Delhi: “We need to be more tolerant, to be more understanding, more welcoming, and give more time to all of us who are going through this struggle to understand,” actor Sharmila Tagore said, addressing not just those living with mental-health difficulties, but also the people around them who may not always know how to respond.
Her words came at the flag-off of a journey that is taking the conversation about mental health onto the road — a more than 7,000-kilometre motorcycle expedition from Delhi to Kanyakumari and back, led by Seher Hashmi.
Beyond the Horizon: A Ride for Resilience, flagged off in New Delhi on August 20, brings together riders, mental-health professionals and public figures in an effort to raise awareness, challenge misconceptions and encourage people to seek support.
But for Hashmi, the journey is more than a campaign. It is deeply personal. She has lived with mental illness for more than a decade, and her own experience of finding support has now become the foundation for reaching out to those who continue to suffer in silence.
Tagore, speaking at the event, acknowledged that the expedition ahead would not be easy. But, she said, Hashmi’s own journey had been “much bigger”.
Doctors, therapists, family members and friends had stood by Hashmi, Tagore said. Yet ultimately, it was Hashmi herself who had to make the decision to change her life and take care of herself.
That personal journey now forms the heart of a much longer one — a ride of more than 7,000 kilometres across India, bringing together motorcycle riders, mental-health professionals and public figures to raise awareness, challenge misconceptions and encourage people to seek support.
The expedition will take Hashmi and the participating riders from Delhi to Kanyakumari and back, passing through several states and cities along the way.
The journey to Kanyakumari will take them through Alwar, Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala before reaching the country’s southern tip.
The return route will pass through Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan before the riders head back to Delhi.
For Hashmi, however, this is not simply a long-distance motorcycle expedition. It is an extension of a conversation she has been carrying with her for years.
Mental Health Awareness on the Road: From Kashmir to Kanyakumari
Hashmi has previously undertaken motorcycle journeys to create awareness around mental health.
Last year, she travelled from Delhi to Kashmir, where she and her team conducted mental-health awareness sessions across several cities. Earlier this year, she also conducted awareness sessions at 22 locations in Karnataka.
Hashmi has spoken about why she continues to take the conversation onto the road.
“I was one of the lucky ones who got support, but so many continue to suffer in silence. This journey is for them,” she said in an interview with a news portal.
Her earlier journey to Kashmir also gave her an experience that she continues to remember.
During that motorcycle expedition, Hashmi conducted a mental-health session with more than 50 women from the J&K Armed Police.
“It changed everything,” she recalled in an interview with a news portal. “The women opened up, they asked questions; they shared.”
For Hashmi, moments such as these appear to underline why conversations about mental health cannot remain confined to formal settings. Sometimes, the first step towards seeking help is simply finding a space where someone feels safe enough to speak.
The participation of women riders adds another dimension to the current expedition. Their presence brings questions of mobility, confidence and independence into a campaign that is fundamentally about mental health and the ability to ask for help.
Mental Health Misconceptions Can Stop People From Seeking Help
Psychologist Khilly Marwaha, who is associated with the campaign, said one of the biggest challenges remains the misconceptions surrounding mental health and professional support.
“Often we overshadow it, saying that everyone has stress,” Marwaha said, pointing to the tendency to reduce mental-health concerns to ordinary stress.
In India, she said, there are still “a lot of myths and misconceptions” surrounding mental health and seeking support.
Marwaha urged people to pay attention to changes that may suggest that someone is struggling. These may include cognitive, behavioural and emotional changes, as well as changes in physical wellbeing.
Mental health, she stressed, is as important as physical health.
She also cautioned against dismissing people experiencing emotional or cognitive difficulties as simply lacking resilience.
Instead, Marwaha said, people should encourage those facing difficulties to seek professional help.
“Every issue can be addressed at the right time. People don’t have to suffer,” she said.
For her, recovery can sometimes begin with something as simple as a conversation.
“We all can heal by talking to someone. We all can heal by connecting with the right people,” Marwaha said.
Marwaha said the campaign was significant because relatively few people are able to dedicate their time to travelling and spreading awareness about mental health, helping others recognise the signs of mental-health difficulties and understand when and where to seek support.
The speakers at the flag-off event approached the issue from different directions.
Tagore spoke about Hashmi’s deeply personal journey and the decision she ultimately made to change her life. Marwaha focused on recognising signs of distress, challenging misconceptions and encouraging people to connect with professional support.
Hashmi’s own story sits at the centre of both perspectives.
She has lived with mental illness for more than a decade. She has also experienced what support can mean at a difficult point in life — and has chosen to turn that experience into a journey aimed at reaching people who may still be suffering silently.
As the riders begin their two-month expedition, Beyond the Horizon: A Ride for Resilience therefore becomes more than a ride across India’s highways.
It is an attempt to carry a conversation from one person to another, from one city to another — and perhaps, along the way, make it a little easier for someone to say what they have been unable to say for years.
For Hashmi, the road ahead stretches thousands of kilometres.
But the destination is not merely Kanyakumari, or Delhi on the return journey.
It is a society in which asking for help is understood not as weakness, but as one of the first steps towards healing.
