Pushkar in Person
by Muna Gurung
muna@wavemag.com.np

Haami thulo manchey hoina, asal manchey banna sikaun, kinaki hamro desh lai kehi asal manchey haru ko khaancho chha.

Tendon- “When will you give me Pushkar’s journal?”
Muna- “I’ll bring it in next week.”

I have transcribed Pushkar’s journal for the last three issues. Being new to the job - and also having to fear that Pushkar’s journal entries might now sound a bit unlike him - I try to be as precise as possible; so a shout across the office, “what’s arthatantra in English?And prabhutwa?” is not out of the ordinary.

Until a week back, translating Pushkar’s journal was just a part of my job description. After meeting him, translating the same journal feels a lot more personal. This month, we take a break from Pushkar’s Carribean tour to bring you a sketch of the travelling peace messenger, who is currently in town and had time to sit in on an interview.

He moves. The wheels spin beneath him continuously. As a young boy, he used to marvel the ingenuity of the cycle-creators, but now, it is not important. Other big things loom ahead of him; it’s the Dominican Republic today, Peurto Rico tomorrow. Day after? Let’s see.

As he cycles cutting past the strongest of winds, he thinks about his first days on the peace road. Today, people know him, they see him as a symbol of peace. Yesterday, he was an ordinary Nepali, traveling with the much-maligned green passport. Why are we prejudged? Nose cringed this way and that: “Oh, you’re from Nepal, ey? What are you here for? To make some money?”

Money? He has lived on handouts everyday of his life since November 29,1998, when he started his journey. It’s true. It’s true he has not earned enough to buy his family a meal or his mom a fariya. It’s true people dislike his gallivanting around the world, while his mother and his brothers live in his village, his Dolakha, in their field, with their animals. Farming. Rearing. Living. But he is not ashamed. “I can’t live in a Dolakha within a country where peace is extinct. Nepal deserves peace. My village deserves peace.”

His Dolakha. Dolakha where he dreamed as a young boy of becoming a teacher. A teacher who doesn’t mix violence with education. No beating. No screaming. Love will do. Dolakha where he can hear the wind, feel the dust prickle his exposed legs. Dolakha, where he moved to after his childhood in Assam. Dolakha, where he was when he heard the news. The news of his father, murdered by ugrabaadis called Bodo. “Wasn’t he peace keeping in Assam?”, he wondered then. Why was he killed? He didn’t know.

It started then. The search for peace. The realisation that people are being killed - unnecessarily. “Whether it is the krantikaaris killing or the shantikaaris killing. Killing is still killing. Killing is no peace”, he remembered screaming at himself. The frustrations rising .The questions, now dusted off and clear. What can he do as an individual? “Ha, nothing!” They had laughed long and hard at him.

But he pulled through. More realisations hit him: shot at him really. On his right arm. Year: 1990. Cause: revolution for democracy. Stand: student activist. Later, he was jailed. Beaten. Starved. He pulled through. Another realisation: conflict is universal. Conflicts arising from political reasons, racial reasons, economic reasons. Any reason would do. Why are people so fatalistic? Why can’t people live with peace? No answer.

He chose to travel. November 29, 1998, on his Brighter Toothpaste sponsored cycle- with a Rs.100 note his mother gave him and a small Nepali flag. The government didn’t care much. He didn’t care that they didn’t care. But he didn’t have the necessary documents - as he travelled, officials were unconvinced that he was cycling for peace, that he needed their help, their permission. It first seemed like a vicious cycle. No trust, no support. No support, difficult times. But in difficult times, he grew stronger. And stronger still with his country struggling through tumultuous times. “Pinched” but strengthened, to travel further for peace, more messages, more people, more kilometres, all the way accross 51 different countries.

As he reaches a near-by city, San Juan, he sees a newspaper stand. He’s on the headlines. His face, gleaming from the paper. He almost doesn’t recognise himself. He feels honoured, he feels happy that people have recognised his efforts and have gestured support and solidarity from their side. But he doesn’t want to be judged- he understands that his journey on a two-wheeler is not about enlisting himself on the ‘fame-list’. It is about his beliefs. He doesn’t want people to think that he is proud of what he has done. For he doesn’t feel he has succeeded much. Has he? He looks at himself, the same him, the same cycle, the same mission, and the same situation around the world.

In San Juan, he realises he has a promise to keep. He has to call his friend in Hong Kong. His ‘I-will-wait-for-you’ friend. His supporter. When he left her at the Hong Kong International Airport, she gave him money. “It’s not for you”, she had said, “It’s for calling me from every new place you go to.” She said she loved him. She said she wanted to marry him. She said a lot of things. But when he told her to buy a cycle and come with him, she didn’t say anything. She said nothing. It is something he remembers all the time. Like a poultice.

In fact, he remembers a lot of good things. He remembers his country. Her space, the ease he feels when he goes home to her. Other beautiful places like New Zealand, cities like Vancouver, all his personal favorites and then the strangers - like the Nepalis scattered across the world who feel particularly proud and hopeful at the sight of their national flag on his cycle.

He is asked to think about himself ten years from now. Where does he see himself? He doesn’t see anything, his eyes are lidded. He doesn’t care about ten years. He has to go on till 2009- at the least.

So for now, he has a long way to go. Many spaces to venture into, so many public figures to meet, so many talk programmes to hold, so much peace to spread via newspapers, radio and television. It won’t stop. He won’t stop. He has his will with him, his country, his readers, his friends, his family. There’s the South American continent to go through and then off to Africa. All scheduled to start this Baishakh.

Haami thulo manchey hoina, asal manchey banna sikaun, kinaki hamro desh lai kehi asal manchey haru ko khaancho chha.

