PROMOTING BBB IS MY MISSION: JITENDRA MAN SHAKYA

All photos by Read 2B Happy
 

PROMOTING BBB IS MY MISSION: JITENDRA MAN SHAKYA

By LB THAPA

Born and educated in Kathmandu, Jitendra Man Shakya’s family migrated to Pokhara in 1971, when Jitendra Man Shakya was merely a tiny toddler. Since then until now, Pokhara has been the home of the Shakya family.

“My relatives were not in favor of my father’s decision to migrate to Pokhara when the Shakya clan was already doing very well in the heartland of Kathmandu. However, my father was much more prudent than my uncles were. More like a seer, he had already anticipated a crowded Kathmandu in the future that would make life much more difficult and challenging for people,” said Shakya.

The late Purna Man Shakya, father of Jitendra Man Shakya, was not confused about what to do in Pokhara because he had already established a bicycle shop in the heart of Kathmandu.


“My father had an established bicycle shop in Kathmandu. It was Purna Motorcycle Workshop. He had been running this business for many years, so our bicycle shop had made a name in Kathmandu. My father had earned lots of trust and respect from his customers. Most of his customers would come to purchase bicycles due to word of mouth. Thus, in Pokhara, my father straight away opened up a bicycle shop with the same name as Purna Motorcycle Workshop,” added Shakya.

Jitendra Man Shakya took a serious interest in cycling right from an early age. It was maybe because of his father’s growing bicycle shop. His father’s bicycle shop provided him with an opportunity to use different brands of bicycles, and for that, his father never made any objection. Due to regular cycling, he started learning many cycling skills.

“From an early age, I took up cycling seriously. As my father had a bicycle shop, I could take any used bicycle for outdoor cycling. When I was still in high school, there was hardly any place within the Pokhara valley where I had not been with my bicycle. I knew almost every nook and cranny of the Pokhara valley. At times, I even led many groups of foreigners to several places in the Pokhara valley. They were surprised when I took them to some exotic places, which were even not mentioned on the Google map.”


By the time Jitendra Man Shakya attended the college for graduation, he had already started long-distance cycling. He would invariably carry a tent and food items with him in case he had to spend a night in a deserted place or maybe in a dense forest.

“I don’t think there is any popular destination left in Nepal where I have not traded with my mountain bike. Over the last two decades, I have been regularly paddling. I have cycled up to the Nepal-China border, and I have also paddled around some popular cities in India like Darjeeling, Sikkim, Simla, Dehradun, Manipur, Nagaland, etc. Whenever I go on a long-distance cycling tour, I always carry the necessary cycling gear, including a tent, sleeping bag, portable gas stove, and some dry food. Mostly, I prefer to spend nights in my own tent, but sometimes, due to bad weather or maybe safety reasons, I don’t mind staying in hotels and guesthouses,” revealed Shakya.


After getting so involved in cycling activities, Shakya realized he should be involved in some organizations dedicated to promoting cycling. With his initiation and that of some other cycling enthusiasts, they laid the foundation of Cycle City Pokhara (CCP) in 2012. He presided over the organization from 2015 to 2016. He also became the president of Lions Club International 325L to take care of the blood donation department in Nepal.

A huge turning point came in Shakya’s life when he joined the Nepal Voluntary Blood Donation Society (NVBDS) in 2014. He liked the work of its members who were always ready to donate blood to save the lives of people who need blood urgently. He actively took part in every activity of the organization, and later Shakya was elected president of NVBDS from 2019 to 2022. Until now, Shakya has already donated his blood 83 times, and very soon, he will donate his blood 84 times. Moreover, due to NVBDS efforts, blood is now received free of charge in the Kaski district.


“I like the concept of saving people’s lives by giving them blood. The science has made a tremendous amount of progress, but it is still unable to find an alternate source of blood or a substitute for blood. Thus, we can understand how important blood is to saving the life of a patient. I made my bicycle a tool to encourage people to donate their blood to save precious lives. And I have been doing this task as actively as possible. All the efforts I put into attaining the purpose of my organization are completely voluntary. I don’t have any expectations from my organization. The only thing that I expect is that no patient should die due to the unavailability of blood in the country. We have a branch office of NVBDS almost in every city of the country,” added Shakya.

Shakya has been actively involved in blood donation and encouraging the youths to donate blood. But Shakya realized that many people hold the wrong notion about blood donation. They think that they become weak after donating blood. That is why they hesitate to donate blood. To break this myth, Shakya developed the BBB concept.

“I realized that even educated people hold the wrong idea about blood donation. They think that donating blood causes a blood shortage in the body. To break this myth, I developed the BBB concept. Here BBB stands for blood donation, bicycling, and bungee jumping. On May 30, 2018, I donated my 62 blood donations in Kathmandu, then immediately cycled for 100 km up to the Last Resort at Bhotekoshi. Taking no rest, straight away, I performed bungee jumping over the Bhotekoshi River. This way, I completed three tasks in succession and without any sign of weakness. My power activity right after blood donation is a testimony to the fact that blood donation does not make you weak. This is only a wrong myth and nothing more than that.”


Most probably, Shakya is the only person in the world today who has performed three BBB tasks in a row. This very activity of Shakya has definitely broken the wrong myth of many people about blood donation who think blood donation causes weakness. On the contrary, frequent blood donations have positive effects on the human body. According to a study, frequent blood donors had lower risks of liver, lung, colon, stomach, and throat cancer. It is also true that the volume of blood is replaced within 24 hours. Moreover, red blood cells take between 4-6 weeks to completely replace; that’s why for the next blood donation, it needs to wait 8 weeks.

“Maybe three or four times I donated blood in Pokhara, then I took my mountain bike and rode 200 km and reached Kathmandu. One time, right after blood donation, I started riding my mountain bike at 7 a.m. from Pokhara and reached Kathmandu at 6 p.m., where I met Pushkar Shah, the world cyclist. Tomorrow morning, I rode 110 km to Khukot, and from Khukot I rode to Sindhuligadhi Mai and returned to Kathmandu. This way, I completed 140 km. Thus, I am the living example to prove that blood donation does not cause weakness. Blood donation is rather a healthy practice.”.

Time to time, some organizations at home and abroad call Shakya to perform BBB to motivate people for blood donation by breaking the popular myth that blood donation causes weakness.


“I am always ready to join such programs at home and abroad where I need to perform BBB. I will donate blood, then I will ride for at least 100 km, then I will go bungee jumping to prove that blood donation does not make us physically weak. This is a myth, but the reality is that after blood donation, we feel fresh and energetic,” said Jitendra Man Shakya.

Jitendra Man Shakya’s effort must be applauded as he goes on putting in so much physical strain just to convince people that they can donate blood without any reservation. Shakya’s campaign for BBB has become his mission to prove that regular blood donation does not cause any kind of physical weakness. Instead, a regular blood donation helps the donor get many health benefits.

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