HUBBALLI: In the year 2000, when Chandrashekhar Bichhagatti, 43, had to attend the recruitment rally he was short on cash. Hence he came by foot all the way to Hubballi from his village. On Tuesday he did something similar. He went back to his native from Hubballi by running for 43 km.
Chandrashekhar Bichhagatti, was attached to Border Security Force (BSF) and he was serving in Punjab till his retirement last week. A resident of Chakalabbi Village in Kundgol Taluk, Bichhagatti was given a grand welcome by the villagers after he reached the village by running.
On Tuesday, his family members came in the car to receive him, but Chandrashekhar dropped his bags in the car and began to run for 43 km till his village. The villagers and Sri Shivanand Swamiji of Kundagol were waiting in the village to give him a warm welcome.
Speaking to TNIE, Chandrashekhar said his family faced financial setbacks after his father passed away in 1997. He was very good at running, sports, yoga, and other physical activities and wanted to join the security forces to serve the nation. In 2000, he applied for BSF and the recruitment was held in Ballari. "I had no money to reach Hubballi from Chakalabbi village. Therefore I ran for 43 km to catch a train to Ballari for the recruitment," he recalled.
“Luckily I got selected and joined the services in Bengaluru in June 2000. The training was given in Srinagar and from there on, I got to serve in Rajasthan, Meghalaya, New Delhi, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Punjab. Last week, I retired from the service and returned to Hubballi by train. I left my village by running to join BSF, therefore I wanted to return to my village by running only,” he said.
"Chandrashekhar is an inspiration to youth and the entire taluk is proud of him. People have to learn lessons of life from him and get inspiration to lead a good life," said Sri Shivanand Swamiji of Kundagol.