To promote world peace

 

Pushkar Shah (left), renowned bicyclist promoting peace around the world, shows acting governor Mike Cruz (right) a portfolio containing newspaper clippings of his travels from all over the globe. Photo courtesy of the governor's office.

FOR the past 11 years, Pushkar Shah traveled on his bicycle to many countries and has met all kinds of people, whether they were dignitaries or your average farmer, but with the goal of promoting world peace.

The Variety had a chance to meet Shah, originally from Nepal, yesterday afternoon at the office of acting governor Mike Cruz.   

Shah said the idea essentially began after his father, Krishna Bahadur Shah was killed while on a peace-keeping mission in India.  The younger Shah, in the meantime, had become an activist and even participated in the Democracy Movement in Nepal.  

After getting arrested several times, he decided in 1998 at the age of 29 to travel around the world and spread the message of world peace, and he's been going on ever since and has visited 137 countries, Guam being the latest.   

The countries he has visited is evident in the blue portfolio he carries with him wherever he goes to.  On the cover is an inscription "May Peace Prevail On Earth" which is written in languages others than English.   

When asked what country or nation he felt he had most enjoyed visiting, he said there were several he liked, "but by nature, Switzerland and Norway and I like the South American people, they're friendly," he said referring to Peru, Chile and Argentina.

 Tough time

There were some places he had a rough time in, particularly in Mexico, where he said he was kidnapped by some hoodlyms.  He explains he was resting under a tree when a truck approached with two men inside.  The truck stopped and the men kidnapped him and put him in the truck, then went off in the jungle area.

"I thought they would bring me somewhere and give me food and drinks and they would demand something, I don't know maybe money. But when they took me, I was afraid and wondered why in the jungle. I decided they wanted to kill me and wanted to get all my belongings," he said, adding he decided to fight off his kidnappers when he saw the opportunity. Shah managed to escape and three hours later he wandered into a village where he sought help from local police.  He was also able to get his bike back five days later in another town.

So why visit and bike around Guam?  Shah said he just looked at a globe, pointed to Guam, and decided right away that he wanted to come.

"I didn't know anybody, I came here to see the governor. He wasn't on island so I saw the acting governor, Mike Cruz," he said.  The acting governor also wrote a short letter commending Shah on his work.

While in the region, he does plan on heading to Chuuk and the other islands in Micronesia after his brief stay on Guam.  He is expected to depart in a few days.

As for the 11-year tour, Shah said it will end next year. "It's almost the end of the journey…so I will be back in Nepal in July," he said.

The following year in 2010, he plans to embark on another project or journey in his native country.  "My big dream…I'm going to climb Mt. Everest in 2010," he said, planning to place the flags of all the countries he's visited on top of the highest mountain in the world.