Singara aims to share tech experience and motivate others on round the world bike trip

Dr Singara Vadivel was looking forward to a peaceful few days in Ireland when the Westmeath Examiner spoke to him on Friday, more peaceful than some of the countries he has ridden through on his BMW motorbike as part of a round the world trip.

He’s in Mullingar on the invite of Selva Barati, who lives here and works at Mergon in Castlepollard, as they have family links at home in India.

Dr Vadiel is an Indian-American motorcycle adventurer who has 35 years of experience in the tech industry. He is riding solo around the world and Ireland is his 92nd country in more than two years.

His trip is about more than sight-seeing, he explained.

“The last 27 months I am not a tourist, I am a traveller. I connect people, culture, history, economics, politics. That’s my focus.

"I worked in Silicon Valley including for Microsoft, and I have given speeches at 29 universities (on this trip), especially in Africa, where they are way behind in terms of technology. I have met 19 government ministers from 15 countries in Africa.

“I proposed a project called empowering people by e-governance, and some of the countries are giving it attention.

“I hope to motivate people because in India I am from a very underprivileged family, my parents are farm labourers, so from there, reaching Silicon Valley, that journey itself is not easy.

“I use my own story to motivate people, especially in Africa because they are struggling.”

Dr Vadivel said he found travelling in central, west and north Africa “pretty challenging”; he landed in the Middle East during the recent war; and in other areas even finding enough petrol for his bike caused difficulties and delays.

But those are not the important things, he said: “It’s not just about leisure and travel, no. I am not doing it in a conventional biker’s way, and I am not a tourist.

"I have two objectives - a social objective and my personal objective.

“My personal objective is I intentionally beg for food and place to sleep. I use the word ‘beg’, that is to transform myself into a humble person.

“When you see the world, the other side of the road, and other side of the continent, that creates a huge turbulence within you and you make use of that to transform, lose your identity.

“Singara Vadivel, doctor, I have written six books, Singara Vadivel, author, Singara Vadivel, scientist, blah, blah, blah... those are all the illusory identity and it creates an illusory personality.

“I want to destroy it through this road. I want to be a humble person. I beg for food and a place to sleep, and most of the time the people are so good and they are hospitable. But it’s not always positive – sometimes you will get insulted to the core and that time, it hurts a lot, and that is the best way to destroy your ego.

“So by end of the journey, I don’t know whether I get enlightened or not, but I’ll become a human being. That’s my personal objective.

“And the other side, I have 35 years of Silicon Valley technology experience, and I want to share unconditionally wherever it’s needed, corporate or government or university, motivate people, learn from them, share my experience.

“That is my prime focus of this travel.”