Bon voyage — Part 1

Gist of my personal experiences from Jagriti Yatra 2019

Namburi Srinath
6 min readJan 12, 2020

Previous posts:

Introduction blog (Part 0)

Day 0 (24/12/2019) — Induction session, Mumbai:

It all started with registration in TISS (Tata Institute Of Social Sciences), Mumbai. It was quick enough and within an hour (about 11 AM) the entire process was done. Then it’s all about “Getting connected with random yatris”, the biggest hurdle especially for introverts. Because all you have is lot of time, limited space to move around and about 500 yatris around you, so definitely you will start talking with yatris. I spoke with random, crazy guys who has done amazing stuff in their life.

Corridor in TISS where yatris are interacting with each other — TISS, Mumbai

I met yatris who resigned jobs just because for this yatra, people who came all the way from Hyderabad to Mumbai on cycle to promote ecofriendly transportation, yatris who explored about 80+ countries, dropouts who has 6 startups, yatris who had hostile childhood but are successful entrepreneurs, yatris who has multiple patents, yatris who own a company at the age of 22 etc; I had the opportunity to meet yatris from various parts of the world. I was more than happy to get a chance to meet a doctor, a scientist, an engineer, a lawyer, a CA, a chef, a designer, an architect, a RJ, an entrepreneur, a traveler, a teacher, a manager, a banker, an MBA graduate, civil services aspirants, and many more to list on.

Induction session — Tata Institute Of Socia Sciences, Mumbai

After having lavish lunch, the meeting started at around 3PM with briefing about how this yatra is going to be and further instructions. It lasted for about 5hrs ending with “Yaaron Chalo” — The JagritiYatra Geet. Some keypoints are:

Think big, but take small steps

Do you want to be Columbus (Explorer) or Edison (Inventor)?

That is, roam around, seek innovations, replicate to solve problem (VS) sit at one place, crack the problem

All the participants were divided into cohorts [6 yatris + 1 facilitator (old/experienced)] and 3 cohorts make a group.

Group 11, (Photo captured in Bihar, Jan 2nd, 2020)

After dinner, we reached Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to board the train which started moving towards Dharwad, Karnataka at around 1 AM thus marking the beginning of the bon voyage.

Day 1 (25/12/2019) — In train, ChairCar (CC) sessions:

The entire day was planned to be in train so most of us woke up a bit late. The entire yatra is scheduled in such a way that during the time that we stay in train, yatris will have ChairCar (CC) sessions (where an experienced/industry person shares his/her insights) thus gaining knowledge.

An example ChairCar (CC) session where a guest person gives an expert talk

I attended one such session on “Why not to startup” by Chirag Jain (Founder of GetMyParking). Key insights are:

Selection of Co-founder (As important as selection of your life partner)

Selection of investors — Just don’t select someone as they are giving money

Selection of customers — There is nothing like “One size fits all”, so it’s okay if some customers aren’t satisfied

After this, we were asked to carry out a “Lifeline exercise” among the group, an icebreaker not just to introverts but for everyone because it will help to understand others emotionally better. It’s a simple exercise where we have timeline on X axis and major/influencing factors in our life on Y axis and indicating whether that incident is a hill or a valley. An example lifeline might look like:

Lifeline exercise to get interacted emotionally

So, we carried this exercise with our group and it’s emotional to listen to them. In short, as the saying goes “All the movies are inspired by real stories”, I came across some of those real stories. So, with these bewildered thoughts, I just slept thinking about what all surprises future has to offer me.

Day 2 (26/12/2019) — Dharwad, Karnataka:

Concentrated areas: Education, arts, energy

The day started with a fire-drill early in the morning at around 6 AM on the platform where they whistled and we deboarded the train within 5 min. After breakfast, we boarded buses and went to Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya (KSV), a school that’s located in a remote location, very close to nature.

A view from Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya (KSV), Dharwad

Some points that made this school more unique are:

Studies/maintenance for each and every student is free of cost

No exams till 7th class

The entire school is solar-powered by Selco, (which as a company is doing amazing job in terms of providing energy solutions)

Girls:boys ratio is 1:1

Every student has knowledge on a musical instrument/dance apart from studies and they are able to speak fluent English albeit their remote location

Houses were constructed only from natural materials (mud, bamboo etc;) and they reconstruct for every 6–8 months accordingly

Event at KSV with the staff — Dharwad, Karnataka

Post lunch, we had cultural sessions performed by the students. The innocence of the students, their talents and satisfaction with what they possess made me feel very happy (and a bit ashamed as well because of our lifestyle where we complain about every small thing)

Students performing art at school

We returned to our train, continued our “Lifeline Exercise” while the train was heading towards “Namma Bengaluru”. By this time, all the bogies got proper sound systems (for early morning wake up calls), cloth hangers etc (for proper placing of clothes) and arrangements for proper bathing;

Day 3 (27/12/2019) — Bangalore, Karnataka:

Concentrated areas: Agriculture, waste management

We reached Bangalore early in the morning, but as expected, got struck in traffic and reached the venue (St. Joseph College) a bit late. We had a panel discussion on “Agronomy: Agriculture and Livelihoods” with experts in the fields of agricultural startup incubators, seed storing techniques and policy making.

Panel discussions on Agronomy — Bangalore, Karnataka

They discussed about various pressing issues found in agriculture in India such as “Where a farmer can sell?”, “Policies effecting the prices of commodities”, “Methods practiced for cultivation”, “Technology intervention in agriculture” etc;

After this, we got an opportunity to meet Almitra Patel (First Indian woman engineer at MIT, an environmental policy advocate and anti-pollution activist).

After boarding on the dais, she just took the plastic bottle present on the table and threw it aside thus not only preaching about environment but putting it in actions on dais in front of a large, formal gathering which generally is a bit unconventional (but brave).

Almitra Patel, an anti-pollution activist and policy maker — Bangalore, Karnataka

I felt astonished by looking at her enthusiasm to explain each and every rudimentary concept at the age of 83. She is such down-to-earth and knowledgeable person as she started to recollect things from the past 40 years.

Post lunch, we attend Jagriti Enterprise Mela (JEM), where several startups showcased their products, mainly in the fields of education, agriculture, healthcare, fashion sector. After this, we interacted with a Microsoft spokesperson, explaining about the initiatives taken by their company to encourage budding startups. Post session, few people performed “Theater”, an act where they depicts emotions spontaneously according to what we say.

Artists performing Theater act — Bangalore, Karnataka

This was a new experience and at around 9 PM, we boarded the train which heads towards Madurai, TamilNadu.

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