Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Age is just a number.This common saying has once again been proved by four sexagenarian women who are travelling 5000 kilometres by road to save the lives of children suffering from cancer. These women had started their journey from Mumbai in a car on November 3 and reached Indore on November 4 i.e. on Diwali.
Chitra Hiremath, Hansu Pardiwala, Rina Valecha, and Micky Bhatia will cover 15 cities in 8 states in the span 26 days with an aim to raise funds for providing accommodation to the children and families who reach Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai for treatment of pediatric cancer.
The group reached the Indore Cancer Foundation, Rau and met the founder Dr Digpal Dharkar and learnt about the services provided by the foundation to the cancer warriors and survivors.
“Although four of us belong to different fields and families, our aim is one. We are associated with NGO Helping Hands and Tata Memorial Hospital and our main aim is to raise funds for providing free accommodation to children suffering from cancer as many people have to live on roads while they visit Tata Memorial Hospital and also to provide rehabilitation to those recovered from cancer,” Chitra Hiremath, one of the four philanthropists, told Free Press.
Chitra also has a special connection from Indore as she was born in Indore and felt special on reaching the first destination.
“We have a target of raising Rs 45 lakh for the children and we have successfully collected Rs 25 lakh. The entire donation we received is from our friends, families, and connections. We will believe that we will achieve the target by the end of our journey. We are bearing the expense of our journey on our own,” she said.
The group appreciated the efforts of Indore Cancer Foundation for cancer patients and decided to extend support to the foundation next year.
The route
The group has already travelled between Mumbai and Indore and they have left for Gwalior as well. From Gwalior, they will drive to Lucknow, Varanasi, Bodh Gaya, Jamshedpur, Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Gopalpur, Vizag, Hyderabad, and again to Mumbai.
The crew
Chitra Hiremath: She is a Kashmiri but was born in Indore. She settled in Mumbai and associated with various social welfare projects
Hansu Pardiwala: She is a blogger and a travel enthusiast
Rina Valecha: She is working with ChILReachNGO to help children with learning disabilities
Micky Bhatia: She is a psychoanalyst and child analyst by profession.