JEDDAH — The Indian Consulate here held twin initiatives to increase awareness on the need for mobility and thought for our environment during the #Mahatma@150 celebrations on Monday at the Consulate premises. Consul General Md. Noor Rahman Sheikh flagged off the Gandhi Cycle Rally for Peace in Jeddah in the morning with members from Indian community and Saudi friends participating in the 7-km long rally with great enthusiasm. In the evening, Sheikh led a group of community members and Consulate officials in raising awareness of our environment with a tree planting event to celebrate the #Mahatma@150. He rounded of the day by conveying Eid Mubarak greetings to all. "I convey Eid greetings to my countrymen and countrywomen residing in the Western region of the Kingdom and also to our Saudi friends and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has been a very gracious host. I believe this Eid would bring peace, prosperity and happiness in everyone's lives." The success of the two events, held close to the designated days by UN, was largely due to the enthusiastic leadership of the consul general and the ready response from the community members. "I thank all for taking time to come here for this event in this early hours of Ramadan. Agreed it is hot, but I see the people gathered here are energized," Sheikh said prior to the flag off of the cycle rally. "The idea of holding this rally is part of the global cycling event — with the UN setting June 3 as World Bicycle Day, and other member countries have begun activities to highlight the mobility needs of people who walk and cycle — often the majority of citizens in a city. "Yesterday cyclists in cities in France, Thailand and Australia had held cycle rallies to prove this point," he added. Sheikh said, today a maximum number of cities have observed the UN mandated mobility day, and we in Jeddah are one of the cities. Our Embassy in Riyadh will be holding such an event on a larger scale on June 7, as many other cities that will be participating in the weeklong rallies. "Holding the rally has an added message as we mark the 150th year of celebrating Mahatma Gandhi. The idea is to give a message of peace that was inculcated by the Mahatma, who led the way in teaching the world and us to spread the message of peace and harmony. "We are practicing what he has preached assiduously. And, in our own way, let us remind people of the contributions of the great Mahatma." "Let us enjoy cycling and spread Mahatma's message of peace," he said while flagging off the procession that slowly wend its way in the early hours of Monday morning on a designated route that covered over 7 kilometers. The route began and ended at the Consulate gates, and two Saudi youth who had followed the cycle cavalcade with interest took a 'selfie' with the group of cyclists, asking them to get into the ‘rah rah' attitude by making them expressively and enthusiastically shout out the spirit of unified completion of a singular effort. In the afternoon, another event was held to celebrate the #Mahatma@150. "The whole of India is marking 150 year of the Mahatma, as part of that we are organizing a series of event. In the morning we had very successful Gandhi Peace Cycle Rally in which a large number of people participated with great enthusiasm. "Similarly, now we have the planting of the tree saplings in the Consulate premises, and we planted about 30 saplings where the members of the Indian community and officials from the Indian Consulate planted these saplings," Sheikh told Saudi Gazette. "It is in a way a commitment to the concept of the world being one family, where the climate change impact and effects are visible around the world. And with the planting of trees the idea is to celebrate the World Environment Day, which falls on June 5. But as Eid holidays are upon us, we marked the day as close to the designated day as possible, as did many missions," Sheikh added. "I am happy that the community is gathered here for the event, and all of us are proud in making this cause a success. But I would like to stress that we should not make this a one-off event and should continue to work for the environment whenever and wherever we get the opportunity," Sheikh told the gathering of community members. "For example I see that in our Consulate there are more areas which can be used to plant saplings and I'll be continuing this effort in the coming days. I'll also call on the community to undertake such exercises wherever the possibility exists and continue to contribute to the society. "He also welcomed the idea for Indian school students to take initiatives that would give them a practical lesson to what they are already studying and being made aware of toward making a positive impact on the environment," Sheikh concluded.
