The Jagriti Yatra 2010

I went to Jagriti Yatra when it was still called 'Tata Jagriti Yatra' and the experience still worth recounting. I cant help but think of those semester on wheels with fond memories and truly a train of thought and experience that you can never shake off yourself.

9000  kms 18 days 13 role models 400 yatris from 23 states and 7 countries – Tata Jagriti Yatra was what it can only be – an incredible adventure of mission, passion and purpose.

My Group 'I'

We started off on the Christmas eve with lit candles, glowing faces happily singing carols and inviting the huge 18 bogey Santa, our home for the next couple of weeks. We were all excited to meet our neighbors (cohorts) who were from different states, background and sometimes even different countries.  Even during the facilitators workshop on the previous day and in the preliminary group intro’s it was quite evident that this group of 400 is a handpicked lot of the best and most diversified group and most learning as it rightly turned out to be was from our own peers.

We started out with a fun evening in Kochivalli Beach and Garden. Then came Thiruvanthapuram, where we met G. Vijayaraghavan,  founder of Technopark, India’s first IT park, and also Usha and Jay Kumar of Thanal, an NGO working on food safety, empowerment of women and a number of socially relevant issues. Post the meeting we had an informal and heated discussion on the Genetically Modified (GM) crops amongst ourselves. It was interesting to note how much people were aware of a lot of technical, chronological and scientific details on the issue.

TJY Train - Our home

The next stop was in Kanyakumari, where we had a fitting spiritual discourse on the rock memorial by Swamiji who had traveled with us briefly from Kochivali to Kanyakumari. We had our first panel discussion on ‘Starting the Enterprise’ by eminent panelists who shared with us, their journey of Entrepreneurship and a number of innovations in marketing and strategy adopted by them.

From Kanyakumari we reached Madurai, the city of temples where our stop was ‘The Aravind Eye Care’, a spiritual retreat in it own right. The warmth of reception was evident from the moment we stepped into the hospital. The story of Dr.V and his mission of eliminating needless blindness and the journey of Aravind was captivating captured by Ms. Pavitra in her document and left most of us with clouded eyes and speechless. This was followed fittingly by the presentation of the hospital’s business model by Dr.Aravind followed by interaction with the team of founders.

 

Vision and the visionary - Aravind Eye Care

The next stop was Chennai, where we went to meet the vibrant Mr.Elango of the Kuthambakkam Village, an engineer who chose to come back to his village and work for its development. His journey from an engineer to Panchayat leader and the transformational story of the ordinary backward village into a model village with a number of schemes which were later adopted in the rest of the state. His story definitely left a number of us thinking that it is indeed time to go back to our roots and reverse the migration trend. The dignity and the pride in the villagers were quite evident in every single act and talk.

Next stop was the dream B-School ‘ISB’ in Hyderabad where we had a panel discussion on the funding. Our Panelists, broke a number of myths on funding and re-iterated to us that Funding should probably be the last of our worries on building the enterprise and that we should put more focus on building our team and partnerships and when the project is investment ready, the investmenDr. V TJt will start coming. Soon, we found ourselves in Naandi Foundation, in one of the biggest centralized kitchens in Asia where tons of rice, dhall and sabji get cooked every day to serve more than one lakh children in the government schools of Andhra Pradesh. The logistics and scale of the work and the passion with which it is carried out every day touched our hearts.

Panel disc in Hyd

 We were off to meet Joe Madiath in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, the founder of Gram Vikas. Gram Vikas has extensively worked on Education, Clean water and sanitation related work in rural areas of Orissa. Joe shared with us his story on what had inspired him to settle down in Orissa and work for its development. The change that Gram Vikas had brought into the life of the villagers was evident. All the houses had toilets constructed with funds pooled in by the villagers, Gram Vikas and the government and they called it as the house of Dignity. Gram Vikas was also able to indigenously manage to cater to all the water requirements of the villagers from harvesting the rain water in the mountains and thereby making 24 hrs water supply possible in all the houses of the village. Gram Vikas also had a residential school for the localites and the children looked delighted to see us. Each one of us would have been greeted atleast over a hundred times by the enthusiastic young children of the school.