Source-Wavemagzine,Nepal

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Pushkar Shah’s endless sagas
	By Caesar Rana - As if the ravages of time and the hardships of subsistence living weren’t bad enough, on his most recent trip around the world, the intrepid Nepali cyclist, Pushkar Shah, came so very close to what could have been a really slow and painful death.It all happened in the badlands of Mexico. He had been unceremoniously abducted by two muggers who muffled and bound him and drove him to the middle of a dense forest in the back of a truck. "At first, I thought it was a simple kidnapping that would eventually end in a ransom deal," explains the cyclist, adding, "But once they stopped in the middle of nowhere and started to talk in Spanish, I ‘had’ to fear for my life." Of course, having pedaled through more countries than most of us can remember the names of, this lone ranger was not going to give up without a fight. "The minute one of those thugs came near me, I gave him a jab on the right and totally subdued him. By the time the other got out of the cabin, I was already running like hell and continued to do so for several more minutes," he recalls. And in the end, with his bicycle and accessories found after a few days, Pushkar managed to get away with only a minor cut to a hand and an unforgettable experience. But the entire incident only goes to illustrate the dangers faced by a lonely traveler whose only motivation is the dream to pedal around the world. "Yes, at times, I do become nostalgic, thinking about family members, friends and my compatriots. But when I tend to get carried away, I remember that I’ve a mission, a goal which is not very easy to achieve but certainly very rewarding," he opines. But it’s not until 2009 that he’ll be able to savor that satisfaction. So Pushkar has come on a two-month break back to Kathmandu to gather his energies to push through Eastern Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Russia and finally the ancient Silk Road via the Gobi Desert. By the end of his journey, he’ll have pedaled some 39,000 kilometers in 11 years. He then plans to scale Mt. Everest with flags of all the nations that he will have visited. Looks like no dimensions are too high or long for some people. In the last two years that Pushkar spent away from home in South America and Africa, he also managed to collect a lot of fond lifelong memories. For instance, there was this time when he was blissfully singing with the locals in Peru, or when he was distributing what little sweets he could buy to children in Africa. "The African country of Mali was really some experience," he says. "No matter how careful you’re, the local renters can always find some things to charge you extra on. If you’re on a boat, you’d have to pay separately for the food and even the bed, and if you hired a taxi, the baggage had its own share of fare," Pushkar reports lightheartedly. "And no matter where we go, you can always be expected to be swarmed by children or beggars." Shah also talks about the total devastation that he saw in such war-torn African nations such as Sierra Leone and Somalia. "I can only hope that people in Nepal will never be reduced to such a state of nothingness," he adds candidly. So, probably that’s why, before leaving again for Liberia in West Africa, Pushkar Shah wants to conduct a cycle rally for peace from Kathmandu to Pokhara. All in a day’s work for someone who started out on a world tour in the name of world peace in the first place. All the best!!! Source-TheKathmandu Post,January 2005

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Pushkar’s Spinning Wheels

words: PREENA SHRESTHA

He is, once again, on his way. All geared up, he makes last minute preparations, namely, putting the final touches on his bicycle, and gathering provisions, information, maps and a whole lot of good wishes from everyone he meets. Possessing a constant vigour and an enviable drive that’s not common to many, Pushkar Shah cannot wait to be on the road again.

The break that he took from his schedule- a nice, brief stay in his homeland–lasted two months and has now come to an end. His homecoming was an event in itself; he’s received tremendous response and overwhelming support from people here. Time has flown where Pushkar is concerned, and while he dreads leaving behind friends and family, his spirit of adventure pulls him to his feet. Even during his so-called ‘respite’, he hasn’t been idle. After having a cultural program organised in Yala Maya Kendra in Patan, where he presented various photographs and memorabilia that he collected during his travels, more recently, he participated in Collections, an exhibition of a similar kind held at the National Art Council in Babarmahal. Displaying a remarkable array of license plates, caps, t-shirts, bottle caps, hat-pins, awards, photographs, coins and currency from umpteen nations, with Pushkar’s trusty bicycle as the piece-de-resistance, the fundraiser also featured the works of artist Govinda Azad, photographer Raman Bhattarai and belongings of climbing prodigy Temba Tshiri Sherpa.

Although Pushkar initially planned to enter Africa through Liberia, following a tricky route across the continent and concluding that portion of his tour in Algeria, things have now taken a different turn. “Financial support was difficult to arrange,” Pushar says. “But hopefully, I will be able to resume my tour of Africa in the winter if luck favours me.” And we hope it does. But for now, while Africa takes a back seat in his plans, what does he intend to do? “Europe,” he answers. Starting with the UK, then Ireland, on to Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and finally, Belarus, his journey around Europe is bound to be exciting. But then again, all his journeys are.

Stretching over a period of six months in the summer, once this tour is over, he looks forward to spending a year-and-a-half in the dark continent. When asked if he has any plans of a small visit to Nepal in that course of time, he shakes his head dolefully. “No,” he says. “That doesn’t seem possible. At least, not for the moment.”

Pushkar’s courage, his perseverance and his quest for peace has, by now, acquired indisputable repute in many countries of the world. The Nepali flag that he has fixed on his bicycle never fails to evoke feelings of pride in us, for he has taken the nation’s honour to another level. In his own way, he reminds us of the power of dreams and renews our belief in what we have the potential to achieve. Perhaps we can’t all be ‘Pushkars’ but if we try hard enough, we can see a glimpse of ourselves in him. Pushkar’s wheels are on the spin again, we wish the eklo yatri all the best for his journeys ahead.