A STOURBRIDGE teacher and mum-of-two is getting set to make an epic journey across India in memory of her father.
Pam Batta, from Pedmore, had been planning to tour the north of the country with her dad Tarsem Lal but tragically he died suddenly in September 2016 before they could embark on their much-anticipated trip.
She said: “It was to be an epic adventure - driving through desert mountain ranges, visiting remote villages and Buddhist monasteries."
But soon after the plan was hatched - the dream was shattered with the unexpected death of her beloved father, a Dudley businessman who passed away while visiting family in India.
Pam instead had to fly to her family's homeland to repatriate her 74-year-old father's body back to the UK.
However, nearly six months on, the intrepid mum has now decided to go it alone on the monumental journey she and her father had planned across India - as a tribute to her dad (pictured below) and to help her better understand the country he loved.
She said: "It's always been a dream of mine - so next month I’ll begin touring the whole of India from Kashmir in the north to Kanya Kumari, India’s southernmost tip, in a journey taking seven weeks."
Ahead of her travels - 47-year-old Pam, a former primary school teacher turned freelance tutor, has also been moved to raise money to help Indian street children whose plight was highlighted in the Oscar-nominated film Lion.
With help from friends and family - she hopes to raise more than £2,000 for Railway Children, which helps vulnerable children in Africa and the UK as well as India, through a series of Indian suppers and afternoon teas and by taking part in a 5K run next month.
It's not the first time kind-hearted Pam has done her bit to help street kids in India. She and her young boys Shaam, aged 14, and Nayan, aged 12, created gifts and raised funds to help buy food for some of the street children in Delhi when they went out on a family holiday in 2015.
Anyone wishing to boost her fundraising efforts for Railway Children can make a donation online on the Virgin Money Giving website (search Pam Batta).
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