Pushkar Shah is a Nepalese peace and democracy activist and

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

. On November 29, 1998 he set off from

Dolakha Town, Nepal Dolakha Town is a village of Bhimeshwar Municipality of the Dolakha District, located in Bagmati Province in the lower Himalayas region of northern Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ...

at the age of 25, for a world bicycle trek. His goal was to spread a message of peace and hope. He has cycled around 150 different countries.

Early life

Shah hails from a Nepalese farming family from the

Makaibari Makaibari is a village development committee in Dolakha District in the Janakpur Zone of north-eastern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 3,744 people living in 788 individual households.. Noted residents *Pushka ...

Village Development Committee of

Dolakha District Dolakha, often known as Dolkha or Dholkha (Nepal Bhasa:दोलखा जिल्ला)), a part of Bagmati Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Charikot as its district headquarters, covers an area of a ...

. His father served in the Indian Gorkha Regiment.

Freedom fighter

He was a freedom fighter and was shot during the

1990 People's Movement The 1990 People's Movement ( ne, २०४६ जनआन्दोलन, 2046 Jana Andolan) was a multiparty movement in Nepal that brought an end to absolute monarchy and the beginning of constitutional monarchy. It also eliminated the Panch ...

. His stated motivations were to establish peace, democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and rule of law against the autocratic

Panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...

regime. He was arrested and imprisoned many times.

Cycling journey

With only a bicycle, 60 kg of essentials and a 100 Nepali Rupees ( NR) from his mother, he started his journey in November 1998 from a small village in Dolakha, aiming to circumnavigate the world. He carried with him messages of peace from Nepal and collected national flags from whichever country he travelled to. On 7 April 2010, he attempted climbing

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

with his collection of flags from around the world. He successfully topped on 17 May 2010. While in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, he met

Sir Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached t ...

. However, during his visit, his bicycle was stolen. On learning about this, Hillary bought him a new bicycle. In another incident in Barbados, Pushkar was attacked with a knife while sleeping. When he was in Mexico, he was kidnapped and taken 180 km inside a jungle. He assaulted his captors and escaped, without knowing their motivations.

References

External links

*
Official Site

Travel diary

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Pushkar Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Male touring cyclists