MY REFLCETIONS of 14 CSY
Nookala Akhila
“Shodh Yatra again...” I was excited! Sharing the details on facebook, messaging the closer ones’ in personal helped me in recollecting the moments from the previous yatras that I’ve been to. Registrations were growing in number and so was my excitement then. I was on a count with time. Days passed on and it was 25th of December, Thursday. In the evening when wind was searching for directions on the busy and noisy streets, Gayathri, my friend and I reached Pallesrujana Office having all set. We were ready to suck in everything right from that moment. I trained my brain to transform into a vacuum cleaner with maximum pressure. While all the other yatris, whom we were going to meet, were eagerly waiting for 26th of December i.e. first day of the yatra to begin, Gayathri and I were taking part in a trailer (of CSY 14) with brig. Ganesham. We had healthy discussions about forthcoming yatra, discussions which fuelled our interest and enthusiasm. We happened to meet Yashwanth anna, a co-yatri, at the office. He helped us to grab some food from a nearby food cafe for our dinner tonight. We introduced ourselves and this was also a major part of the trailer. Kranthi anna and Sandeep anna were busy packing Stationary that we were supposed to carry as gifts for school kids in the villages. I didn’t want to disturb them and so, we walked around waiting for the cab.
Soon we met Medha, a co-yatri and our senior after Brigadier. Cab arrived. With our luggage stuffed inside the car, we headed toward the railway station. While everybody in the car were discussing about various things, I left my mind free. It wandered everywhere it wanted to, pushing up numerous queries while answering a few by itself. Some of them about the labs and classes I’m gonna miss and most of them about the journey tonight and yatra, the next three days.
As we reached we met Sushmitha akka, a co-yatri who was going to travel with us in the same train. Simhapuri express was on the track soon, ready to take us to Nellore helping us on our journey into country’s heart, the villages. We made sure our luggage wasn’t missing. It was 12am already by the time we settled down. Gayathri and I shared a common berth after our dinner as our seats weren’t reserved yet. We soon fell asleep as we were already late.
Friday dawned crisp. I woke up when everybody around was still asleep. I bumped into the seat after getting freshen up and sat by the window to admire the surrounded beauty. Sunrise grabbed my attention. Astounding beauty it was!

“CLOUDS with white ball gowns; covered
the rich handsome SUN, his suit red colored.
A flight of birds dressed in black and white
Flew up so high to see the man hot and bright.”

It reminded me of a typical North-Indian bride covering her face with a transparent white colored parda. Gayathri and I peeped through the window until the sun rose fully. As he moved higher, he appeared brighter. He became extremely luminescent that we had to take off our eyes from him, forcefully. We captured his romance with the clouds and his reflection in the stagnant waters down the track. Water was stagnant it is true. Water was transparent and reflection was crystal clear this is the truth again. We were jumping out of joy looking at the nature around because we knew, we don’t get a chance very often to see what wonders nature tries to show us as we live in such places where nature is less prioritized.
I called out my best friend, Rubik’s cube, as I haven’t given him a chance to throw a gossip since a long time. I played with him for enough time to make him happy as he was my best friend. I silently asked Rubik’s “Are you ready for the yatra?” He sweetly replied “It is you who has to get ready. You carry me in your hands all the way, I silently observe and absorb the essence of what I see and share with you when you’re free. You just gotta tie your lace tight and march on with all your strength but assuming yourself to be ‘Zero.’”

DAY 1:
Time passed on and we reached Kavali railway station. With the constant excitement in the heart and luggage in our hands Gayathri, Medha and I stepped out of the train. We had those bright smiles covered our faces until our cheeks began to ache. We joined the master crew Brig, Yashwant anna, Kranthi anna and susmitha akka towards the waiting hall after greeting them all.
Bhanu anna and Manoj anna welcomed us. They were the bosses this time as Nellore was their hometown and we gotta follow them. Bhanu anna was a co-yatri previously but now, an organizer of the yatra. He channelized all his ideas, strength and interest perfectly towards the mission.
The station seemed to be pretty big and it’s waiting hall, well polished. We comfortably bathed and got ready for the most awaiting “Unlearning Session.”Though Gayathri and I joined them a little late we didn’t miss the very important talk which was about the Four Gurus.
After a quick introduction of all the yatris, Brig. took over the talk. He explained to each one of us, mission of the yatra followed by its terms and conditions. “Assume yourselves to be Zero for the next three days, you will learn the maximum.” he emphasized. He continued “Purpose of the Shodha Yatra is learning at ground level but not service to the villagers. Go to them as learners and let them be your teachers.” Although this was my 4th Chinna Shodha Yatra, I believed my learning wasn’t maximum and hence I got to practice the most important trait of the yatra “Assuming myself to be a perfect Zero.” Honestly, this was the biggest challenge I could ever take up.
He introduced to us the steps of learning and target sources, the four gurus. While first guru being the ‘nature’ second is the ‘villager.’ They are closely related, I trust. Villagers alone have a direct contact with the nature and use her resources at the maximum. Understanding their lifestyle takes us to the whole new level of understanding the Mother Nature. Understanding the importance of Mother’s resources, our perception towards sustainability widens. Third guru is the ‘fellow yatri’ and the fourth, ‘Oneself.’ Each Yatri is a unique packet of knowledge. Like the villagers, fellow-yatris were also new to me the first day until we interacted with each other. Every yatri has different ways of analysing and a unique perception toward things. Understanding their perception of looking at things will add more treasure to the box.

