Newly Married Couple Cycles 16,000 Km for Spiritual Pilgrimage to 12 Jyotirlingas & Char Dham

Hazaribag: In an inspiring tale of devotion, determination and love, a newly married couple from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh is on an extraordinary bicycle journey to visit the 12 Jyotirlingas and Char Dham shrines of Lord Shiva instead of going on a honeymoon.Shekhar Dixit and his wife Gunjan, who chose a spiritual pilgrimage over a conventional honeymoon, passed through Hazaribag district on Sunday.According to Shekhar, who runs a lock manufacturing business in Aligarh, they also opted for cycling to promote environmental protection and physical fitness. The couple began their journey on June 23, soon after their wedding, and they have so far covered nearly 16,000 km on bicycles.Carrying placards highlighting their mission, the duo has travelled through Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu (Rameswaram), Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand, before heading towards Deoghar via Hazaribag.“The journey is challenging with rain, cold, and extreme heat, but it has strengthened our bond,” he said. Shekhar, 27, said he married Gunjan Goldi last year in December, and they both planned this journey. At that time, they hardly got any support from the family. Gunjan added that the pilgrimage has also deepened their faith.“With Lord Shiva’s blessings, we hope to complete this sacred journey soon. Travelling together like this has made our relationship stronger,” she said.Shekhar said they are covering 100 km daily, starting from 5 in the morning and cycling till 7 in the evening, staying at petrol pumps for the night along the highway.“We will continue our journey to Varanasi and then go to Dwarka in Gujarat, where it will come to an end,” he said.He added, “In total, we have covered 16,000 km and hope to complete 20,000 with the final distance to Dwarka.”Their itinerary includes visits to all 12 Jyotirlingas — Somnath, Mallikarjuna, Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Kedarnath, Bhimashankar, Kashi Vishwanath, Trimbakeshwar, Vaidyanath, Nageshwar, Rameswaram, and Grishneshwar — along with the Char Dham shrines.The couple regularly shares updates from their journey on social media, where they have been receiving widespread appreciation, especially from young followers.Locals said the couple’s initiative reflects India’s spiritual heritage at a time when many youths are drifting towards Western lifestyles.Before signing off, the couple said, “India is such a good country, and its people are also so good and cooperative. The energy and the presence of the almighty we felt all the way through our journey is something we cannot explain in words. We want to tell all to take up such a journey once in a lifetime to explore every corner of India.”