By Ashutosh Sharma JAMMU, Aug 22: If his claims are to be believed, he's been in the thick of spine chilling adventures in some of the most deadly conflict zones of the country, experiencing close shave with death in many of these.
Yet, undeterred by such ordeals, he continues with his one man crusade to create awareness about AIDS.
In the evening of August 12, while cycling on his way from Baltal to Sonamarg, he was mistaken for a spy and kept captive by militants for quite some time in Kashmir.
But this was no way maiden experience for him as in Assam he was almost shot by the jawans of Assam Rifles at one place and ULFA at the other place.
Similarly he came face to face with many other militant groups operating across northeastern state of the country.
Every time he successfully escaped death during the pursuance of his mission.
It was strength of determination that kept him focussed on his life's prime objective-creating awareness on Human Immuno deficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among the youth all over the world by cycling around the globe and holding lectures.
Meet, the man with a mission: Somen Debnath (24), a resident of small village Basanti from Sunderbans of West Bengal, a strange cyclist, is in the state as a part of his mission.
He reached Jammu straightway from the mountainous terrains of Leh, Kargil, Drass, Zazala, Srinagar and Patnitop.
During his trip to Ladakh, Somen also claims to have bicycled up to the highest motorable road in the world when he crossed 18,000 feet high Khardungla pass on bicycle.
Till now he has peddled over 58,000 km and is still doing so relentlessly.
Somen, a science graduate set out on his mission two days after he completed his examinations on May 25, 2004.
He has so far covered five countries including Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Nepal as well as 27 India states and five Union Territories within the country.
His tour gave Somen an opportunity to be in the exalted company of 27 Governors and 26 Chief Ministers who also helped him monetarily.
Apart from being inspired by the ideology of Swami Vivekananda, the disturbing incident which he witnessed at 14 is a consistent source of strength for him.
"I was a happy boy like any other of my age till the day I happened to see an AIDS victim dying in my village.
Everybody feared to go near the body and it was abandoned.
It disturbed me.
I wanted to know the reason but nobody explained.
One day the seriousness of the issue dawned on me, I was already 21.
But it had strengthened my conviction to help the society," narrates Somen, who is on a bicycle mission.
He opines that students can be effective source to spread awareness about the epidemic and so far he has visited around 59 universities, 3,000 schools, 2,000 colleges besides several sex workers in and around 55 red light areas.
He also teaches preventive methods and ways to discipline by practicing yoga, meditation and pranayama techniques as he too believes that prevention is better than cure against this dreaded disease.
Here in the state he met various NGOs across Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh besides AIDS control societies.
While sharing his experience so far he said, "Several state governments like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bengal and Gujrat are doing well in this direction but on the other side several other states are not so conscious about the disease and are entertaining several myths related with the dreaded disease.
But here in summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir he alleges, he got a rough treatment from the staff of AIDS Control Society, which he described as humiliating.
Having covered nearly every Indian state since he embarked on the unique mission, Somen hopes to complete his world trip sometime in 2020 after covering 191 nations in the process.
Despite the fact that his mission is enormous, Somen remains charged with his determination to cover the world wide program in the set time frame.
JKAACL felicitates Majboor KT NEWS SERVICE JAMMU, Aug 22: J&K Academy for Art Culture and Languages (JKAACL) today felicitated Prof Arjun Dev Majboor, a prominent name in contemporary Kashmiri literature besides a scholar of various languages like Pursian, Urdu, English, Hindi Sanskrit and Punjabi.
The program was attended by writers from distinct linguistic backgrounds.
Nilambar Dev was the chief guest.
Born in Zainapora in District Pulwama of Kashmir in 1924 he had his early education in Pulwama.
Subsequently he went for further education to Srinagar and Lahore.
He is M.A in Hindi.
After in initial career as a teacher, he distinguished himself as a promising Kashmiri poet in 1955 by bringing out his original work in Kashmiri verse, Kalame-Majboor and a translation of Kalidasa's Meghdoot in Kashmiri language.
Subsequently he joined J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages at Srinagar.
Since his displacement, in the wake of the outbreak of militancy he migrated to Udhampur.
He brought out in 1993 a volume in Kashmiri language, titled, Padi Samyik, which earned him the "Best Book Award" from J&K Academy of Art & Culture.
In 1995 he brought out "Teol," in Kashmiri verse which amongst other publications entitled him to an award.
Besides, his numerous publications have won him the All India Radio Award for his contributions to literature.
His latest (1999) collections of Kashmiri verse, translated into English, Waves, was awarded by Poets Foundation, Calcutta the "Poetry Award" - 1999.
His poems, Portrait of a Child, The Topsy-turvy Tree, Swan, Creation, Chiselled Words, etc.
reveal his acute observation of life and nature, contrast between "innocence and experience", satirical views on present social scenario that exist in industrial towns and his broad humanitarian outlook.
On the occasion, a brief interaction during which writer replied queries about various aspects of the glorious Cultural legacy of the state.
Apart from it, Urdu translation of Sanskrit classic "Neelmat Puran" done by Majboor and special Mikash Kashmiri number of Sheeraja Urdu were released.
