Hyderabad girl joins cyclists in US for religious freedom
She is the only one representing India among over two dozen persons
By : vinod neudmudy
Update: 2015-07-10 06:41 GMT
KOCHI: She is the only one representing India among over two dozen persons from across the globe now in the US, making a 3,000-mile bicycle journey raising awareness about the persecution of activists of spiritual movement of Falun Gong in China, and rescue five orphans whose parents were also persecuted there for being Falun Gongs.
Aishwarya Sai, a 19-year-old B.Com student at St Anns Degree College for Women, Hyderabad, is also a follower of Falun Gong which stands for ‘truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance,’. She has been travelling with the group from Los Angeles to Washington DC since June 1 covering 15 states and reached Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday with the group. “The starting days were tough, as we all are unprofessional riders. I remember the first day I was not able to ride even for a mile, but today, I can ride 20 miles per hour.
Saving the little orphans keeps me motivated,” wrote Aishwarya in an email about her trip called ‘Ride2Freedom’. Aishwarya’s father Sri Sainivasa, who works with New India Assurance Company, introduced her to the spiritual world of Falun Gong when she was six years old. Her mother, Suneetha Sainivasa, is a homemaker.
“Since 1999, the practitioners of Falun Gong have been jailed, tortured, and murdered for their beliefs. Some of the riders have personally experienced the persecution. Aila Verheijke, a rider representing Hong Kong, witnessed her grandmother go visually and hearing impaired due to the persecution. Jimmy Ma, rider from China, hasn’t met his mother since he was a two-year-old boy as his mother was taken away by the police for practicing Falun Gong,” says Aishwarya. Their journey will end on July 16 in Washington DC and they also hope to meet President Barack Obama.