With all the excitement, enthusiasm and an inner roar (a deep one) to do something very odd this winter I managed to land into a very different India...Actually World I must say...That was totally different from my perception in every terms called Jagriti Yatra. It was actually a rhondavous for 450 yatris from 24 states and 20 countries, full of energy and spark but with a common objective of being a Social Entrepreneur.Smaller the better as the world believes now, I met around 450 odd people from different parts of India and abroad and form all the walks of life, different age groups, but all sharing a common small abode called Jagriti Express, A train that was customized to have washroom, bathroom, conference hall, pantry, WLAN facilities, DJ and what not!!. Never thought, next 15 days were to be the best days of my life. Strangers turning friends for life. Every day was an adventure in itself. Right from shaving to sleeping, a very special tone of train was our music now. Adapting in such an environment is never easy but I managed to adapt very quickly. Every passing day the bond went stronger and I never imagined that after 15 days it would be so tough to get back to normal life.

The Jagriti Yatra intends to teach a person how to fish, not provide the fish. “Jagriti” means “kindle” and this is what the journey is all about. It kindles the entrepreneurial spirit. The visits during JY brought us face-to-face with India’s major challenges. It aims at making people invest and include. It looks at the transformation from job seeking to job creating. It motivates the human dimensions! I never thought that people all over are so much serious about bringing up "The Change" in society. These were not the people who want to see changes on papers but they actually wanted to see the change by practically applying the theories. Covering the length and breadth of India, we met 12 role models whom I would call the unsung heroes of India. Throughout, the energy of the group was incredible; everyone was infused with the feeling that all things are possible if you persist. It was great to see so many young people focused on making a positive impact on society through entrepreneurship. 

As expected 50% of us were engineers but these guys were not like "just engineers" but the cream of all, who in spite of money in front of them, ready to leave all and come to ground zero to change the things at the grass root level. JY Engineers...u rock man!! \m/. Every person in the Yatra inspired me and made me think impossible things too. 

My trip began in Mumbai on December 25 and ended on January 8. We covered 8,500 kilometers and made 12 stops in a route that circumnavigated the entire country. Officially our days used to begin at 5:30am with some beautiful songs and end up at 11:30pm (actually 2 am), and the majority of day time was spent scrounging the pavements, from the suburbs of Madurai to villages of Orrisa and  Karnataka.

Some of my favourite snippets of Yatra:
Mr. Mashelkar,Padma Bhushan,National Innovation Foundation, at IITB: “An entrepreneur is one who does not know that it can be done.” His formula to creating a human force is simple – when ‘n' people connect, the power so released is n (n-1)/2! The parameter for progress is not statistics; instead it is the smile on every citizen's face! With speed, sustainability and scale, we will reach the pinnacle.

There are entrepreneurs and now there are Yatriprenuers”.


 Mr. Narayana Murthy, Infosys, at Bangalore: He follows Mahatma Gandhi and believes in C L I F E (i.e. Customer, Leadership, Integrity & Transpiration, Fairness and Excellence). He said – “Entrepreneurship is the only tool to remove poverty; this is the most important thing what I learnt while working in France. Build support around you - have a mutually exclusive and a collectively exhaustive team working with you. And when you have to step down, it is like letting go of one's daughter's hand during her marriage – the hope, anxiety, pride, momentary sadness and the joy that life will still continue – if fresh blood has to enter an organization, let it flow in”.

 Naval Dockyard, Vizag: It was the best part of South India. Getting into a dockyard, seeing so many warships INS Ranjeet, INS Rana, INS Rajput and submarines INS Sindhughosh was the most fabulous experience on can have.

It really made me feel proud on being an Indian. Feel aa gayi...

 Arbind Singh, Nidan at Patna: Nidan means “solutions”.  Said “Scale isn't necessary. You could stay small, and yet create deep & lasting impact”. The country’s informal sector makes up 93 percent of the workforce, creating 64 percent of GDP. Nidan organizes these workers, incubates sector-based collectives and partners with government to demonstrate that models of rights-based, inclusive growth can work. It advocates, too, from local governance to state and national level governance structures and policy institutions.”

