Royal Riders: Serving With Adventure

By:- RK Suresh *

Amidst the misty hilltops of Chandel on one side and the vast timberland of Myanmar on the other side, there I was atop one of the revving 28 bullet bikes cruising up the swerving National Highway 39.

Whilst the rain descending from the heaven rhyming with the occasional flounce of chilly mountain gust providing a great relief from the hot summer sun, the ride to Molcham was truly an out of this world experience. Curious on lookers on road stood fascinated watching the long chain of 28 REs with profound admiration.

At that moment I presumed every heart of the 46 members of the Royal Riders Club Imphal must be swelling with pride; and why not! Enthusiastic bikers of the Royal Riders Club Manipur under a tagline - serving with adventure have been traveling to the most insane and impossibly accessible places.

While enjoying the thrill and excitement of riding through treacherous and hostile terrains or the rush of adrenaline from riding across a risky forest, we dont want to waste great chances of helping the neglected people in such remote and inaccessible areas who have to suffer a lot to get essential supplies and medical aids when needed.

Royal Riders before the start of an expedition in 2008

So the club decided to assist them in whatever we can and also organize regular medical camps wherever the riders go for an adventurous ride claims the President of the club. On May 2, a group of 48 volunteers of the club set out for the frontier village of Molcham adjoining Bokan village in the erstwhile Burma to organize a free medical camp.

Infested with the deadly anopheles and other vicious beings including hostile and insecure armed gangs ready to ambush unsuspecting commuters, the route leading to Molcham is one of the most risky regions in Manipur. Assam Rifle troops posted along the route also provided great assistance to the riders by serving the riders with snacks and beverages during journey break and also appreciated them for their noble initiative.

Major Gaurav Bhatnagar of the 20th AR while expressing his excitement upon the arrival of the riders, announced to provide all possible assistance from the Assam Rifles to the riders during their journey. Trekking along the inhospitable route of around 220 KM from Imphal to Molcham adjoining Myanmar, the team reached Molcham around 9.30 pm.

After a brief rest at two large guest houses provided by the villagers, the next day i.e. on the 3rd of May, volunteers of the Royal Riders Club set up the medical camp at heart of the village. Villagers of the tailback village of Molcham are still deprived of the most essential items like salt, edible oil and other household items including basic medical facilities.

Villagers could not get adequate medical treatment and medicines due to abject poverty and absence of any transport route. In case of serious illness the ill equipped Bokan hospital in Myanmar is the only resort for the ailing villagers despite being an Indian territory says Julie, a student.

While expressing hope that the Royal Riders initiative will certainly attract the attention of the state government and other concern authorities to organise such camps and other welfare programs Jongkholgnam Haokip, Vice Chairman of Molcham informs every year during June and july, our village always receives malaria outbreak out of which one or more death are reported.

The government must do something to prevent such outbreak of malaria and other problems of our village. We thank the royal riders for organizing a much needed medical camp.

Altogether 338 poor villagers from Molcham and the surrounding villages of Yangoulen, Pheisinjang, Khenyang including a handful from Myanmar received medical aids including free medicines. Around 400 patients living in the bottle neck villages of Khenjoi TD block including Molcham were given free medical aid by a team led by Dr Th Gautam, also a Royal Rider.

Mentioned may be made that the poor residents of Molcham and adjoining villages under Khenjoi block of Chandel district are very prone to diseases like malaria, typhoid, malnutritive disorders and cholera.

Apart from the free medical aid, the club also distributed clothes donated by a businessman from Imphal to the elderly citizens and children of the impoverished Molcham village bordering Myanmar. Furthermore, the riders also planted trees of different varieties as a part of their environmental protection campaign.

Check out a gallery on Royal Riders in 2008 here.

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* RK Suresh contributes to e-pao.net for the first time . The writer can be contacted at effectivetelevision(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on June 21st, 2009.

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