My Experiences with Tata Jagriti Yatra 2009

Tata Jagriti Yatra is an annual train journey with the motto of "awakening the entrepreneurial spirit". In this yatra 400 youth, majority of them from India, are taken on an 18 day All India trip to visit the unsung heroes of India and see their exceptional work with the aim to inspire them to build Social or economic enterprises.

The yatra began on 24th December 2009 at Mumbai. Let me start with the train, a chartered train was arranged for the yatra, all the bogies of the train had yatra stickers pasted outside. For us this train was home for next 18 days. The train comprised of sleeper coaches, 1 pantry, 2 AC chair cars and bathrooms. PA system was fitted in all the bogies of train. AC chair cars were fitted with Audio Visual facilities and were used for on board activities like discussions, presentations etc. But the most amazing arrangement was bathroom coach. Normal sitting car coach was converted into bathrooms in a truly innovative way. There was a pantry car with really supportive serving people, the food served was good.

The second most prominent thing about yatra was diversity among participants. All of us were from different lands having different economical, educational, professional and most importantly cultural backgrounds. There were people from all across the India, few from UK, US, Australia too. Spending time with such a diverse people was an experience in itself, although I faced lot of trouble remembering so many names. I learned how people work on same thing but in different ways. For example there were so many working on micro finance but each of them had different ways.

First line in the guide book given to participants of yatra said 'This is not a joy ride' and we realized how true it was after we started visiting role models. The days were very hectic and on board activities like presentations and discussions further added to it. The map of the places covered is shown in above picture. In 18 days we covered more than 9300 Km. We passed through various temperature zones, 30 deg C in Trivandrum to 2 deg C in Tilonia. This definitely made yatra challenging health wise and tiring too.

About the learning part, I learned a lot from the yatra. Over past years I was made to believe that being an idealistic one can not survive. But now I have seen idealistic people who not only survived but succeeded in extra ordinary works. I learned various ways of working at root level. I learned that Food, Clothes and shelter are still the basic needs and there are billions who does not have access to all three and thus there is a huge potential to work at the root level.

The next amazing thing about the yatra was the role models we visited. (I will write in detail about all of them in a short while) A list of them is given below.

1. Mumbai Dabbawala
   
2. Mr G. Vijayaraghavan, man behind Technopark in Trivendrum
3. Sabriye & Paul founders of Braille without Borders and IISE, Trivendrum
4. Arvind Eye Care, Madurai
5. Aparajitha Foundation, Madurai
   
6. Mr R. Elango, Kuthabakkam village near Chennai
7. Agastya Foundation, near Bangalore
8. Industree crafts foundation, Bangalore
9. Naandi Foundations, Hyderabad
10. Mr Joe Madiath founder of Gram-Vikas, Brahmapur in Orissa
11. Tata Steel, Jamshedpur
    
12. Jagriti Sewa Sanshtan, Deoria in UP
13. Mr Anshu Gupta founder of Goonj, Delhi
14. Mr Bunker Roy founder of Barefoot College, Tilonia in Rajasthan
15. Okhai, Tata Chemicals, Mithapur Gujarat

I observed some common things in all the role models and these are listed below.

• All of them had either seen or experienced a 'pain point' and they decided to act on it.
• Common values all followed were honesty and integrity.
• Common traits all had were hard working ability, empathy, bravery, persuasion.
• All of them were dreamers.
• All created enterprise or organization which wouldn't depend on them i.e. which will grow on its own.
• None of them worried about the money. The lesson here is as long as you are doing honest and good work you don't have to worry about money, money will follow you.
• None of them bent against the problem of corruption. Lesson here is if you give bribe the first time, you will have to give it forever.
  

Apart from all the serious stuff we had lot of fun among our cohort and groups. Singing songs and dancing at any given opportunity, bumps for anyone suspected of having birthday, pulling each others leg while having dinner in compartment, new years celebration on platform, small games played during the short travels in buses, writing messages for each others time capsule bottles are all memorable events too.

The 18 days passed like a moment and in the end I realized that Tata Jagriti Yatra was truly an experience of lifetime which has given memories to cherish, friends to share and inspiration to follow dreams.

Nobel peace prize - A Practical Joke

I read a news item today about how the Nobel Prize committee (who were, I guess, trying to be funny by declaring peace prize for Obama) played a practical joke by actually giving the noble Peace prize to Obama. The committee decided to give the peace prize to Obama in February, when he had just taken the charge as US president and had barely done any 'Peace Work'. The Peace prize committee just assumed that Obama would do some peace work in future so why not give him an award right now for his good intentions, maybe this would put a moral responsibility on him to live up to his Nobel peace prize winner reputation.

But their plan to ensure peace by means of giving a peace prize went to pieces yesterday when while accepting the prize Obama quoted that "war has a role in peace". Obama made it pretty clear that winning a peace prize will not deter him from any of his war plans; whether those wars would ever lead to world peace is a whole different issue. I wish if I could be there in Oslo to see the expressions on faces of committee members.

The amazing fact is that Obama invoked his hero Mahatma Gandhi as his role model for peace work. Gandhi was nominated for Nobel peace prize five times but never got it. It is surprising that Nobel prize committee didn't find the man who donated all of his life for actual peace work and died for it, worthy of a prize. Maybe he was above a Nobel prize.

Looking at events I have resolved that I will meditate everyday for 15 minutes about research in Physics. This will help convey my intentions to do something great to add to the knowledge of Physics. And maybe I will win the Nobel prize for Physics.