The next destination was the steel city, Jamshedpur. We were in the Russi Modi Centre of excellence for a mind boggling panel discussion on the ‘Agro Based Industries’. The heated debate in the freezing temperature was followed by some breathtaking cultural show showcasing dance from different parts of the country. This was the first and only night in this journey when we stayed outside our train. The next day a short site visit to Tata Steel was followed by a film on making of the steel and Tata steel. Shashank rightly emphasized on the nation building aspects related to the making of Tata steel and the town of Jhamshedpur around it.

Culturals @ Jamshedpur

 From the steel city, we set off to the rustic villages yet again. Deoria, in UP this time armed with our Biz Gyan to set out to develop the district of Deoria. Armed with the facts and figures collected from the natives of Deoria who were with us during the journey, we set out on the yearly training exercise, with the yatris divided into various groups based on their interests in different sectors like Education, Healthcare, Tourism, Manufacturing, Agriculture etc… We got down in Gorakhpur as early as 6’o clock for a warm welcome by the villagers. It only got better as we reached the village, there were elephants, garlands, loud blaring music, and lot of dancing. We were touched to see our names inscripted in stone. There were more than a thousand villagers who had come to see us.The discussion with the localities helped us fine tune our plan, which were presented. One group in each sector was declared the winner and given an opportunity to comeback to implement the plans.

Back in train and back to the milling grind of the city. The capital city Delhi was our next stop. Unmindful of the foggy evening and the nearly 10 hrs delay of the train, the previous year yatris had come to give us a warm welcome with  Artis and garlands. After yet another hero’s welcome, we went on to meet the real hero, Anshu Gupta of Goonj. The insight and humanity with which Anshu spoke about a number of sensitive issues gave our heart a skip. He spoke not just about reuse and recycling of garments, which is what they primarily do but also about touching real life stories which clearly showed the need and impact of the work being done by them. We also visited the shops and processing centers of Goonj where the eager women had been waiting for us all day. Kudos to Anshu and his team for saving lives and restoring dignity to the lives of people through their work.

Back to the villages again. This time we were in Tilonia, Rajasthan. The world famous Barefoot College invited us with a puppet show in the station and a brief on the work they were doing. We were quite surprised to see how well they were able to train illiterate women on highly skilled jobs of building circuits, solar energy, electrification, and dentistry including the complicated root canal therapy procedures. Women from all over the world who speak little Hindi or English have been trained and have gone back to their countries and successfully brought solar electricity to their homes and even their towns. A number of electrical engineers in our Yatris were truly stunned by the sheer complexity of the tasks that is being handled by them.

Gram Vikas School, Bhuvaneswar

It was so difficult to believe that we were already in the flag end of the journey. We had had a lot but we were hungry for more.

We were in the last stop of this epic journey, Mithapur in Rajasthan. After a very warm welcome by the Tata Chemicals, we quickly visited the archives, the rock garden and were briefed about a number of eminent people who were the reason behind the majestic industry that stood there. After that we went onto the exhibition centre of Okhai, the cutting and stitching units and also went to the different villages were the Okhai team worked with the village women folk. It was interesting to note the amount of difference this work had brought onto the life of the villagers. I would consider my encounter with these women as the pinnacle of the entire Yatra. There was this illiterate woman from this remote village, who looked at us and asked us what we are going to do to build the nation, once we go back after the yatra. This woman was not talking about earning a few extra bucks or about improving her village, not even about building an enterprise, she was talking to us about building the nation.

To her, and to the thousands of people in different parts of the country who gave us a warm reception and hosted us and looked at us the future of this country, I owe to give my best in building this great nation to greater heights and greatness, in bringing dignity into the lives of my countrymen and equality of opportunities for all and compassion in every relationship. I shall strive to be the best that I can be in whatever I do.

Bharat Mata Ki Jai !!!!! Jai Hind!!!!!!!!!!!

Jai Ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tawang in a Day !!

