This story is from August 29, 2014

Mangalore lad uses real horse power to ride to college

If teachers at the School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya, reprimand Avinand Achanahally, a final year MSW student, to "stop horsing around", it will not be metaphorically.
Mangalore lad uses real horse power to ride to college
MANGALORE: If teachers at the School of Social Work, RoshniNilaya, reprimand AvinandAchanahally, a final year MSW student, to "stop horsing around", it will not be metaphorically.
Unlike his peers who ride on horse power under the hood, this 24-year-old struts to his Mangalore college on horseback. Perhaps, barring equestrian colleges or the erstwhile maharajas, he may be the first to be trotting on horse to a college.
He bought the seven-year-old Kathiawadi breed horse Sikander for Rs 70,000 in Mysore. Avinand vouches for Sikander's road sense. "It is a well-trained horse and knows how to deal with traffic situations."
The youth's equine love led him to learn horse riding at Horse Stables in JP Nagar, Bangalore, a couple of years back. Avinand, who did his BCom at St Aloysius, worked for a BPO firm in Bangalore for two years. He recalls: "When my mother heard my request for a horse for pursuing my MSW in Mangalore, she quipped: When youngsters ask for either a two or a four-wheeler, you have a pretty strange request.'' But they gave in and that is how he acquired Sikander.
Avinand, son of planter couple AL Vijay Vivekananda and KU Roopa, hails from Hanbal village near Sakleshpur. He is enthusiastic about the response from his principal , college mates, public and also traffic police. "It's quite unbelievable that traffic police are very helpful when I ride on thoroughfares. The college is very supportive too. They even held a prayer service at the chapel for my horse to reach here safely from Mysore,'' says Avinand. But with cattle thieves on the prowl, Avinand fears for the safety of his horse, which is stationed in the college till the ride back home.
But the fear is only momentary for Avinand, like youths his age, is already planning to change his model - from the current black and white Sikander to a pure white one. "Sikander will go to my estate,'' he says. He has already put good money, Rs 1.5 lakh, on a white horse, which will arrive shortly.
Suma Ramesh, trustee, Animal Care Trust says there will be no issue if the person uses the animal for his own use and not commercial purpose and treats it humanely.
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