Anshu Gupta, Goonj at Delhi: No words for this man!! Seriously he was the one who made all the yatris cry. A very good Orator. Works basically on improving one of the prerequisites for sustenance of life, Cloth. He has a lot of roar and aggression for what we can call is Blue ribbon Corruption. More is less for this guy and his team..!!

 Bunker Roy, Barefoot College at Tilonia: “If you want to do something for the society, get rid of the degrees you have...”. “There must be a rural solution to a rural problem; you can’t implement an urban solution to a rural problem…”-these were his words and these were like reading an Op-ed page of a newspaper…simple but mind boggling views. He is the one who transforms a discarded grandma or ma into a Solar Engineer and give them a platform to excel...And in some cases the only Solar Engineer of their countries...He was like the oldest Social Entrepreneur we met! Thumbs up for him…<3. check out this..! 


Doctors Team On board - As regarded next to God, a special team of doctors with all the possible tools and medicines was available on the JY express. I saw them working hard even after having sleepless nights. A very different experience for them too. It was like a 200sq feet hospital with 5 doctors was ready to serve 600 guys on board!!


Catering Team: The best show of team work, punctuality and coordination. Right from morning tea to Turmeric Milk late night, these guys worked their toes off!

    Jagriti Geet- A song written by Prasoon Joshi for we Yatris...Yaaron Chalo! We performed it around twice a dozen times in Yatra for our role models...OMG! But it was fun…still miss that. click here  to have a look at the spirit of Yatris while it was played.. 

Some beauty moments..!!

                            
    Some unforgettable Moments: (n i miss these..)
   ->Every morning in a different state.
   ->Every breakfast i had.
   ->Aquafina bottles and 7up.
   ->Talking to yatris and sharing views, plans and thoughts.
   ->The life line graph and my introduction.
   ->Power nap between sessions.
   ->Every "excuse-me" and "side-side" to move to the next compartment.
   ->Being the youngest one..enjoyed it..loved it..!!
   ->Every announcement-"Attention Yatris! Yatris,May i have your attention   please".
   ->Every "bored" meeting we had in compartments.
   ->Every photo i clicked.
   ->Whistle of Team Disha.
   ->Every time Yaaron Chalo was played we were charged again!!
   ->Dance @ new year in AC Chair car..the train was dancing too.. 
   ->My first interview and that too in a bus..
   ->Every word of our Role Models.
   ->Bathing in the most innovative bathroom of the world. and the BPL..
   ->When i saw Narayana Murthi..i froze.
   ->Grand Lunch at Infosys,Bangalore.
   ->Playing Antakshari, Truth and Dare and Dumb Charades at almost every      platform.
   ->Watching Submarines and Warships that India has.
   ->Fire drill in Bogie No. 5 at Vizag and our emergency Window..!!
   ->Melting of Aquafina Bottle in Solar Cooker at Tilonia.
   ->Talking to a women of Nidan in Patna i wept .
   ->All religion prayer at Sabarmati Aashram.
   ->Photo session at Ahmadabad and our Bunk.
   ->Naming the B-Plan as "Saarthi..Kshitij k pare.."and winning it. \m/
   ->Tempo shout at Ahmadabad station followed by see off to some yatris..
   ->Tears of sorrow and happiness.
   ->Feedback about me by Senthil, the most emotional point in Yatra.
  
   They said it right- "This yatra is coming to an end but the actual yatra starts when you deboard the train"..I can feel changes in me..my attitude..my behaviour..
    The yatra concreted me in my efforts. I made friends in almost all parts of country.I now know a lot about 20 other countries and have friends there. Yatra taught me to become a doer rather than thinker. Now i opt to search for solutions rather than problems. JY is all about-
                                                             Travel.Experience.Explore.Learn
    I thank my Dad who gifted me this Yatra.. thanks papa..!


       To register for Yatra 2012 click here
        
      Click here for pics of JY 2011.