On a 54-day all-India tour with one machine and two messages 

Startup PotHoleRaja and team meets students to promote electric vehicles, sociopreneurship and to fix potholes

Sourabh Kumar celebrated his 31st birthday on February 7 on the road. At present, the social startup PotHoleRaja that he is part of, is on a tour of Indian cities to fix potholes. The group arrives in a small motorcade, one led by an electric vehicle. A truck carrying a huge machine brings up the rear.

“It was a one-of-a-kind birthday,” he laughs, talking to this reporter en route to Chennai. Sourabh and the motorcyclists – John Kuruvilla (pilot bike), Gautam Khot and Prajwal — are on a road trip around the country. The motorcyclists are chasing a world record for the longest road trip on an electric vehicle.

Each of them is driving home a message through this journey which began on February 4 in Bengaluru to cover 15000 km, 25 cities in 54 days.

Sourabh, who is co-founder of PotHoleRaja, a Bengaluru-based social start-up, plans to fix over 1000 potholes and spread awareness about road safety during this expedition. The men on the bikes are promoting electric vehicles (EVs) as the future of mobility. The mission is also aimed at inspiring college students to think as entrepreneurs and build social startups .

In Chennai, the team with their two messages descended upon Crescent University, where they interacted with the students. “They already have an incubation centre and our event was to encourage them further through our journeys,” he says.

For PotHoleRaja, which leverages public-private partnership and engages citizens, employees and transgenders to help make roads free of potholes, this trip is a big step to showcase to municipal corporations eco-friendly, affordable and quicker solutions to problems people face due to bad roads.

In Bengaluru, many resident groups call them when their roads are in a bad shape as contractors do not find fixing potholes very attractive business proposition. And in such scenarios, the civic body is happy to have groups like these on board.