A cyclist in his odyssey on pedal from Teknaf to Tetulia in 65 days is now in the city with a message to “save the nature.”
Sulal Barua Chunni, 30, from Chittagong has pedalled over 530 kilometres (329 miles) in 20 days to the city.
“I plan to cycle around the country and spread my message,” said the cyclist sporting a white T-shirt with the message “Please, save the nature” written in bold green letters.
“This is not about material gain or fame. It is simply about propagating the message that we need to plant more trees and conserve the environment to save the nature,” said Chunni on Thursday while on a brief break from his travels in Dhaka.
The stock investor started cycling from Tetulia on November 11, pedalling through Panchagarh, Nilphamary, Rangpur, Bogra, Sirajganj, Tangail, and Gazipur to Dhaka.
He hopes that by the time he returns to his village in Fatikchhari in Chittagong, he would have met “many people from different professions and ethnicities and observed the reasons that are destroying the environment.”
“I have watched many forests and trees disappearing from my village in Chittagong, and how these things are affecting the environment,” he said.
“Nature is the mother to everything from humans, cows, goats, rivers or tigers. Therefore, this is a duty by birth to ensure that our mother nature is protected and conserved.”
Chunni believes the natural balance of the ecosystem should not be hampered. Everything needs to be left alone and left like they were during their creation.
“This is the message I want to convey to the masses through this tour.”
He rides some five hours a day on average, drinks two to three litres of water, and covers about 20km (13 miles).
Chunni began his journey with Tk 40,000, an amount that came from his personal savings.
“This has always been a dream for me and my twin brother,” said the brother of three other siblings including a little sister.
Staying in Thailand for higher education, his brother could not join him. “So I started the journey myself.”
He has been through some testing times in the journey. But the ever-optimistic cyclist says that the bad times are offset by the people who offer kindness and hospitality.
He plans to prepare for a world tour after he reaches his destination in Teknaf.
