IMPRESSIONS - Kavali Eshwar

Place : Hyderabad

Time : 5.30 AM
Date : February 14

As usually I woke up in the early morning and started my daily routine. After having gone through the newspaper I have realised that it was valentine's day. Phew..!! Suddenly I felt bad that even this time , I am all alone.

 

But, all of a sudden I have got a call..My heart beat increased exponentially because I thought I am getting a call from a girl . And after seeing that it is from an unknown number I felt as I am hero of a Maniratnam film with Illyaraja music in the background.

After answering the call, I have felt mixed emotions. It was not a girl but my friend Pavan who  reminded me of registration for Chinna Sodh Yatra ( which was confirmed later by Palle Srujana ). I really felt happy because I am going to be part of a great opportunity where I get to understand and love myself  .

 

Place : Secunderabad Railway Station
Time : 3.25 PM

Shiva took the initiative to plan for other 5 members to travel from Secunderabad. Everyone is equally excited and enthusiastic about the Yatra . Barring me ,it was the first Yatra for all others and I took the opportunity to brief them about the Yatra .

 

Place : Tadvai Forest Huts
Time : 11.21 PM

After waiting for a long time , we have reached a place that is around nearly half a kilometre from our stay . The place was entirely new for us and it was deep inside a jungle. Luckily we have found a group of youth playing badminton during that time..!!

We have enquired them about the place and to our utter surprise they have volunteered to help us to reach our place. What a sense of generosity shown by them....!!
I have said to a friend of mine in the group that this is just the beginning..

 

Welcome to Palle Srujana's Chinna Sodh Yatra-22

This was my 3rd Yatra and each time I have experienced a unique feeling.  Because ,each place we visit as part of our Yatra is unique and the majority of the co yatris I interact are not only new but also from diverse backgrounds .

 

Is this the only reason I have come to be part of Yatra..?

The answer is " NO".

This time I have single point agenda to attend Yatra and that is recharge my drained battery.

Well ,did my battery got recharged ?
My experiences of Yatra,  that I would share below would answer this question..

So stay tuned my dear readers !!

 

INTRODUCTION :

Brig. Sir, have elaborately explained on the purpose of Yatra and guidelines to be adhered to ,for gaining the maximum from it .
My biggest key takeway was : to learn as much as possible from 4 gurus - nature, co yatris, villagers and oneself.

 

"IGNITE " to ignite the Yatra .

We have started our journey from Chinna Boyina Palle and conducted "IGNITE" session .In this we showcase a few innovations to the school children to sow the seeds of creativity and innovation among them The thundering applause from the children and positive responses from them gave a very good start to our day.

 

NATURE - FIRST GURU :

For the first time , I could truely appreciate the rhyme that I have learnt in my school..
"Twinkle twinkle little star..How I wonder what you are ?".

 

Our night walk towards Kondai made all of us to mesmerize with the sky full of stars. Along with my buddies Arun, Sanjana and SRK , I am involved in gazing at stars calmly for a few minutes and later sang songs only on stars.

 

One more memorable experience was our walk in jungle for almost an entire day . I could for the first time heard the sound of falling of dried leaves . Oh my God..!! What a crazy feeling it was.. Thanks to our Shifu master aka Vamsi  who introduced this to us.

On our final day of our Yatra, we have sat on a dried channel of a river stream to have our lunch. The same river stream when have water fulfills our thirst and when it has  even dried gave us the shelter.

 

This made to understand and appreciate the unconditional love of mother nature.

Co Yatris - Second Guru :

I greatly admire C. Mallesham garu who have recently won Padma Shri. And to my utter surprise and happiness ,her daughter , Roopa came to participate in Yatra. After interacting with her,my respect towards Mallesham garu and his family grew exponentially ( as both of her daughters are supporting thier father's dreams - by studying / planning to studying in Textile Engineering / Fashion Designing).

 

Oldies :  My friendship with my former co yatris - Arun, Sanjana, Vamsi grew by leaps and bounds. Walk with them is really a great experience . The way we tease among ourselves and in the  way we share, discuss about various aspects is really a cherishing one.

 

My oldies :  Sanjana and Arun
Our Shifu master - Vamsi

Apart from them, I have got a great opportunity to learn from the new co yatris :
Each one is a stalwart in their own way...Suresh garu and his team introduced us to Organic farming ; Saraswathi amma ,an elderly woman in her 60's ;the faculty of Vagdevi college was thoroughly entertaining and educating - Kishore sir's media skills was quite hilarious ; volunteers from RK Math Hyderabad - Shiva, Lakshmi and Karthik posed very good questions ( and the enlightening discussions with Lakshmi and Santhosh en route to Hyderabad from Pasara was really a rare opportunity ) .

If some one asks me what is the difference between a person and personality , I would show him/her , Brig. Sir. Each word he utters shows his passion for grassroot innovations and innovators,each step he takes displays his faith,  conviction on them .
The conversations I have with me, clarifies most of my doubts, enriches my knowledge base and fills me with immense confidence and courage.

The stories of innovators he shares with us makes us speechless and that's why we respond by clapping our hands with great joy and sense of satisfaction .

 

VILLAGERS - THIRD GURU :

The enormous hospitality bestowed on us by the villagers ,their way of life and abundant traditonal knowledge base they possess, made me to further widen and deepen my understanding , perception towards our Indian villages. We conveniently ignore them and often impose our views, beliefs on them forcefully. It acted as an eye opener to me and hopefully I carry out this key learning in my future endeavours.

 

Pagadaih, a resident of Kondai village in his 70's was felicitated by Palle Srujana . Because, he showed interest to share his traditional knowledge about  heath practices for well being of people . This incident made me to realise how extremely difficult it is to identify and convince a grassroot innovator , traditional health practitioner to share their knowledge base.

 

MYSELF - THE FOURTH GURU :

I always come with numerous questions to Chinna Sodh Yatra wherein, I could get their answers to some extent. Thanks to my interactions with Brig .Sir and other countries yatris for that. But it also causes me to end Chinna Sodh Yatra with a set of new questions.

Well, that is what I feel I am supposed to do. Carry out,inner Sodh Yatra .

This time, I felt greatlful to be part of organising team ably lead by Raju Anna and co. From this , I could explore my various capacities whether it may be setting up banners ,conducting "IGNITE " sessions, helping out Srujan in managing accounts and others. Though my role in them was quite minimal,I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Surprise !!

On our final day of Yatra , we got an opportunity to interact with Mahipal Chary garu, a grassroot innovator . His simple,lucid answers were highly impressive. When we asked him about his feelings about his stay in Rasthrapathi Bhavan ,we were expecting a small kind of lecture. But his response was quite stunning...He just said "bagundi"( it was good )..All started laughing at his answer and also felt so humbled by his down to earth nature

 

Well,that's it folks ..!!

 

I have got my battery recharged fully. Hope it continues till the next Chinna Sodh Yatra.

Thanks for reading my impressions.

 

I take this opportunity to thank all my co yatris, nature,villagers . Special thanks to Brig Sir and his team .

 

Jai Hind !!

Kavali Eshwar