Tawang is a quirky little town which is thankfully still offbeat. It is not a typical tourist destination, nothing to shop for, no top 10 things to do or even top 10 places to see. If you arm yourself with a strict itinerary you might miss the point and this beautiful place too and end up feeling disappointed. But it’s a beautiful town to let your hair down and explore leisurely. Most places around Tawang, have road access and Borders Road Organization (BRO) have done a good job in keeping them motorable through the year and like their boards say, “Yes Bro we are proud of you’.

On a lighter note, BRO boards read something like this: 'BRO, the proud of the nation" "BRO, connecting people", and I spent half my journey wondering who this BRO is, who is working so hard to connect people and the one who the nation is proud of !!!

Golden Buddha

Tawang is believed to have derived its name from the Grandiose Tawang Monastery perched on the edge of the ridge running along the western part of Tawang township. ‘Ta’ means Horse and ‘Wang’ means Chosen. As the legend goes the site of the present Monastery is believed to have been chosen by a horse owned by Merag Lama Lodre Gyatso who was on a search for an appropriate place to establish a Monastery but was unable to locate any appropriate site. So he finally decided to sit on prayer for guidance of divine power. As he opened his eyes after prayer, he found his horse missing. So, wearily he went out searching for his horse and found it on the top of hill known as Tana Mandekhang where once stood the palace of King Kala Wangpo. Believing it to be a good omen, Mera lama Lodre Gyatso decided to initiate work for building of the monastery with the help of the people. The Monastery thus was founded by Mera Lama Lodre Gyatso in late 1681.

Tawang Monastery

 However, there is also another belief of derivation on the name ‘Tawang’. The great treasure revealer, Terton Pemalingpa gave initiations such as Tamdin and Ka-gyad and hence the place came to be known as Tawang. ‘Ta’ an abbreviation of Tamdin; ‘Wang’ means Initiation.

If you are not in a hurry to finish Tawang in a day, you can take a walk around to reach most of the places. At 10000 ft you will obviously encounter many scenic views of the mountains and valleys around and even some sporadic falls.

Tawang Monastery is the second largest in Asia and the largest in this area controlling 17 Gompas or monasteries in the region. It houses the huge 28 ft Golden Buddha is a pride of tawang and has long been its poster boy. The monastery also houses a museum with artifacts of the yester years, rare inscribes and a picture display of events and dignitaries in the monastery. The gompa also houses a big library with an impressive collection of ancient books and manuscripts. Tawang is dotted with a number of gompas and a number of them have the primary deity has their various other Gods and not just the Buddha. I’m sure the madhubani paintings there carry all of which not possible for me to interpret or understand from the briefing I got. But it definitely seemed interesting and I had owed myself to look it up.

Tawang through my eyes

A significant event that had happened in tawang was when china army had captured it the 1962 war. The history of this event and the stories of bravery displayed by the Indian army during the war are captured in two places – The War memorial and the Jaswant Garh. Jaswant singh’s bravery of holding the Chinese army at bay for more than 72 hours with a very small battalion is a story that the localities and the army men take great pride in narrating. He was posthumously awarded Param Vir Chakra by the Indian Govt and the photos of this event as well are featured in the memorial. War memorial also houses a souvenir shop for the tourists.China even to this day, claims Arunchal Pradesh to be a part of China, esp because of the historical significance of Tawang.

Tawang has a craft centre is a place where crafts men weave cloth and artists make monpa masks in a traditional way. This is one of the very places in India where authentic and traditional Tibetan crafts are made and can be bought. If you are looking for a souvenir from the trip, this will probably be your best bet to get something that’s unique and local.

Tawang City

Best Time to Visit:

April to October is the best time to visit Tawang when the weather is mild and pleasant. Summer season starts from March and ends in June. Temperature ranges from 5- 22 degrees Celsius. Hottest month of the year is usually June. Tawang gets rainfall between July to October. December, January and February constitute winter season and is the best to catch some snow although it may be really cold around then. Temperatures range from a minimum of -2 degrees Celsius and can go up to a maximum of around 5 degrees Celsius during this time.

