NEW DELHI - Spreading awareness through the internet and the media on issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS and government apathy, 25-year-old engineer Prabhu S. has undertaken a bike trip across the country to try and do his bit to bring about change.

“I like to travel and have always wanted to do a bike trip for a cause. Poverty was an issue that had plagued my mind for a while and after talking to ActionAid, an NGO that works extensively on this subject, I decided to get on with my dream,” Prabhu told IANS in the capital.

“Through my journey until now, I have interacted with women who are fighting HIV and people languishing with no electricity and healthcare in villages. I keep updating all these information on Twitter and in blogs.

“The aim is to highlight these issues in a public platform so that the government takes notice and does something about it. Or common people get together and do something to help the less fortunate,” the Bangalore-based software engineer said.

Biking around 3,000 km from Bangalore to Delhi, during the course of which he travelled to villages and small towns in Goa, Pune and Rajasthan, Prabhu said his trip is a small initiative to do his bit to bring about change.

More than anyone or anything else though, Prabhu said that the most visible change that he has seen ever since he started his trip Sep 29 was in himself.

“Before anyone else, this trip has changed me. My whole perspective on life and other things is changing. In Pune, I had to ride in heavy rain and I finally saw the sun after 44 hours, while in Rajasthan villages were parched.

“In Sariska, I visited a village which was 35 km from the main road with no electricity, no roads. Everyday is a challenge for these people and had I not taken this trip I would have never realised this,” Prabhu, who has scores of followers on Twitter, said.

From Delhi, Prabhu will go to Kolkata, Orissa, Kerala, Chennai and Kanyakumari.