A 53-year old British lawyer will undertake a 1260 kms walk starting Gateway of India in Mumbai to Bengaluru via Goa, Mangalore and Mysore in 30 days to raise $1 million (approximately Rs 6.1 crore) for improving the lives of Indian widows and children.
The lawyer Chris Parsons, a partner of UK based law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, who has been coming to India for last 10 years to advice clients and teach in Indian law schools, will embark on 30 marathons in 30 days from January 10 till February 7, 2015, walking 42 kms a day.
“I am already training. In Mumbai I covered 21 kms in four hours on Monday and going by this, I am confident that I will walk for 8 to 12 hours a day. Next year I will be completing 30 years in my law firm so I thought why not to conduct 30 marathons in 30 days for a cause which is dear to my heart and for my friend Raj,” Mr Parsons told The Hindu.
On the reason behind his “crazy idea” to raise funds Mr Parsons said that he considered India as his second home and apart from this he was very close to British parliamentarian of Indian origin Lord Raj Loomba and wanted to support his The Loomba Foundation which has been working extensively for the uplift of poor widows.
“My target is to raise $1 million and I have already mobilized $118,000, mostly from the UK. I am hopeful to raise the balance from here during my 30 marathons,” said Mr Parsons, the father of four adding “my wife supports all of my crazy ideas including this.”
In 2011 Mr Parsons had set off on a cycling expedition from London to Gibraltar through France and Spain covering over 2000 km to raise $200,000 for The Loomba Foundation.
Prior to that, he had cycled 1700 kms covering one end to the other of the United Kingdom.
Lord Loomba told The Hindu that people must whole heartedly contribute for this cause during Mr Parsons’s marathons as he would be taking up this huge challenge for the benefit of Indian poor widows.
“I am completely dedicated to the cause because my mother was a widow when I was 10 and I know the hardships and rejections they face. There are about 42 million widows in India and each may be having two to three children. We are empowering widows so that they have stability and self respect in life to provide education to their children,” Lord Loomba said.
Tata Consultancy Services, Apollo Hospitals’ Billion Hearts Beating and Gatorade (PepsiCo) have already sponsored this 1260 kms walk.
