The South Asian: Peace ByCycle

July 14, 2008

Peace ByCycle

Children's organization from Bangalore Born Free Art and Pakistani organizations Punjab Lok Sujag & Lok Rahs plan a bicycle trip from Bangalore to Lahore.

Bangalore to Lahore One ore, One heart

Bangalore to Lahore One ore one heart is a historic cycle journey from Bangalore to Lahore covering a magical distance of 3663 kms

The purpose of undertaking this epoch making pedaling is multi pronged

1 Cycling in defense of environment

2 Cycling for personal and Nations' well being

3 For the child rights and right to of education.

4 To raise a campaign world wide on child labour

5 For the liberation of toiling children of the world;

6 For Peace and friendship with the people of Pakistan , to utilize our respective resources for education instead of war.

7 To popularize the joy of cycling.

8 The endurance and trial of the arduous journey for all the above causes/cause.

9 This is the second Dandi march en route to Saiwal the birthplace of Bhagat Singh the legendary freedom fighter.

10 The significance of beginning on 2nd October is to herald non~ violence, passive~ positive resistance to War and conflicts as the key .

The caravan will consist of:

a jeep which is the pilot for preparation, 2 bullet motorbike outriders, flag bearers who will ride 10 miles ahead. 24 cyclists consisting of 12 Indians, 6 Pakistanis and 6 International youth.

This will be followed by a supply laden Bus with 30 sleeping berths,

Storage for broken cycles, cooking range and medical aids.for providing technical and logistics support. Convertible to a performing stage, fitted with projection screen, and audio systems for full fledged shows.

The journey will be flagged off from Bangalore by elderly migrants from Pakistan who share and cherish our common heritage. by Hiroshima survivors through video conferencing.

The cycle route traverses

Bangalore ~331kms~ Chennai

Chennai~ 396kms~ Vijayawada

Vijayawada ~267kms~ Hyderabad

Hyderabad~548 kms~Pune

Pune ~163kms~ Mumbai

Mumbai~545~ Ahmednagar

Ahmednagar~657 kms~ Jaipur

Jaipur~258kms~ New Delhi

New Delhi~447~ Amritsar

Amritsar~62kms ~ Lahore .

While the string cyclists will make the whole way through, hundreds and thousands of cyclists will pedal a small minimum distance of 10kms. These cyclists will be drawn from various schools colleges and youth organizations Everyday the cyclist will pedal for about 80 kms @ 12 kms per hour for 8 hours.

There will be receptions everyday at every Town and city which will honor the cyclists, write and send messages of goodwill to the people of Pakistan pledging friendship

The cyclist will meet the President of India to present our objectives and also carry his message to the President of Pakistan who will return the gesture with a message for the children of India .

We are inviting you to attend a planning meeting of the Peacebycycle to help to realize the dream we need networks, sponsors places to stay in 50 cities and towns of India .

We will also be discussing the Hiroshima day we propose to organize in Bangalore on the 6th to 9th August 2008

We need your big help. So please come for a meeting at the Karmika Bhavan, Bannerghatta Road , opposite to the Bangalore Dairy/ Dharmaram college/ Accenture office, next to the Fire station.

Date Saturday, 12 July at 7pm

John Devaraj & Mioi Nakayama

...........................................

Program in Pakistan

Event Name: 4th Punjab Lok Boli Mela (Peoples' Language Festival)

Dates of Punjab Lok Boli Mela: 21- 25 November, 2008

Place: Jaranwala, District Fasilabad.

Dedicated to "Shaheed Bhagat Singh".

Mela venue: Government College , Jaranwala. This college is just 10 Km away from Bhagat Singh village named BANGA.

Host organizations: Punjab Lok Sujag & Punjab Lok Rahs Lahore.

Lahore address: Punjab Lok Sujag, RB 01, Flat # 8, 3rd floor, Awami Complex, New Garden Town , Lahore . Ph 0092 42 5886454, 0092 42 5940166

Contact persons: Tahir Mehdi 0092 300 9454421, Shafiq Butt: 0092 345 7444 704, Qamer Mehdi (Marketing) 0092 322 4004020

Cycle Rally Route in Pakistan : Wagha Border, Entrance in Lahore City, Cavalry ground, Gulbrk Chowk, Jail Road, Mazang, Data Darbar, Minar pakistan, Shahdera, Exit from Lahore, Fasialabald road, Jarnwala city, Govt college, Jaranwala.

Total distance 150 Km

Mela is attended by thousand peoples which has the following major segments;

1. School Program ( Around 100 Govt. school participates for five days and daily 1200 - 1500 school children from class 1-10 participates in 5-6 hours program at Boli Mela venue.

2. Theatre: Around 9-10 modern and traditional theatre groups participates and one pandal is fixed with theatre. last year we have total 24 performances.

3. Daily folk music night around 10,000 people participate in each night.

4. Folk dances of Punjab in one pandal.

5. Discussion forums in seminar pandals.

6. Puppet performances.

7. Punjabi Poetry Mushera.

8. Commercial stalls.

9. Heer singing competition.

10. Traditional Punjabi food.

Introduction to The Punjab Lok Boli ,Mela

Punjab Lok Sujag (PLS) / Punjab Lok Rahs (PLR) are the host organization of this mega festival run for five days in rural areas of Punjab . Each year we dedicate this festival to any individual who have identity with Punjabi, Punjabi language and culture. This year festival is dedicated to Shaheed Bhagat Singh" and Boli mela is organized in that tehsil where Bhagat singh was born. PLS/PLR registered as organizations in 1996 and 1983 respectively but its organizational experience is actually the accumulation and continuity of those efforts done by different predecessors at individual, collective and organizational level for the promotion of mother language. Both organizations have different medium of expression. Rahs traces traditional & indigenous theatre roots of Punjab and blended them into modern street theatre for sensitizing masses on day to day socio-economic and political affairs through live force of volunteer actors. While Sujag formulated indigenous approaches in strengthening pro-people consciousness. Punjabi cause stands is "The Center" for each activity of both organizations. Punjab has rich tradition of Melas means cultural festivals. Most Melas are associated with annual Sufis's shrines anniversaries focusing more on spiritual side but their main thrust revolve around "Love for all" principles. These Mela are dominated with strong cultural contents but they celebrated across all followers of the major religions practiced in Punjab . They have very secular outlook. PLS has coined Mela as a medium for the promotion , popularization and propagation of Punjabi language cause. We strategically decided to initiate Punjabi language and culture movement from rural and underdeveloped areas and later planing to advance it to the urban localities. Punjab Lok Boli Mela is actually the culmination of our efforts of bringing language rights issues in the mainstream politics. Lok Boli Mela revolves around few major themes. Introducing language identity question among new generation, bring new audience into language movement, reviving all cultural expressions specially in theatre, performing art, folk music, folk dances, bring new sensibility among folk artists, remembering places, classics and taking pride on all love and resistance symbols are few among many Posted by collective at July 14, 2008 07:56 AM

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