July 4, 2001

Pushkar Shah

Pushkar Shah, Nepal Cyclist, in Ithaca, NY

On the morning of Independence Day, I got a call from Syracuse, some 70 miles north of where we live. It was Pushkar Shah letting us know that he would arrive in Ithaca in the late afternoon to spend some time with us. And, sure enough, around 6:00 pm he rolled into our driveway after riding through a few showers during the last part of the day.

A meal for the first night. We didn't know what dietary needs Pushkar might have, so we began by preparing some lentils and rice --- we figured that anybody from Nepal should find that acceptable if not exciting. But, Pushkar -- a true cyclist -- was prepared to eat anything we served!

Getting the Word Out

It was awfully short notice, and on the holiday most offices were closed. Nevertheless, by the next day we had some media lined up to take note of Pushkar's world travel for peace.

The reporter from NewsCenter 7, the local cable-TV news program, came to interview Pushkar at our house and spent what seemed like a remarkably long time gathering information and pictures. We went on the deck in back of our house for the interview, but they also shot footage outside as Pushkar rode his bike in the neighborhood.

They also took video of some of the press clippings and letters that Pushkar has accumulated in his travels. When we tuned in later in the evening to the news broadcast, they had assembled a very nice story of all the details and didn't forget to mention Pushkar's e-mail address --- nepalcyclist@yahoo.com --- for the purpose of making donations. The NewsCenter 7 website featured Pushkar as the lead story. [Here's a copy of their main pages.]

After contacting Casey Stevens at WHCU, Ithaca's news radio station, we had a reporter call Pushkar and get some bites for a story on their morning broadcast. This is the main news station in town and has a great number of listeners. They were very interested in doing more, but were unable to liberate enough time for a reporter on short notice.

Press
 

Bill Warren, a photographer from the Ithaca Journal, came to the house late Thursday evening for a few photos and a surprisingly extensive interview. The picture, with a very long caption, ran in the Friday, July 6, 2001 edition of the paper. (Because it was a "caption" and not a full "story" there is no mention of it in their Web edition.)

Local Interest

By late evening, some people had seen the television news and we got a call asking if Pushkar could make time on Friday to visit the headquarters of "Educate the Children" (ETC), which is in Ithaca. This is an organization that is mounting a great number of projects in Nepal and their staff were very eager to meet this Nepali traveller. Joining the gathering were Gail Carson, sister of ETC founder Pamela Carson, and Pamela Carson's son Ram Saran Thapa.

Pushkar spent some time discussing his journey and sharing recollections of his home with staff members who were familiar with his very village and region.

It turns out that Ithaca is a place with a remarkably active involvement with Nepal and Nepali issues. In a week, there is scheduled to be a Nepali festival here with people from all over the world as well as the many locals involved with Cornell, ETC, and other organizations. There is a special intensive Nepali language course being offered during the summer at Cornell.

And, on to other places...

I left Pushkar Friday evening at a campground just north of Geneva, New York, within an easy day's ride of Rochester, his next destination.

Some background information is available in an article published by Wave magazine, Nepal's leading English-language publication. In addition, many publications along his itinerary have taken notice of Pushkar on their websites.

If you want to communicate with Pushkar, he can be reached at <nepalcyclist@yahoo.com>. If you can contribute to his resources, he'll let you know how you can do that.