Commuting in Tawang at the time of snow is not for the light hearted or inexperienced. even the most adventurous tourists get rescued by the Indian Army when they get stranded in roads and on you best days  the commute can be much longer than the usual 12 – 14 hours it takes from Tezpur in takes during the normal times. Roads with no snow can be several times more riskier and are a strict no no unless you are experienced driving is such conditions. Indian army battalions and their huge supplies truck are a un missable sight on the road and are as always very friendly and helpful.

Source : www.tawang.nic.in

The Land of Buddha

Tawang is very well known for its Gompas and having had the fortune of living and travelling with a Buddhist couple over the few days I spent there gave me a first person insight into many of their believes, practices and faith. The study of the religion from the eye of a local practioner gave interesting glimpses- an understanding vastly different from reading books and a quest to know more.

The huge golden Buddha statue of Tawang Monastery has represented Tawang for a long time. This monastery also houses a museum which has artifacts of dress, jewelry, musical instruments and utensils used in the past. It also features the escape route of Dalai Lama from Tibet into India and also other dignitaries like Nehru, Indira, Rajiv and Sonia who had visited the monastery while in office.

Golden Buddha @ Tawang Monastery

Tawang Monastery or Gompa also houses the homes of the lamas and their school where they study culture, religion and Languages. Lama are buddist brahmacharis i.e men who have owed celibacy for life. I learnt from a local Buddhist that when a Buddhist family has three male children, they are to enroll their second male child as a lama. In that part of the world where having 3-4 children is still the norm, I suppose most Buddhist homes may have a lama.

These rules do not apply to the girl child and the women lama’s or ani have been enrolled purely voluntarily or due to family circumstances. These children join the residential lama schools at a very early age of 5 and stay there for rest of their lives. I was told that the children who study in these schools come from as far as down south Kerala and numerous other states all over India. Gompas or monasteries are separate for the men and women and the Gompas for women are called the Ani Gompas.

Wall Paintings in a Monastery

Tawang has two beautiful Ani Gompas just a little away from the Tawang Monastery which is a gompa for the men. We also visited another Gompa in the Khimney Village which is mens Gompa as well but a different and a slightly more moderate thoughts. While the lamas in tawang monastery can never walk out of their chosen path of celibacy, the lamas here are allowed to pay some penalty to compensate for the expenses undertaken by the gompa in their upbringing to give up their lama hood and get married.

But it is widely believed to be an act of sin that will be punishable in the court of God. Every Gompa has a painting of satan or devil like person around whom the various sins and punishments for the same are represented in the paintings. It also talks about how the good reach heaven and then how we are made to suffer for our misdeeds. The punishments like putting inside a boiling oil pan, hanging a person upside down etc, reminded me of same/similar punishments that are captured in the garuda puram of the hindus. 

I was told if I can touch the two big toes of the devil at the same time with both my hands would mean that I do not have any sins in my name. The Tawang monastery also had a huge pillar in the open, much like a structure in the hindu temples. I was told if I can touch/hold both my hands around the structure then I have done not any sins. Another test was if I can place a coin on top of the Golden Buddha head in one of his curls, I can prove my innocence. I ofcourse failed all the three tests and concluded that to be of no sin in buddhism, I must get bigger arms and a better aim.

There were many striking similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism, with deities having the third eye like siva and even a god with elephant face like Ganesha. I later understood that Mahayana Buddhism, the one that is followed in Tawang recognized the three big gods of Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva with the duties of creation, protections and destruction but they did not have a deity like status however Ganesha, god with the elephant head has a deity status and is considered as a deity who removed obstacles which is the same as what Hindus consider him as well. The other form of Buddhism called Hinayana does not recognise any Gods including the Buddha.

