State team in fund-raising walk

KOLKATA: Come February, at least 25 teams of four people each will walk across 100 km of rural India in 48 hours to raise funds and help overcome poverty and injustice in the country. This debut initiative by Oxfam in India will see participation by Shreyas, a team of adventurers from Kolkata. Actor Rahul Bose will also take part in the walk.
Oxfam Trail-walker India, a walkathon to be held between February 10 and 12, will see teams walk from Mekadatu, the confluence of the Cauvery and the Arkavati.The walkers will traverse through rugged terrains and beautiful villages of south Bangalore to finish at Bidadi, also in south Bangalore. However, each participating team must commit to raising at least Rs 40,000 to support Oxfam's work in India. The only team from eastern India will have Amit Sengupta, Ashish Mishra, Sameera Shamim and Bhaswar Banerjee. The four friends are disaster management experts and have come together to fight for a cause. Team Shreyas is one of the seven teams registered for this event.
It has set a goal to raise Rs 1,00,000 to support Oxfam India."The thought of participating in the international event of walking through the villages of Bangalore is thrilling. The moment I told my family that I would cover 100 km by walking non-stop for 48 hours in an international event to raise money for the poor, they were surprised and cautioned me. This will ultimately test my tenacity. It's an opportunity of a lifetime," said Amit. "This is not just an opportunity for me to walk this distance for a cause, to be of some assistance to someone somewhere in need. This is an opportunity for me to explore what's hidden inside, my own physical and mental strength to undertake the challenge and complete it. So here I am asking for your encouragement and support to help me walk these 100 long kilometres in 48 hours by donating towards the cause and help me reach out to those who need it the most," said Sameera. Oxfam has launched its India chapter in Bangalore to support the marginalized communities in the country after being successfully staged in 12 countries.
The official website (www.trailwalker.in) has given a detailed account of the trail and step-wise guidelines on planning the trek, training, health and safety measures to be undertaken by every participant. Checkpoints will be available after every 10 km to provide participants with food, water, first-aid and any other assistance. Oxfam has also organized a host of prizes. A certificate will be awarded to each participant who completes the route within the time limit. Prizes will be awarded to the fastest team in each category (provided they finish the trail within 30 hours in full team).
There will also be a fund raising award for the team that raises the highest amount of pledge money (over Rs 1 lakh) in each category. "Initially, the response was lukewarm because people here are not familiar with Oxfam's activities. However, soon word-of-mouth publicity about the event was able to generate a lot of excitement," said K Kannan, an Oxfam official.