2015

Today is the last day of 2015. It has been a good year. I took the really difficult decision of quitting  my job and dedicating all my energy to Reniscience Education. I also took the decision to come on this 8000 km journey. There are a few things I am thankful for as the year comes to an end.

I am glad that we DID move back to India in 2007.  I love this country with all of  its complexities, problems and diverse challenges. I am glad I have an opportunity to contribute to its growth in some small way. I WANT to play my part in its metamorphosis-a process that has already begun. 

According to Shashank, the chairman of JY, we have 20 years....one shot before our young population starts ageing. They believe that entrepreneurship is the way to go, to create jobs to employ  the millions of youth emerging from middle India. They believe India can be  built through enterprise. 

The entire focus of JY is on entrepreneurship and business. This is great, but I find that they fail to show the bigger connection among challenges or opportunities. The bigger picture. Because a nation is an ecosystem. A web. And it is important for young people to see how everything is interconnected. Economic growth is nothing without ecological conservation. Sustainability means more than financial stability or longevity. It also means conducting business in a manner that protects our most valuable natural resources. 

For example, we had a panel discussion on sustainable agriculture last evening at Gitam University. All three panellists have managed to create profitable businesses in the field of agriculture. However, the fact is that they grow cash crops. When I raised the question of depleting soil conditions because of overproduction of cash crops instead of grains that are necessary, the response was weak, saying that yes this does happen and that we now need to 'fix' our soil. How is this sustainable? 

On day 4, we visited MSSRF, founded by M.S. Swaminathan. He is a plant geneticist, renowned for his  leading role in India's Green  Revolution. He is known as ' Indian Father of Green Revolution.' Even there, the message was that organic farming is unsustainable from a economic perspective. Isn't the whole point of innovation and enterprise to make possible what is perceived as not?  

    Mr. Swaminathan himself

 

Overall, the message I am constantly hearing is - you can and should  solve this country's problems by innovating and by building enterprises around the solutions. This is fine but it's an incomplete message.We can and should meet our current, numerous challenges and definitely create wealth in the process, but at the same time we must ensure that we don't create other enormous,  preventable problems for future generations. And this has a high probability of happening unless we actively and explicitly include conversations about conservation, humanitarian values and transformative citizenship. 

Tomorrow we begin a new year. 2015  was a good year. Let's hope next year is even better and let's hope next year's Yatra is even more inclusive of these important ideas. 

Day 3

Yesterday, we deboarded in the ancient city of Madurai, a place I doubt I would ever visit on my own. We were taken to Aravind Eye Care System. 

Founded in 1976 by Dr. G. Venkataswamy when he himself was 58 years old, AECS today is the largest and most productive eye care facility in the world. Today, AECS is more than an eye hospital. It is a social organization committed to the goal of elimination of needless blindness through comprehensive eye care services. It is also an international training centre for ophthalmic professionals and trainees who come from India and overseas. It's an institute for research that contributes to the development of eye care and superlative training facility. 

AECS began with 11 beds about forty years ago. Today, in addition to the hospital in Madurai, there are four other AEC hospitals with a combined total of nearly 3,590 beds. The number of surgeries they perform is astonishing! Dr. V's goal is to adopt a McDonald's type efficiency in the health care sector. 

In the Yatra so far, yesterday WAS the most inspirational day. At the beginning of the day when we were told that this would be our role model study, I was initially disappointed because I really, really wanted to get Bunker Roy. But as the day progressed, I felt more and more inspired. Last night my group had a very interesting discussion on how we can replicate some of their  processes in our sector.

Discussions about the ed sector always get heated because EVERYONE thinks they understand it and are experts. Coming up with a problem statement is even more difficult because there are so many.    We have our presentation this evening and I have left my group to it. I hope they do a good job. We have two graphic designers in our group and I am sure the presentation will look pretty if nothing else. 

On a personal note, the Yatra coordinators keep warning us about a dip in energy levels just when we hit Chennai. I think I got the blues a day sooner. Being on this train is not easy to begin with. To add to that, there is almost no time or space for a little bit of personal reflection. While I have been doing reflections with my group every night, I myself haven't had an time to introspect. We are constantly being bombarded with information and new experiences without much time to process it. To add to this mental and physical exhaustion, the level of uncertainty is very high on the journey. We usually don't know what we are supposed to do until the last minute and then there are multiple, sometimes contradicting instructions. It appears disorganised and that is very frustrating though I know the organisers are doing their best at all times to stick to schedule and feed and keep us comfortable. 