Bangalore to Nandi Hills - Cycling Endurance Race

I am proud to say that I secured 42nd rank in the cycling endurance race conducted by BBC (Bangalore Biker's Club) from Bangalore to Nandi Hills :)
I know that 42nd out of 100 participants is not a kind of rank which can make one proud. But considering the terrain of the racing route and the fact that this was my first cycling race, I am little bit proud of myself that I successfully finished race.

The race was scheduled to begin on the Sunday morning at 7 o'clock from the CCD outlet on Bellary road. Totally 4 guys from IISc (Abhijit, Poovaiah, Alex and I) had decided to participate. But an interesting thing happened on Sunday morning which comples me to believe that whatever Murphy said is true. It so happened that there are 2 CCD outlets on Bellary road, one which is around 2 Km away and second which is 20 Km away from IISc campus. As per Murphy's laws until 5.30 AM on Sunday we were assuming that the race will start from the first CCD outlet, so we imagined that it is an easy 5 min ride from campus.

But we got a call from organizers and they clarified that the starting point is actually the second CCD. All of us got ready quickly and set off at around 6 o'clock. We cycled as fast as possible, as if the race had already begun and reached starting point in 45 minutes. There we saw around 100 cyclists with full enthusiasm ready to shoot. Many of them had carried cycles in cars, SUVs etc.

The race started at around 7.15 AM. The total distance to be covered was around 40 Km. There were 3 checkpoints. Water and electrolyte was provided at checkpoints. After first checkpoint the Nandi hill peak (which was the finishing point) was visible. The top part was fully covered with clouds. I got really excited imagining that I'll be there in clouds soon.

After 2nd checkpoint started the last 12 Km stretch of road which was all uphill. I was getting more and more thirsty with every passing Km. But the worse was after 3rd checkpoint, last 3.5 Km was quiet a steep road up. There were many steep and dangerous turns. The sun was fully out. The real test of stamina and endurance was in this part of the race. It was difficult to keep the spirit steady and legs moving. At a very steep hair pin turn, the roaring people was audible and there it was, the finish line of the race. I finished in 2 hr 20 min.

It was a great feeling having finished the race. After that we roamed around there for some time and returned to campus in the evening.

Second semester over....

Last week second semester of first year M.Tech got over.
But why am I writing a post about it? because this semester wasn't like any other semesters.

It started normally. I had taken 6 courses totally. First 3 months were as usual, assignments and labs. But as the last month i.e. April began, all the profs started giving mini projects one by one. By the end of April first week we had 6 mini projects staring at us like raging bulls. We tried finishing as much work possible between the exams, but by the end of April none of the project was over. So the deadlines got extended to May first week and the work ultimately came down to night outs.

One by one we finished all the mini projects. The night before last submission, the labs looked like as if preparations for some festival are going on. Everyone working in various labs trying to finish the job on time. For some, the night continued till next night. But after finishing everything the feeling of satisfaction was amazing. Now there is a little respite for coming 2 months.

Beauty everywhere.....

Come March and the IISc campus starts changing colors. Actually it starts acquiring various colors. Flowers with yellow, red, pink, purple, white and many more shades are seen. Even the huge trees starts blooming with flowers on the top.

Apart from flowers also the leaves of many trees starts getting various colors. Like some trees are seen with only yellow leaves, some with only purple leaves.

Just a look around and you can see beauty everywhere.

Cycling trip: IISc to Ramanagaram

Last saturday 6 of us had gone for a cycle expedition from IISc campus to Ramanagaram. Ramanagaram is around 55 Km away from IISc. It is located on Bangalore-Mysore highway. 2 Km off the main road there is a small village called Ramgadh, the famous hindi film Sholay was shot here (this place was shown as Gabbar's Adda). It is surrounded by huge rocky mountains.

We started cycling from campus at 5 o'clock in morning. The path selected was via Outer Ring road, University road, Kengeri town and Mysore road. In the morning the atmosphere was little cool, the roads were pretty much deserted and Bangalore-Mysore road is effectively slope down, because of this we covered 18 Km in first 1 hour. After having short tea break of 15 min and a breakfast break of 45min, we reached Ramanagaram at 9 AM.

After getting there we climbed a few steps and reached at a temple with a small pond next to it. Then we trekked a little bit and reached at the top of a huge rocky peak. A cool breeze welcomed there. After shooting some photos, we started climbing down.

After that we had lunch at Kamat's restaurant 5 Km away from Ramnagaram. After lunch rested for a couple of hours at a place called Janapada Loka next to Kamat's. Then started return journey at around 4 PM and got back at campus at 8.30 PM. The last 20 Km distance was very difficult to cycle because of tiredness and city traffic. Totally we covered 120 Km in 16 hours. For any such trips the important thing to carry is lots of water.

Overall the trip was a good and a memorable experience. The next day we had to go to some place in city and the first mode of transport that came to our mind was cycle........ :-)

Near Ramgadh

On the top

Different view on Slumdog

Finally Slumdog Millionaire won 8 oscars with A. R. Rahman getting 2 and Pookutty 1.
Slumdog Millionaire is the showcasing of poverty in India by a British director (though the richest man in his country is an Indian). How true are the facts depicted in the movie can be a debatable issue.
But in my personal opinion the song which got oscars "Jai Ho", if we compare it with other Rahman's songs is not that good. So if such a song can win oscar it clearly shows that Indian artistst have a talent much more than that. The only thing to be celebrated about oscar win is the global recognition for Indian artists.