We also visited another gompa (monastery) on our way back from Madhiri Lake which was constructed by someone in the memory of his mother. I was told that the rocks there are holy and each one has a story which is given in the scriptures and as they did not have that book in hand, they are unable to narrate it to me. But we did take some delicious cucumbers that were left as offering for the rocks. The offerings in Gompa was another thing that left me stunned. Because it had not just fruits, flowers but also candies, vanspati, oil, vegetables, flour etc. I remembered that some big Gompas in Singapore had even fresh meat as offering. I was told that recently it had been declared by the local monastery issued a doctrine banning eating of meat and declared it as anti- religious and so our hosts who had been eating ducks, chicken, mutton and beef had turned vegetarians. It was really surprising to me that people could change their food habits over night because their place of worship said so or so was their belief. Even for a staunch vegetarian by birth and choice like me, it sounded a little overwhelming because I have been battling for a long time to give up on coffee and I keep losing the will to lose the habit.

My host with our Loot - the two cucmbers

My hosts also taught me their chant ‘Oh mane padme hum” which is supposed to bring good luck. Buddhists do a lot of things to bring good luck for them including hanging of the colorful flags with a prayer, in their homes, vehicles, in mountain pass, valleys, roads, gompas, odd places on top of the mountains and I even saw them in gurudwara and the cave used by Guru nanak when he was in Mechuka. It would be impossible to miss these colorful strip of flags in any Himalayan mountain at least in this part of the world. All these flags despite the difference in the color, size, and texture had the same prayer, pictures and inscription in it. There are also strips of white flags in these places which had a different prayer and we were told that these white flags are tied in the memory of the departed ones.

Another queer thing I felt was that, my hosts who were only in their late forties and early fifties spoke about their own death without much ado about it. It appeared to me strange, for it is always considered a taboo topic from where I come from and the only people who talk about their own deaths are atleast past their seventies. Maybe it is an understanding from the Buddhism or was typical for this couple or may be that life expectancy in that region is way too low. I can’t say for sure but they did seem very comfortable about the idea of their own deaths.

Travelling as a traveller does teach you a lot and I have been a very keen student. These are my observations and understanding from what I saw, heard and read from my hosts and a wee bit from the internet. If you had things to agree, disagree or found it interesting and enlightening, please leave a comment. I am eager to know and learn from you.

The Decent Proposals

A young, solo and single women (that too a pretty woman) traveler encounters many interesting experiences, even in India. I’ve had quite a few of them and some of them lead to indirect and sometimes even direct proposals. Since I’m giving up my single status soon…I thought it would be appropriate to recount some of these interesting proposals.

Cycling in the himalayas

It was in Himachal in April 2012, where I was riding my cycle up the ghat roads of himachal towards Jalori pass and one of those many moments to catch a breath and also to catch that breath taking moment, I stopped by. Put the cycle against the mountain face and settled down sipping water, and looking at the picturesque scene around me. A local himachali old guy soon joined me, intrigued by my attire with knee pads, helmets and mountain cycle, he started inquiring about me things like, where I was from, what I was doing there, what I do for living, what my next destinations is. He seemed a friendly person and I didn’t have a problem answering any of these questions. Suddenly, questions got a little more personal like, what my age is, and if I was single or married and why I wasn’t married yet etc... What followed next was what totally threw me out of my wits, he asked me if I would like to meet his son, and if we both like each other we can get married in a temple near where we were sitting. He went on to explain that they owned a house and some land, with the intention to lure me into his offer. I later came to know that it is not possible for the outsiders to buy property in himachal and so his owning land and property was indeed a big deal!! He definitely seemed like he might call and ask his son to come over right then!!! I quickly excused myself from the place saying that my camp leader would be looking for me and I have to leave right away. He tried to catch up with me for a while and then let me go, with an invite to tea at his home on the way back.

