Jamil Ahmad, who walks with a limp since his birth, sees cycling as a medium to "reinstate" his faith ... The Kanpur-based cyclist (plans a) bicycle trip to Mecca ...

A street hawker by profession, he claims to have covered a distance of 2.5 lakh km, since he started cycling in 1961. He recently travelled from Kanpur to Kathmandu and back, and reached Delhi on 5 June on his cycle ...

Most of his trips till now had been financed from his earnings as a "street hawker" and on donations from public-spirited people ... He made a record of 139-hour nonstop cycling during the period. But, the real recognition came when he set for a 6,000 km all India tour in January 1978. The tour took him 14 months to complete ... After his Mecca trip, Ahmad has ... plans for an around-the-world cycle journey. (Source: The Statesman,10.6.2000)