Don’t wait for the Change, Be the change”- a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi!
For some people, this is a quote but few people have followed it in reality to become a real-life change they want to see around. Mr Prabhakar Rao C.M from Bangalore, who has taken right action following this quote, has shared with Womenlines his real life-changing experience which is helping him to live life with some incredible mission-
Mr Prabhakar Rao C.M, Aged 48, & more popularly known as GoGreen Rao in Indian Cycling forum. An IT Professional having 25 years of IT Experience, Last worked as a CIO with one of the leading Garments exporter company in Bangalore, taking care of their IT infrastructure. At the end of 2013, he quit his full-time job and opted to follow his passion for saving the environment.
He is the Founder member of http://www.gogreengocycling.org/ which started in the year 2008. The group consists of professionals from various background, who are putting their efforts in promoting Cycling in B’lore & other parts of the country. Their main aim is to create awareness on Cycling, its health benefits & opt for a traffic-free & pollution free city eventually working towards saving Mother Nature by stopping “Global Warming” Born & Bought up In a place called Gangavathi also known as “Rice Bowl of Karnataka” (390Km from Bangalore ) surrendered by paddy field greenery.
His Inspiration for starting this “Go Green Go Cycling” Campaign came up after his Boss Mr Raju Mahtaney gave him a DVD with a title “An inconvenient truth” (http://www.climatecrisis.net/trailer/a documentary movie about Global warming, directed by Davis Guggenheim, presented & narrated by former the United States Vice President Al Gore. After watching this movie, He started thinking about contributing his part-time & his family time to Mother Nature. He chooses Cycling to be one of the best modes of payback to Mother Nature as it not only helps to save fossil fuel and is environmentally friendly but also gives out various personal benefits like keeps us fit & healthy, saves money & on top of all it helps in preserving Mother Nature. In September 2008, he decided to put his car off the road which was contributing to the pollution and traffic jams, then he started cycling to the office. In the beginning, he ensured to cycle twice a week to his office and do his bit to the Mother Nature but within few weeks he realized, cycling alone to office would not suffice the need of hour hence shared his concept of Going Green by Cycling with his fellow colleagues, few of them joined but very soon they stopped. This is when he shared his thoughts and his concept of Cycling to the office on the internet through a blog post where he quoted “Go Green, for a better tomorrow, Go Cycling”. The kind of positive response from unknown people was amazing. They not only liked the concept they also were ready to cycle and be part of the initiative. This was the beginning of the GoGreen family. Though he started alone, after a few years they had 4000+ like-minded professional from various backgrounds who have registered as members of GoGreen & number is growing day after day. He along with his group has successfully organized around 630+ Sunday GoGreen IRP (I Ride with Pride) Campaign rides, riding a distance ranging from of 25 to 200+ km.
The GoGreen IRP Campaign Ride starts from South B’lore JP Nagar by 6:30 am and ride towards Cubbon Park Central library which is the central meeting place where other members from various parts of the city meet and pick a predefined destination and ride. They cycle along the city roads to spread the awareness of Going Green through Cycles, at the same time they also train the newly joined members to bring in the confidence of cycling with the traffic, eventually converting them and making them independent from Fossil Fuels. “Say No to Co2 (Carbon dioxide ) by saying yes to C2O (Cycle to Office)” & “I Ride With Pride” are Mr GoGreen Rao’s quotes & further he says “ Don’t wait for the Change, Be the change” is one of his favourite quote on which the entire campaign is revolving. while being asked about his Mission & Vision, he says his Mission is “Give back to Mother Nature and Save Mother Nature” and His Vision is to “ Create separate lanes for motor vehicles on all the existing roads and dedicate the rest of road for Cycles.” He has received several recognitions from various organization appreciating his efforts & promoting cycling and initiating GoGreen in the city & other places, “Bangalore Youth Award”, “Bicycle Bull of India 2018 Award” & very recently REX “Karmaveer Chakra award” instituted by iCONGO & UnitedNations are few prestigious awards that were received during the past 11 years of his campaign.
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