Anantapur mountaineer pedals 7,000 km to motivate young girls

On a mission to inspire girls to dream beyond social boundaries, Sameera Khan of Anantapur district, has embarked on a bicycle campaign across India. Covering 7,000 km through 11 states, Sameera has interacted with hundreds of school and college girls, motivating them to speak openly about their aspirations and challenges."It feels so human when girls speak their minds in open conversations with me, get emotional speaking about their aspirations and challenges which they are facing in society," Sameera said, talking to TOI on Thursday.Wrapping up her visit to the three prominent English schools here where she had an inspirational talk with the girl students, Sameera said after travelling to far-off places and meeting young girls in the last 11 months of her journey, Sameera said she has evolved into an almost entirely different person. "I find myself so deeply connected to the girls that my heart goes out for them when I hear their problems that are stopping them from becoming independent decision makers of their own lives," Sameera said.Youngest of five siblings, Sameera, who is in her early thirties, is an accomplished mountaineer. She has scaled 11 peaks in the Himalayas and Europe. Scaling Ama Dablam in Nepal, a peak with a height of 6,859 metres, has been her most remarkable achievement. An epitome of grit, resilience and perseverance, Sameera was born to a family from an economically weaker section (EWS) and her woes were compounded by the death of her parents in 2015.Since 2018, when Sameera, a graduate in sociology and environmental science, stepped out of her home with the mission to encourage girls, she has cycled through 37 countries, including France, Germany, Norway, Turkey, the Netherlands, South Africa, Japan and Sri Lanka, among others."In India, I embarked on my bicycle journey in the first week of March in 2025 and have travelled through 11 states so far, which include Andhra Pradesh (her home state), Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Next, I will travel to West Bengal and Odisha before ending my campaign in my hometown," Sameera said."I aim to build dedicated adventure sports training centres for girls in all the districts of the country so that the girls can pursue adventure sports like bouldering, mountaineering and river-rafting, etc.," Sameera said.She expressed her deep gratitude to the state chief secretary Avinash Kumar and East Singhbhum SSP Piyush Pandey for extending warm greetings and best wishes to her. Sameera said she has travelled to Ranchi, Deogarh, Hazaribag, Dhanbad, Gumla, and Gumla after entering Jharkhand through Chatra earlier in Jan.