Vaishak Seetharam Dattani will take lessons on how to build a solar-powered e-scooter. He will ride it all the way to France from Kochi in 2025 as part of the fourth ‘edition’ of his personal project — Shores to Pinnacle.
From September 27 to November 22, 2023, he walked 1,600 kilometres and hitchhiked 12,751 kilometres, making his way from Singapore to Sikkim (not in this order) in version three of his personal project and initiative to create awareness about and raise funds for health-related causes.
The September solo expedition by Vaishak, Head of Service Excellence, Aster DM Healthcare, was to create awareness about ventricular septal defect (VSD) which affects children. His aim was to provide free cardiology treatment to 100 children from underprivileged families. He explains how it works, “Aster Volunteers is the CSR wing of Aster through which I was able to connect with healthcare professionals in the North-East. I connected with hitchhiking communities outside India via Facebook in Thailand and Laos, so I was able to spread the word among them. As part of Heart2Heart Cares, an initiative of Aster Volunteers, for every 10,000 steps achieved by those registered with the initiative, Aster Volunteers donates ₹100 to aid critical surgeries of 50 underprivileged children at Aster Hospitals.”
