From England To Punjab Sikh Bikers Ride Across 22 Countries For Guru Nanak’s 550th Birth Anniversary!

Guru Nanak Sahib, the founder of Sikhism, was born in the month of November in 1469 at Rāi Bhoi Kī Talvaṇḍī, which is currently known as the Nankana Sahib and lies in Punjab, Pakistan. Hailed as the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus, his birthday is widely celebrated as the Guru Nanak Jayanti on a full moon day.

However, the year of 2019 marks the Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary and the ‘The Sikh Motorcycle Club’ decided to do something extraordinary as a tribute to the founder of their religion. In a bid to make the occasion memorable, six riders from the club planned on an epic motorcycle ride covering 9,500 km and 22 countries!

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Beat that?

According to The Indian Express, riders Azad Singh Sidhu, Jatinder Singh Chauhan, Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal , Pravjit Singh Takhar, Sukhvir Singh Mlait and Jasmeet Pal Singh were planning on the ride since the last 18th months. they also went to ‘Khalsa Aid’ and asked for help in raising funds. After raising a whopping 80,000 Canadian dollars and more than Rs 6 lakh from Punjab, they finally kicked off their journey on April 3rd.

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“Since it is the 550th year of birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devi ji, we were planning such a ride since the last 18 months. We approached Ravi Singh, CEO of Khalsa Aid International who gave us the support to raise funds for them. And since April 3, it has been a life changing experience. We raised more than 80,000 Canadian dollars and more than Rs 6 lakh from Punjab.”

They took England as their starting point and their journey was flagged off by Narinder Singh, president, Gurudwara Dukhniwarn Sahib, Surrey. The six men crossed countries like Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan on their two-wheelers. Sharing their experiences during the marathon ride, they said,

“When we departed from Canada with our bikes to England via flight, we met an English lady, who asked us about the ride’s motive. We explained the reason and later she handed us 100 dollars as donation. That’s has been one of the biggest take way. To spread the message of Guru Nanak Dev ji. We crossed countries like Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan and we met people who had never seen a Sikh in their life. They would ask us for selfies and also ask us about the turbans and beards and other things about Sikhism. We got love from every country we went and to end the ride in India is a special feeling.”

They also had to adjust themselves to extreme temperatures ranging from -2 degrees to 48 degrees which were major challenges faced by the gang.

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“We used to ride more than 400 km on an average but in Europe, we would cross three countries in day. Crossing through Liechtenstein, a country which has no unemployment, was something to be learnt from. In Turkey, we had planned the ride through northern part crossing cities like Sakarya, Amasya and snowfall happened for 60-80 percent our ride duration. After we crossed the Iran-Pakistan border through Taftan border post, temperatures ranged from 45-48 degrees. That was the challenging part. In Pakistan, we got lot of love from the people. Even though, the current situation between India and Pakistan is not good, people gave us respect. After reaching India, we were joined by riders from Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan before we went to pay our respects at Golden Temple. During our ride from Khadoor Sahib to Sultanpur Lodhi, we had expected 500 riders to join us but more than 2500 riders joined.”
After a breathtaking 37 days, they finally reached Amritsar on May 10th. It was a successful and life-changing experience according to the riders that will remain with them forever.
The Sikh Motorcycle Club, British Columbia was founded in 2003 by Harjinder Singh Thind and it was after a long legal battle by Avtar Singh Dhillon that Sikh riders were allowed to ride bikes with turbans. The club started with just 10 members but now has 120 members under its name! The club also has active branches in provinces like Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta.
You can live their entire journey here.
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