IMPRESSIONS - Sanjana Uggidi

CSY 21- Nothing can teach you better in 3 days. Definitely one of the best times in 2016 for me. It gave me innumerable memories to cherish and amazing people to connect and a better perspective to live with.

Co-Yatris - Nothing can be more beautiful than meeting people with diverse backgrounds that share same aspirations towards life. 3 days is too short to get to know such amazing people.
Nature - It never fails to amuse me every single time. Nothing can beat the experience of living with nature. It refreshes you every moment, you never feel tired despite less amount of sleep.
People in the village - Things learnt from people in the village in 3 days was far more than what I learnt from spending several years in cities. People in the village are far too humble, modest, welcoming and down to earth. Terminology and Technology intimidates them but the knowledge they have is hard to get than learning a software. They lead a life based on mutual trust and spirit of coexistence like one big family.

Highlights of the yatra

1. A man who is very committed to his profession(Potharaju garu). In a world where most of us constantly nag about our jobs, pay, and comfort this man’s dedication to his work is totally inspiring. He also motivated his wife to work towards the same goal. Support from his wife at every stage kept him going and he made sure he reciprocated the same to her.
2. An old lady who is way too strong, despite losing all her family and living alone with a meagre pension of 1000 bucks a month. All she needed was one hug - to cheer her up and get going, it probably was nothing, not money, not material but just a little care and assurance that its gonna be OK.
3. A leader(Surendra garu) who is giving back to his own village in every way he can. Despite being far from the place, he made sure he contributed to his place.
4. Brigadier sir’s views on Circulating economy with in a place and explaining us Gandhi’s saying of using resources within 5 miles radius for construction blew my mind.
5. Brigadier explaining about customized medicines in villages, trial and error of 80-20% that goes on with the standardized medicines. Every word from him was a new piece of knowledge.
6. Narasimha’s story that demonstrated innocence is indeed most powerful.
7. Mallesham’s story made it so evident how Belief, Hard work and Commitment towards a purpose will take you to places despite ups and downs and insults from the society. Self belief is one such powerful thing
8. This trip to villages made me realize the involvement of government in every stage of our life and how dependent we people in cities are on the villages.
9. Another mind boggling perspective was when Brigadier sir explained how we are damaging the ecological balance with every single thing we do and how is it affecting us in return.
10. The kids in government schools, their innovation and mindset. Their curiosity, competitive spirit, and attentiveness. There were too many invaluable things one can learn from them in such short time.
11. Innumerable Entrepreneurs in the village who are solving problems by themselves for the village selflessly and not claiming themselves as “Entrepreneurs” like we do in the cities. Solving that problem is their primary intention not making money out of it. They have amazing innovations which if brought into light can make many lives easier - A noble purpose that made the vision of Palle Srujana.
12. Importance of relations in our life and how life is impossible without mutual trust and coexistence. It felt more of like the word “Independent” and “Self made” don’t exist.
13. Never underestimate any profession and never judge people based on what they do, Small money doesn’t mean small people. Money is virtual and relative. Money is secondary, it doesn’t prove your worth.
14. Standardization and Generalization gladly did not enter into lives of  people in the villages, they value the work that goes into every necessity and customize it - which made me wonder if the standardization actually made us in cities more lazy. Everything is pretty much over the counter to us.

 

It was a lifetime experience for me. Unlearning, Relearning, and Gaining new perspectives. I’m excited about the next yatra and new experiences. I look forward to volunteer and assist Palle Srujana innovators in designing, validation of their innovations, building prototypes, developing a viable business plan, marketing, mentoring and other entrepreneurial activities.

 

Cheers!
Sanjana Uggidi.