32-year-old Telangana man cycles over 2,000 km for a cause

Hyderabad: A long distance cyclist hailing from Jangaon in Telangana, 32-year-old Kothapalli Nagaraju, has cycled over 2,000 km covering 33 districts in the State to create awareness about the Save Soil Campaign launched by Sadhguru, founder of Isha Foundation. The ten-day cycle ride began on April 17 and ended on April 26 at Uppal. “The […]

Hyderabad: A long distance cyclist hailing from Jangaon in Telangana, 32-year-old Kothapalli Nagaraju, has cycled over 2,000 km covering 33 districts in the State to create awareness about the Save Soil Campaign launched by Sadhguru, founder of Isha Foundation.

The ten-day cycle ride began on April 17 and ended on April 26 at Uppal. “The event was flagged off by Marri Laxman Reddy, chairman of Marri Laxman Reddy Institute of Technology, at People’s Plaza,” he said, adding that he loved the concept of saving soil.

Talking about his cycling journey, Nagaraju said, “I used to start riding my bicycle around 4.30 am and go as far as I could until late at night. A mini truck used to accompany me carrying all of my belongings.” He had been a cycling enthusiast since his childhood and has been into various cycling competitions as a kid.

“During childhood, I used to rent a cycle for two rupees an hour and ride it. It’s only in my early teens that I learned about proper professional cycling,” he said.

Earlier, Nagaraju, an employee at Decathlon, participated in numerous social campaigns like don’t drink and drive awareness, women cycling, Swachh Telangana, and has his name etched in the Telangana Book of Records twice for riding all over the State.

He has not only ridden his bicycle across Telangana, but also from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, covering 3800 km in 36 days. He rode his bicycle to the highest motorcyclable point in Kashmir – Khardungla, from Manali, in ten days.

Short Film director Chandra Teja, who is also a part-time Decathlon employee, is making a documentary on him and his cycling career. “Considering his passion for cycling and whatever he has done for it, I thought it would be worth it to tell his story to people,” said Teja.

Nagaraju is now making plans to compete at the national level cycling this year. He says he already has collected half of the necessary amount in order to get a professional bicycle to participate in the competitions.

Sadhguru engages with world leaders to take his mission to save soil

Into his fifth week of Save Soil journey, Sadhguru coasted along Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania to reach Turkey. The Save Soil Movement also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Agriculture of Serbia and Romania.

Speaking at Heroes’ Square in Budapest, he said: “The new heroes are those people who will nurture the soil which always lies beneath our feet but never stands up.” In Bulgaria, Sadhguru called on Borislav Sandov, Minister of Environment to discuss the Save Soil movement. He will now move to Georgia and Azerbaijan before entering Middle East countries and will also address at UNCCD’s 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) in Ivory Coast and World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.