Entrepreneur and skater Rana Uppalapati is skating across the Indian Golden Quadrilateral covering about 6,000 km to raise support for the education of 25,000 girl children in India. The skater embarked on his mission spanning 90 days on September 5 from Hosur in Bengaluru. Along the way, he will cover cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai before ending his journey in Bengaluru. The journey is being supported by Titan Company Ltd and members of CII Young Indians. Rana will also be engaging with people on the way and sharing his experiences in social media. As he skates through villages and towns, he aims to also sensitize the community on child safety by creating awareness on good and bad touch.
“After visiting several schools and getting an idea of issues which plague our education system, I decided to support girl child education,” says the 37-year-old business associate of Titan. The company works in association with NGOs Nanhi Kali and IMPACT in the field of child education. With the theme ‘Educate to Carry Her Onwards’, Rana’s skating mission is for the project called Titan ECHO. People can follow Rana’s journey and support the cause actively on titancompany.in/echo, which also serves as a fundraising portal. The funds will directly be transferred to the two NGOs, which have developed a pan-India presence over decades. Nanhi Kali has also has centres in Visakhapatnam and Araku.
During this journey, he will participate in activities at schools and organisations. Rana aims to cover a distance of 75 to 90 kilometres every day, skating over six to seven hours each day and utilising the remaining time to interact with people. For Rana, this journey has come together with his experiences in long distance skating. Previously, he skated from Mumbai to Goa and Visakhapatnam to Chennai to raise awareness on women’s wellness and breast cancer. This apart, Rana also participated in the Berlin Skating Marathon in 2016.
He says, “I do not feel particularly passionate about skating itself or gratified by going this journey; but being resourceful is to serve a greater purpose, towards the world around us that belongs to everyone. Skating is just a means to bring people together and spread one of the many messages that can have a positive impact on the community.”