One man, one country, one messge

Walking down from Khan Market towards India Gate after finishing my shopping, I suddenly stop in my tracks. A car parked inside Taj Ambassador hotel catches my attention. It has a slogan “Country First” written boldly on it. I go closer and find that there are messages of peace and unity too written across it along with the map of the country.“The owner of the car is in the hotel itself,” comes a voice of a security guard from behind who seemed to be amused by my curiosity. I go inside and ask at the reception.The car belongs to 51-year-old Amit Lall, a businessman from Mumbai and I am told he is on a peace mission. My curiosity increases and I decide to meet the man in his room.He greets me warmly as I walk in. I ask him about the car and the mission. “It was the terrorist attack in Mumbai that prompted me for this. The violence and the mayhem that the terrorist wrecked made me think of ways of propagating peace and harmony in the country.”So on Jan 26 this year, he embarked on a nation-wide journey from Mumbai, driving along the borders and disturbed areas of the country with a two-fold mission-— to meet and congratulate the armed forces, specially the NSG for their efforts in saving lives and educate people about living in peace and harmony.He says initially he was clueless. “But I had a roadmap and direction, and car with messages printed on it.” His biggest supporter — Ratan Tata. “I wrote to him, telling him about my mission, and now, wherever I go across the country, I get place to stay courtesy Taj hotels.” Not only this, Hyundai too agreed to service his mission vehicle. “In the attack I lost my friends and colleagues....it’s sad that it took such an incident to shake the Government,” he tells me. He has stopped in the Capital after completing 17,800 km of journey across 26 states touching international borders of Nepal, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. A garment exporter, who hardly had time to even attend a family affair, agrees that he was as complacent as others till he was hit by that nightmarish experience. “A blast, people killed, news flash, and then, back to work. Life would assume normalcy within hours, but not this time. I realised I wasn't contributing to the society,” he says. How did it all start? I ask him. “Had my mom not had a narrow escape in the attack, I would never have realised how important life is and how one feels in such a situation.” His mother was leaving by train from CST that night and 15minutes after her train left, the terrorist attacked the station. So what all places has he travelled so far? “I started from Mumbai and went on to Kanyakumari, West Bengal and Nagaland and then to Kargil and Line of Control among others. After Delhi, I will head towards Rajasthan, Gujarat and back to Mumbai. The objective is to prove that we Indians are a resilient lot who refuse to give into extremist action and threats.”While on his journey, he decided to get in touch with the youth, NGOs, schools and institutions to further his cause. “I believe in the power of the mind and positive thinking. What the mind can conceive, one can achieve,” says Lall who has recently came up with a community United Force of India (UFI) on Facebook. “UFI’s mission is to have a youth representative from each state and bring them together on one platform. This would stop regionalism, spread humanity, reduce casteism and create a sense of belonging. My aim is to force down unity and make people say Jai Hind instead of a Jai Maharashtra or Jai Karnataka.”How has his experience been so far? He beams with smile: “The adulation I have received was overwhelming. People are attracted to the posters and stickers with social messages and quotes on my car. They listen to me and give me a thumbs-up.” His journey had dangerous moments too. “I was even captured by an insurgency group in Manipur. They let me off when I convinced them that all I wanted was peace and development of the area,” he says.According to Lall, the unrest and resentment among the locals is due to lack of development and indifferent treatment by the governments. “Kashmir and the North-East are not developed fully. Lall, now plans to invest in areas like the North-East and Kashmir provided there are lesser obstacles.