is a doctor by profession, the young boy reached Alipurduar in West Bengal on his bicycle on Tuesday.
Arab said that he was inspired by Bose’s fight for India’s Independence.
“When I was in class two, my grandfather Mittar Sain Bhardwaj started telling me stories about our freedom fighters. He gave me many books about the country’s freedom struggle, who was once posted in Moirang. It was at that time that I got inspired by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his fight for the country,” he said.
“I wanted to do something on the 75th year of India’s Independence, the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji and the 78th anniversary of hoisting the first tricolour by INA,” he added.
Around 20 cyclists from Manipur Adventure and Mountain Biking Association and Manipur’s Doctors On Pedal had joined the first leg of the expedition from Moirang to Manipur state capital to encourage the young boy.
Arab said that his family supported his idea of the cycling trip with his father accompanying him on the journey. Dr. Atul said that his son has great interest in the stories of India’s freedom struggle adding that he is delighted to learn the cultural diversities of Northeast states.
The cycling expedition, which will conclude at the National War Memorial in New Delhi, aims to spread the message of national unity, he said.
Arab said that he wants to join the Army in the future. “I want to serve the country,” he said.
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