Relaxing at the basecamp

Same year 2012 in the month of October, I was doing my Basic Mountaineering Course with the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. After all the sunburn, unkempt and uncombed hair, and not having taken a shower or deo or having not seen my face in a mirror for more than 20 days, I found myself alone in Bakhim. Other mountaineers had either not arrived or busy washing clothes or taking a nap. I found a corner to lie back on the rock and look out at the magnificent Kanchenjunga range. It was a perfectly blissful state, and I was enjoying my moment of solitude, when the nepali cook showed up asking me, why I was sitting alone. I realized he was in mood of a conversation. I was unwilling to rudely send him away as I felt really grateful for the wonderful job the cooks had done in feeding us for the last 25 days or so, I sat up to talk. We discussed the Himalayas, nepali sherpas, their profession. Somehow the topic suddenly took a turn on how I would manage to sustain my love for the mountains post wedding, and he  suggested I must marry a Nepali and asked if my parents would be okay with that. He went around trying to sell his case by saying how good they are with the mountains, and if I had still not got the message, he left before saying that he is unmarried too and looking for someone. I subtly wished him good luck.

The love of the mountains got a fellow mountaineer and Bengali doctor from my rope to make an attempt as well. He boldly and openly declared to everyone that ‘Priya will marry only someone who loves the mountains as much as she does… and he went about talking how he though a doctor willingly sacrifices his practice for his love for the mountains !! ‘The messaging got obvious for everyone on the bus to my great embarrassment and an army man I was sitting next to, came to my rescue and asked the doctor to look for his own partner, rather than trying to find a perfect fit for me. And there hid myself in the engulfing darkness of the sunset and inconsequential conversation to hide such an embarrassing public confrontation!!

In October 2013, I made a dream backpacking trip to Tawang with my friend. Being two lost females in a strange location, we got a lot of attention and much help. Due to many fortuitous circumstances, we stayed at the house of a Buddhist monpa localite, Richin Tashi Achee who also happened to be our chauffeur for the two days. Their hospitality would put all our ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ to shame. We were treated to undeserving royalty in their humble homes. On our last day of the two days we spent there, I zealously asked if i could wear Aunty's i.e Rinchin’s wife traditional dress. She was eager to put that on me, and so pleased was she with the way I looked, that she put on me a special chain that she was wearing for our day out that day and commented I looked very much like one of their own tribes women. I got the shock of my life a little later when they informed me that it is made of all precious stones and original tusk, and costs over 20 Lakh rupees. In all their zeal combined with sadness that we were leaving the very next day Rinchin uncle asked me if I would be willing to marry his son, who we all were aware was still in college, which means he is many many years younger to me and not even taking into account the fact that we had never met or spoken to each other and also he was even apprehensive about his father bringing in two tourists home. He further tried to bribe me saying that in the marriage he has to get two such precious chains (similar to that 20L chain) to the bride. While that seemed like an offer I can’t refuse, I politely took this as a show of their love with a sheepish smile and no comments look!!!  

In the same trip on a different leg at a place called Mechuka or Menchuka, our ultimate destination of the biking trip, we were enjoying a sumptuous dinner and most of my fellow traveler were in a moment of bliss in a partially inebriated state. Cmoi after his story on how they found the Mithun meat, turned to me and said ‘Priya, you know, you are very beautiful” There was a pregnant pause. I said a blushing thank you for the compliment. He continued ‘But I have a girlfriend, and you are older than me!!’ I wasn’t particularly sure which one of the two was his problem though!!! This got a lot of people who sat around excited about the conversation. What was even funnier than, in the same table, after dinner and half inebriated state the very next day, he repeated exactly the same lines. Now we had a bigger audience, with most of his friends who knew his girlfriend as well… and who started pulling his leg over the remark. Cmoi swore that he is going to find an appropriate assamese guy for me, since he is already taken ‘Oh ! Poor me ‘… LOL !!!

Even in a country where a marriage is considered as coming together of two families rather than coming together of two people, it was super weird plus very very interesting to see how people may decide on their life partner or even life partners for their sons as impulsive as I would decide to go on a holiday!! And to go on a holiday isn’t generally as life changing as a wedding !!

My fiancé pulls my leg saying I passed up too many opportunities to settle down in the Himalayas. Well that sure seems the case, especially when it came with pretty attractive dowry offers. But I have always believed in destiny, the destiny that brought me exactly what I wanted and needed in a partner in him - A companion for life and a sponsor for my wanderlust :D !!