Pramod Laxman Mahajan (68) from Pune in Maharashtra is currently on a 17,500-km-long road trip on his motorcycle across India. However, this is not an adventure trip, but an initiative to raise awareness on organ donation.

Stopping by Coimbatore on Tuesday for a two-day visit as part of his trip, Mr. Mahajan recalled why he was drawn towards organ donation. “I donated my kidney to a jawan (soldier) in my village in 2000,” he said. Mr. Mahajan hails from a village in Sangli district, Maharashtra.

Following the incident, Mr. Mahajan said that he wanted to raise awareness on organ donation across the country, which made him undertake his first nation-wide trip in 2018. In the first trip, he covered 19 States and 10,000 km in 100 days, he said. “This time, it will be 132 days,” he said, noting that he plans to cover 94 cities across 25 States.

Mr. Mahajan started this trip from Pune on January 18 with the support of Rebirth Trust, a Pune-based NGO advocating organ donation. After covering Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, Mr. Mahajan entered Tamil Nadu with a visit to Madurai on Monday. He said that the trip will include Madurai, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and Chennai in the State along with Puducherry. He plans to conclude the trip on May 28 at Pune.

Balaji Suresh, a member of All India Riders Federation, said that the Federation members would support Mr. Mahajan during his stay in the 94 cities.

“We will arrange food, accommodation and his visits [in a given city] during the stay,” Mr. Suresh said, who looked after Mr. Mahajan during his Coimbatore visit.

“A cat or a dog does not live for itself, it lives for its masters,” Mr. Mahajan said, adding that humans must help others through organ donation.

“Service to fellow humans is equivalent to service to God,” he signed off.