An edited version of the following article appeared in The Ottawa Citizen on Saturday, June 2, 2001

India's war hero fights for disabled

Mike Nemesvary
'Round the World Challenge

Mike Nemesvary, a former champion freestyle skier, is attempting to become the first quadriplegic to drive around the world - a 40,000 kilometer trek to raise funds for spinal cord injury research and rehabilitation.

Delhi, India

In Canada, the leading cause of spinal cord injury is vehicular accidents, followed by falls, industrial accidents and sports injuries; fortunately, wars and landmines do not make the top ten list here.

But as we travel through the Middle East and India, the human devastation caused by war and the products of war are disturbingly evident. Thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians have had limbs blown off or been paralyzed by sniper bullets. The need for adequate rehabilitation centres and accessibility is overwhelming as we learned when we visited the Spinal Injuries Center in Delhi. This four-year old centre is South Asia's most advanced specialty hospital, the only one of its kind in India.

The man behind this centre is Major Ahluwalia, an Indian hero who has made a difference for the many disabled in his country. From athlete to disability activist, I couldn't help but draw the parallels in our lives. Major Ahluwalia scaled Everest way back in 1965, only three years after man first stepped on the world's highest peak. A few months later, he became the target of a sniper attack in the Indo-Pakistan war which left him a quadriplegic.

At that time, there was no facility in India to deal with such spinal cord damage which, by all indications, should have been fatal. As a major in the Indian army, he was fortunate to be sent to a hospital in Britain, at that time the world's hospital of last resort for spinal injuries. When he returned home, Ahluwalia was determined that all Indian spinal cord victims would have access to the same care he received. 24 years later, his dream was realized. He now runs the Centre, serves as President of the Rehabilitation Council of India, and was the driving spirit behind India's1996 Equal Opportunity Act. (It guarantees free and compulsory education and a barrier-free environment at all public facilities)

As difficult and exhausting as this journey is, it is people like Major Ahluwalia, who keep me going.

The day-to-day joys and difficulties of life on the road continue. We have been in India for the past week, after a relatively easy border crossing from Pakistan, again aided by wonderful Canadian consulate staff. Just ½ kilometer into India, we heard a strange popping sound -- a steering hose had broken - yet another mechanical setback. As we waited, the escort vehicle drove into Armritsar, India to retrieve a mechanic. Our young and very patient mechanic was able to complete the repairs by 8:00 pm that night. We only made it to Armritsar that night, 60 kilometres past the border.

The next morning we hit the road, pushing our way straight through to Delhi, covering 400 kilometres in about eight hours. Traffic was reasonable, road conditions are a bit better and the drivers are more courteous than in Pakistan. Delhi is a hot, smoggy city; roads are congested with cows and cars.

The next day, during a routine truck washing, an over zealous washer broke one of the wires for the lift and the entire hydraulic system shut down...more repairs. Timing is never good for truck breakdowns but this was particularly bad as Pfizer India had a number of events set up for us. Without a truck, my team members have to physically lift me in and out of vehicles; the stress of rushing from one appointment to another exhausts all of us.

We met up with Mr. Ramkrishna, VP, Corporate Affairs, Pfizer India, who flew in from Bombay and had his Public Relations people fly in from Madras to meet with us. This group was incredible! They prepared 500 customized public relations cards for Round the World Challenge in India. They also made up matching t-shirts for the team. Conveniently, and understandably, they dropped the Canadian and Union Jack flag from our logo and the globe mysteriously focused on India.

That evening, we enjoyed a nice family-style dinner with Canadian Ambassador, Peter Sutherland, and his family. It was a refreshing change to have a relaxing dinner with fellow Canadians.

That evening, we joined the Pfizer group at their hotel for a small reception. It was truly amazing how quickly they got organized to greet us. The State Minister of Transport, General Khanduri, was in attendance; he had actually cancelled another appointment to attend. I did a keynote address to a very receptive group.

Wednesday was officially media day; we appeared on page 2 of three national newspapers. I was interviewed for Star TV in the early part of the day and completed a couple of other TV interviews in the afternoon. At the end of the day, we picked up the vehicle and, nearing exhaustion, we hit the sack early.

We are welcoming the change of scenery as we depart Delhi for Agra.

For more information, visit www.roundtheworldchallenge.com