Over 1,200 years ago, a young monk from Kerala travelled from Kalady to Kashmir, propagating the oneness of existence, or what he termed Advaita.
That ancient route traversed by Adi Shankaracharya was retraced recently by a team of 52 bikers who rode from Kalady to the Line of Control (LoC) as a homage to the lives lost in the Pahalgam attack and a message against terrorism.
The bikers, who joined forces from across Kerala, rode under the motto ‘Bullets against Bullet’. For the bullet that terrorists showered on tourists in Pahalgam, here were the bikers’ own Royal Enfield Bullets. The two-week ride was flagged off on June 1 by Kochi City Police Commissioner Putta Vimaladitya, who also heads the state’s anti-terrorism squad.
“The idea came up after my friend R Ramanand, director of the Abhinava Gupta Institute of Advanced Studies, Vagamon, posted on Facebook about how the Pahalgam attack would soon be forgotten after the initial hubbub. The post got a lot of support, which encouraged him to take the idea forward and form the 'Bullets against Bullet' team,” says Mani Karthik, a startup consultant, who coordinated the core group and the planning of the journey.
“Some of us were researching the links between Kashmir and Kerala’s tantric traditions. Also, Shankaracharya’s influence in Kashmir is still revered. That’s how we decided to follow Shankara’s footsteps and named our mission ‘Shankara to Sharda’. The Sharda here refers to the ancient Sharda Peeth, now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where Shankaracharya had travelled to in 7th century AD. We have restricted access to that place, and hence, our destination was the Yatri Sharda Peeth very close to the LoC, near the Kishanganga river.”
Planning the journey wasn’t without challenges. “Our discussion group was infiltrated by stray social media users from as far as Pakistan, and agenda-driven individuals who tried to mar healthy conversations,” says Mani, who left a career in the US to settle in Kochi and guide NRIs keen on migrating and investing back home.
“We had to weed them out and plan carefully. Only our core group knew the route map. Everyone who wished to join was verified. We finalised 52 riders, including 10 women and a trans individual. Among us were techies, a temple priest, a farmer, and even a 76-year-old.”
The ‘biker priest’ in the team was Praveen P M from Thiruvananthapuram, who rode with his wife Renjini and their five-year-old son Badrinath as pillion. “We have done several such bike jaunts,” says Renjini. “But this is the longest we have done.”
The team faced many hurdles along the way. “The summer blaze in some places was horrifying. When it got too sultry and humid, Badrinath, who rode on the bike with us otherwise, would switch to one of the two cars that accompanied the team as support vehicle. At times, there were delays when a bike broke down or a rider fell ill,” she recalls.
Mani adds, “On the leg from Nagpur to Guna through a forest stretch, we rode long into the night and couldn’t find food. But through it all, we felt a higher power guiding us. Often, someone would appear just when we needed help. Other Royal Enfield bikers, whom we networked with, assisted us in finding service stations throughout the journey. People who came to know of our mission welcomed us warmly. In Hyderabad, we were treated to a five-star lunch. Our accommodation was mostly in auditoriums, ashrams, or sometimes open grounds.”
The high point of the journey was when the bikers reached the Yatri Sharda Peeth and offered prayers for the Pahalgam victims. “While performing the rituals, we could see armed personnel from across the LoC. Initially, we were denied permission, but later allowed, on the condition that we finish within 10 minutes. We were perhaps the first civilians to enter such a sensitive zone after the attack,” says Praveen, who rushes off to lead Pradosham prayers at the Chengalloor Mahadeva Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.
Another highlight was the team’s visit to a Kashmir village where an ancient idol of Goddess Sharda was recently unearthed during construction work. “The idol, which is of immense research interest, was installed at a makeshift shrine there,” says Mani
Despite the scale of the expedition, the cost was modest, the bikers say. “Fuel cost us about Rs 15,000 per bike, and another Rs 15,000 for miscellaneous expenses,” says Renjini.
Mani says the trip was an ode to Advaita. “It was also a statement that terrorism cannot make Bharat cower,” says Mani from his Kochi home just a few yards from the house of N Ramachandran, who lost his life on the meadows of Pahalgam that fateful day.