Being thrown into a situation like this reveals so much about yourself. I get frustrated because I am frustrated. I fail to meet my own high expectations of maturity. My desire for everything to be excellent all the time gets in the way of me enjoying the moment and going with the flow. So, for the rest of this Yatra, I am going to practise just that.

Day 2

Today we had our first role model visiit in Hubli.  We deboarded at Dharwad, the first time since we have been on this train. We then got onto a bus and rode to Hubli. 

We visited a school called Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya, a boarding school where students from extremely impoverished rural backgrounds study Indian classical forms of dance, music and drama. Ironically, the school was founded by a French couple.

Part of the visit was to interact with and learn about an organization called Selco. Selco are system integrators for solar energy solutions in six states in India. They are a social enterprise and have a very unique technical and financial customisation model for their customers. What I liked about them was how commited they are to actually listening to the needs of the people they serve. 

The role model visit was underwhelming. I did get some food for thought and it was nice to see a school where students as young as 12 are aspiring to be performing artists when they grow up. However, I am battling my own personality here and trying really hard NOT to get upset with the level of selfishness I am seeing around me in the girls' compartment. We have a serious bathroom situation happening for the girls' bogies. The level of hygiene and mess is ridiculously bad considering that we are only on day 4. During the role model visit,  there were participants barely listening to the founder of the school. I personally picked up at least 10 empty plastic bottles strewn around the beautiful campus. I saw a couple of other participants doing the same but the fact that we even HAD to do that was disappointing. 

There is a scarcity of resources on this train-water, charging points, space. Things we take for granted. How we behave in a situation when these scarce, precious resources need to be sustainably shared by many, reveals our very basic nature. The train becomes a metaphor for all of humanity.

On this Yatra, we talk about building the nation through enterprise. But what about personal values, a sense of community, good manners and a sense of responsibility towards fellow citizens? It IS every person's own responsibility to demonstrate these values but is part of that responsibility also to hold others accountable? I find with this large contingent of young, mostly urban girls, that accountability only comes with consequences meted out by a person with authority. 

This greatly disturbs me as an adult and of course, as an educator. 

Day 1

Today was the first day of our odyssey. We traveled across Maharashtra which seemed to take forever.

I had the chance to finally meet all 18 yatris in our group.  We conducted a life-map activity with them. Some of the stories I heard from other facilitators are amazing. I learnt about a yatri from a very rural part of India, who is an entrepreneur. She recruited ten women from her village to sew petticoats from her home. Another participant spoke about her struggle being the first and only woman student in a serious sports academy cohort. Someone else mentioned how he lost the gold medal in IIT by 0.1 mark and he hated himself for it.

The average age of a participant is 23/24.  A lot of them have followed the herd through school, college, job, etc. We have many,many, many engineers on  this train. They are on this journey to discover themselves as much as the country. They are smart, confident, excited,  eager, optimistic and young.  Representing almost every corner of this vast nation.

The enegy level on this train is HIGH right now. Representing the energy level of the country, perhaps.

The question relevant for the yatra and for India is how do we harness and sustain this energy?

And so it begins....

325 participants from 34 states and 6 union territories in India, as well as 23 other countries.

65 facilitators

42% rural participants. 44% women.

120 staff members

One train.

Yaroon Chalon!

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go

This was really tough.

I  wanted to limit my luggage to 2 bags and a sleeping bag.  But I HAD to add the third backpack. Still, not bad for 15 days!!

There is not one inch of empty space for any shopping though.

Tomorrow, we will be going to IIT for registration and the facilitators' orientation.

Feeling excited but really tired (already).

I am a Yatri

Packing

I am NOT a light packer and just thinking about packing for Yatra is stressing me out!

We have been asked to bring clothes for every kind of weather- rainy, warm and freezing. Additionally, we need to carry bedding - blankets, sleeping bag, a bedsheet....not to mention clothes and toiletries for fifteen days. I already have a pair of sneakers and a pair of bathroom slippers. They have asked us to pack one Indian outfit.  Do I need to take sandals too? 

The most important question is - what kind of a bag do I take?  A haversack is so much easier to carry but a suitcase will keep my clothes wrinkle free, organised and can be locked.

Second question: How do I pack the minimum amount of stuff I will need without the fear of being left high and dry at any point AND not looking like a vagabond?

My system is to take out EVERY piece of clothing I own,  lay it out and then slowly work my way through that. 

And let's not forget the multitude of chargers, backup chargers, earphones, cables...

I had to stop half way through because it's less stressful to write this blog post than make crucial packing decisions !