Ashfaque Ahamed – a man on a mission

AGRA: Ashfaque Ahamed (33), a resident of Bangalore but living in Dubai, had been a cricketer and a disc jockey (DJ) in past. He has been a banker in in Dubai for a few years now. Among his many avatars, he is also a motor bike rider also and takes up expeditions to spread awareness about causes close to his heart whenever he gets time. He has once again left his home and now plans to cover 7,500 km ride in 30 days and visit Nepal, Bhutan and North eastern states of India to spread message among youngsters to come out of home and explore the world outside, rather than spend time with mobile phones, play stations and watching cartoons.He was in Agra on Friday. Ahmad also plans to go as close as possible to the Mount Everest during this trip."
Talking to TOI, Ahamed said, “This time I have started my ride from The Pink City "Jaipur" on July 29. The next 30 days I will be riding solo through Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, far east of India covering Assam, Nagaland and Meghalaya then all the way to Bangalore riding through the eastern coastal stretch of India.
When I am in Kathmandu, I will try to do the thing which no one has done so far - that is to move towards Mt Everest base camp on a motor bike. The roads end 100 km before the base camp and only trucking is possible, but with the help of a person who conducts trekking in the area I will try to go to the base camp, he added.
His aim is to communicate with kids who spend most of their time in watching cartoons and play stations and have forgotten to play outside and explore the nature.
“A large number of youngsters across the world are stuck with games, phones, TV. They don’t really feel the nature and beautiful places. My message to them is to pass the message to youngster to explore the ‘real’ world. Even if you are working or studying you can still fulfill your dreams if you really make efforts to achieve them,” Ahamed said.
Ahamed has proved this himself. Prior to banker, he was a disc jockey and before that a cricketer in England. Between 2002 and 2008 he played cricket for a club in England and after suffering a knee injury he came to India and became a DJ. He worked as DJ for years and and moved to Dubai and became a banker.
Last time, he rode with his wife Sumera Shariff in August 2015 and covered 10,000 km in 25 days from Bangalore to Leh on a Royal Enfield.
Dheeraj Solanki, founder of Agra Enfielders, who facilitated his trip in Agra, said, “Ahamed has taken up a noble cause and I am quite hopeful that our youngsters will take inspiration from him and make efforts to achieve their dreams.”