Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
Walking along the road not taken
Srishti Bakshi had once asked her business associates in Hong Kong, why they never visited India. “Because it’s not safe” they had retorted. This line somehow got stuck in the 31year-old marketing professional’s mind and since then, became a motivation for her to do something about it. This led her to undertake a 3,800km journey on foot across India — from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, with a vision to create awareness on women’s safety.
Bakshi’s journey, which was part of the CrossBow Miles campaign, has been lauded by many, including Bollywood actors such as Sushmita Sen, Dia Mirza, and Amitabh Bachchan, whom she also met while she was in Mumbai. “He is such an incredible human being. I met him at his residence. It was an incredible experience because he truly believes in citizen participation,” she says, adding excitedly that he also insisted they work together.
In her arduous journey of over eight months, she used to walk from 4.30am to 12.30pm, every day with the support of a 12-member crew. She walked an average of 25 to 30km a day, and also through the night sometimes.
Bakshi, daughter of retired Lt Gen Ashwini Bakshi, says, “I am an army officer’s daughter and I felt humiliated every time someone called India unsafe. I found myself sitting across Americans, Australians, and Southeast Asian on dinner tables, and during those conversations I was constantly reminded about the safety concerns for women in India. I used to reason saying violence exists across the world, but that’s a debate you tend to lose.”
This journey across the country was an internal journey as well for her. “It was a discovery at various levels. The experience was enriching. When you ignore a social crisis, you [become] a part of it. So, I decided to walk to find implementable solutions,” says Bakshi.