The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Four-wheeler Falcon Flight 2006 is ready for takeoff

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 20, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Four-wheeler Falcon Flight 2006 is ready for takeoff

Rasmi Binoy

K. Dhamodharan, C. Venniya Rajan and C. Vinayakam will cover 8,000 km to spread awareness about mental illness

ALL SET TO GO: The three-man `Falcon Flight 2006' team.

CHENNAI: `Falcon Flight 2006', a four-wheeler driving expedition by a three-member team, will begin on January 26. The team comprises K. Dhamodharan, C. Venniya Rajan and C. Vinayakam.

Collaboration

The venture has been organised in collaboration with The Banyan, a non-governmental organisation working for the cause of women living with mental illnesses.

The trip, planned across the length and breadth of the country in three weeks covering more than 8,000 km, aims to help people understand the need for caring for the mentally ill.

With `Driving [for] a Cause' as the motto, Falcon Flight proposes to create an interface with NGOs such as The Banyan.

One of its main objectives is to educate the public on the difference between mental illness and mental retardation.

The team wants to spread the message among stakeholders in the Government and local bodies that marginalizing the mentally ill is a crime.

Pamphlets containing the message of The Banyan will be distributed to the public and the media involved in the effort to spread awareness among the public.

Inspiration

The `Falcons' were inspired by `Vision 2020'. They will film the concretisation of initiatives such as the `Golden Quadrilateral' and `PURA'. They will also attempt to capture the `unique way in which each region contributes to the transformation of India.'

Mr. Dhamodharan, who owns an offset printing press and an advertising agency, hit upon the idea of the `flight.' His cousin Venniya Rajan is a Project Manager at HCL Technologies, Chennai, and has been associated with The Banyan for several years. He was the one who suggested that the trio spread the NGO's message during their trip. His brother Vinayakam, a software engineer at Motorola, Bangalore, is the third member of the team.

The expedition will cover the four southern states, Goa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The three have decided to travel in a Tata Safari Ex, "an all- Indian creation."

The Falcon team said that it will print a travelogue and put it on the Internet.

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