Driven by the instinct to set new records, a Class VI girl is riding a bicycle blindfolded on the arterial roads of the Arni in Tiruvannamalai district. During the Gandhi Jayanthi rally held on Wednesday, she rode the bicycle for about 3 km in the silk town in her pursuit to perform a world record.

She began pedalling the bicycle from near the Gandhi statue at Mandi Street, moved through arterial roads before culminating at MJ Mahal behind the Old Bus Stand at Arni. For her, it is an endeavour to achieve a Guinness record. “I have been practising riding bicycle blindfolded for about two months now. On Wednesday, I rode the bicycle in the town for a distance of 3 km,” K Suruthi, of Munugampattu village, told Express.

Not only does she ride the bicycle blindfolded, but the 11-year-old also surprises her neighbours by painting, colouring and playing chess all the while being blindfolded. She said, “I started with doing painting and colouring by blindfolding my eyes. Then I thought of riding cycle and began to practice it.”

She is getting the much-needed encouragement from her father Kumaran, a handloom weaver.

“My daughter wants to enter into the Guinness record by achieving riding bicycle blindfolded. We are encouraging her to do it. We accompany her whenever she sets out,” Kumaran stated. He added that the girl pedalled the bicycle all the way from Arni town to their village for a distance of about 13 km after completing the Gandhi Jayanthi rally.