Yesterday was quite an extraordinary day, we were pushed for time and had to cover up for the lost hours of cycling from the day before, as our press event in Varanasi finished late- Now we were left with 150 Km to do - the most we had done in this ride was 115 and 150 looked tough but doable - until we hit the roads ofcourse..

The first 50 km went well, but the next 40 as we crossed allahbad and the surrounds were nighhtmare -It was UP traffic and roads at its worst - but we managed unharmed shouting our way out of the hole..Then we were in for some very strong head wind (we have been getting a moderate head wind through the ride but yesterday was a toughy (it went on until about sunset)

We were really pushed - but we ended up doing 165 Km - we did it so we could have a safe ride today and make it in time for the kanpur event.

At the end of the day i had two thoughts which co-related with our case “why new coal” -

1) Human capacity has no limits - We can achieve whatever - i would have never imagined i could do 165 km a day - infact we exceeded our expectation, our target. We should not set boundaries for what can be done and what cant be - we can just about achieve anything we want. With indias future energy needs - if we push ourselves, challenge ourselves and stretch - i have no doubt that a low carbon even a zero carbon future with no new coal or even no coal is possible.

2) Work hard today for a secured tomorrow - We only pushed ourselves yesterday so that we could comfortably reach kanpur and have a secure ride.. Similarly, just so that it is easy now to put up coal to answer india’s energy demands we will leave a mess for future generations. We can work hard now so that we have a stable climate , life on earth has a secure future.

Humans in the past have struggled and toiled hard for future generations -its the way life has evolved - today we have the same opportunity. We only need to switch ON and start riding.

(The picture was taken in jharkhand, the lady with the child on her back was such a powerfull image of humanity)

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