Retd army officer cycles nationwide to pay homage to martyrs

When the time came for Major General Somnath Jha to hang his boots after serving for over three decades in the Indian Army, he decided to mark his retirement in a unique way.
Eighteen days after his retirement in October last year, the former army officer started cycling from Ambala Cantonment travelling throughout the country in memory of 21,000 fallen soldiers since Independence by cycling two minutes for each of them.
"This is my symbolic homage to my brethren who didn't have the privilege of retiring as I did since they made the supreme sacrifice before that," he said.
Jha will be concluding his journey at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate here tomorrow and lay a wreath to pay homage to his fallen comrades.

During the journey, his day would start usually early in the morning and would cycle till he hit his day's target, which was anything between 70 to 150 km taking minimal breaks in between.
Commissioned in the 11th Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, Jha is not new to adventure.
He has scaled Mt Kilimanjaro at the age of 54 and learnt para-gliding at 56.