Mangalore: Young couple on tandem cycle spreads message of 'You Live Only Once'

Vineeth Monis
Pics: Dayananda Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

 Mangalore, Sep 14: We have seen many adventurous people travelling to different places on motorbikes or other vehicles. But here is a young couple from Mysore who loves travelling on a custom-made tandem bicycle and wants to visit different parts of the country over the next one year.

During their visit to the city, the adventurous young couple Santhosh M V (33) and his wife Akshatha S Rao (31), hailing from Mysore spoke to daijiworld exclusively and shared their fascinating experiences.

They started their tandem bicycle trip from Mysore on August 11, 2013, from where they travelled to different places like Hunsur, Kushalnagar, Madikeri, Sullia, Kasargod, and Mangalore. From here they will travel to Mumbai. Their trip has no final destination and the couple said that they would like to travel across different places in the country over the next one year.

Both husband and wife are professional ballroom dancers. Of the 27 structured ballroom dance forms, the couple is trained in 26 and certified in 19 forms from DVIDA, USA.

The couple has won the National Championship in 2011 and also got an opportunity to compete in the International Grand Ball competition, San Francisco, where they won three prizes in three different categories.

Before going to the US, they created a profile on couchsurfing.org which they wanted to use for accommodation in the US. There is no monetary gain involved in couchsurfing; you read profiles of CSs (couchsurfers) who are willing to host; if they are interested they host you. The duo said that it was an amazing experience.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Santhosh said, “Once we got back from the US, we were very active on CS. We have hosted more than 100 couchsurfers so far. We got to host Nicole and Gaetton, a couple from Switzerland who were travelling south India on their tandem cycle which was their wedding gift. We tried riding their cycle and loved it. I wanted a tandem cycle for myself; when I checked online, it was very expensive. Hence, we customized our own cycle,” he added.

“Initially, we wanted to experiment with ballroom dancing in schools and colleges but it was a tough task. Hence with the help of the tandem cycle, we decided to spread the message that ballroom dancing could be one of the tools to create a healthy relationship between boys and girls,” said Santhosh.

The couple first did a trial trip covering 500 km, working with four educational institutions and 600 students with the message 'A Healthy Touch'. Using ballroom dancing as a medium, they helped them build their self-confidence, body language, and most of all taught that a boy and a girl need to respect and treat each other with dignity.

Sharing their trial trip experiences, Akshatha said that they were inspired by people from all walks of life. “It was then that we decided to broaden our message to ‘You Only Live Once’ for our year-long trip which started on August 11, 2013, and we are planning to travel at least for one year; the end date is not yet decided,” she added.

During their visit to various cities, the couple also interacts with students on the issue of ‘suicide’ especially amongst teenagers wherein they tell students that death is not the solution to any problem. So far they have given talks in more than 30 schools and colleges. The couple was also successful in changing one girl’s mindset and preventing her from committing suicide. Adding to that, the couple also teaches dance and computer classes to students based on requests.

The trip is funded by the couple themselves. “We earn on the way where ever we get opportunity to teach dance in a school for few days. We ask them to contribute whatever they feel like and we do not want to have a fixed charge,” said the couple.

Speaking further, they said, “On our trip we love to stay with families who are willing to host us. Until now our food and accommodation has been taken care of after hearing our message.” When the road conditions are good, the couple ride for a stretch of 70 km and they stay for 3-4 days in one place. In Mangalore, the couple is being helped by Harsha.

“On the road, whoever saw us had a big smile and we loved their curiosity towards our tandem cycle. A lot of them stopped us while riding and wanted to know more about the cycle and about us,” they added, “We in turn also learnt a lot from them -mainly about the local culture.”

“We did not experience anything bad during our entire trip,” they said. Sharing their experience about their ride to Mangalore, they said that the roads were bad but the people were very helpful.

When asked about their future plans, the couple answered, “We want to experience something new in our life but we do not know what is next.”