We were bound towards ulavapalla in a local bus after our breakfast at the hotel nearby. Food we had was delicious. Brig suggested us to thank the cooks for such a tasty food. If it wasn’t for this time, trust me, food in every Shodha Yatra is delicious. We went inside the hotel to thank them for making our first breakfast very tasty. They were so happy that they wanted us to go back for meals to their hotel. They are flooded with hospitality and simplicity all over, I understood.

With my mind as a vacuum cleaner I walked with my fellow-yatris carrying with me the strength of an athlete and determination of a soldier. I attacked those yatris first whom I already met in the previous yatras to deepen my interaction with them. Later, I thought I would start off my interaction with the new yatris looking at Amaan and Samad. I was always the youngest among all the yatris but their presence in the yatra was an immense pleasure to me as they were younger than the “always youngest yatri.”We discussed our interests, favourite authors and books. We also had some good talk about how education system varies in different institutions. We encountered some really good questions to each other. After a while Medha, Susmita akka and Gayathri joined our conversation. Very soon, we all became good friends. Behind me were Sai anna and Praveen anna lost in their talks enjoying the last seats of the bus. I interrupted them as they weren’t interacting much. We talked about my college and theirs. I shared with them my experience from the previous yatras.
We waved a good-bye to the bus as we got down, ready to walk. Bhanu anna distributed among us the magazines and pamphlets. Carrying them in hands, I moved forward cheerfully towards the village kissing the road with my feet. There was a small and typical village teashop with hanging-banners publicising recharge offers. Like the media crew, our group soon scattered into different directions looking at the villagers around.  I walked towards the teashop with an intention to interact with the men standing there. They were perplexed, looking at our mass of different age groups with some books and papers in hand encountering every villager in sight wondering if that was an election campaign. They were very curious to know the purpose of our visit. I explained to them about the yatra and Pallesrujana pointing at a random page in the magazine. When I stated “we are of different age groups, academies and regions. We came here to learn from you and your villages.” Dayakar, one of the villagers, threw a smile of proud that revealed his acceptance to TEACH. That made all the difference. They feel more comfortable when we ask them to share their knowledge because everybody visits a village to teach but none to learn. Reflecting pride through his eyes, like a boss, he began to tell about their tradition of farming, his ancestry, his experience in the field and shared his dissatisfaction against the modern farming methods. Dayakar was an HEC student in intermediate. In spite of being from a social background, he acquired tremendous knowledge in Political, technological and agricultural sciences.
“Production of yield now-a-days has become a competition between the farmers. They’re neither bothered about agricultural land nor the quality of food produced but only about the fellow-farmer’s profit.” he stated in awe.
Farmers now-a-days are practising modern methods of farming which increases the usage of chemical fertilisers. This is happening because competition has become a trend which is nurturing their greed. Organic farming has become an alternate method these days. Though they’re not intentionally practising modern methods, the fact that our future generations are at risk is to be considered.
He also talked about the greatness of Telugu language stating that English should be placed second in the list of priority. He also said that 80% of houses in the village have an LCD, a refrigerator and a washing machine. I was surprised when he said “These people are in debts of lakhs.”
 “If villagers get urbanised then where lies the India’s richness?” I thought to myself.

We continued to walk after thanking them for sparing their time with us. I continued my interaction with the fellow-yatris. Naresh anna and I discussed about the villagers with whom we interacted few minutes ago while Manoj anna and I talked about how we got to know about Shodha Yatra, our experiences from previous yatras and how much impact does CSYs have on us.

Interaction with school kids is always one of the best things about Chinna Shodha Yatra. We happened to go to a govt school of Singapeta Village. There, we shared the information about IGNITE (a competition of ideas which was put forth by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam) with the school kids and like always, asked them to put in their ideas and thoughts on a piece of paper. Some of them wrote brilliant ideas while some others raised questions which were bothering them since long. One of those “tough to answer” questions was “Why trees are more in villages and less in cities?”
After our super-tasty lunch in one of the classrooms, I with Agakhan students and Gayathri played for a while in the open area of the school with a cricket ball of the kids there. Kids became our best friends in a very less time. We clicked selfies with them and played like “we will not get this chance again.” One of the kids Nasir, of class 5, invited me to his home and introduced to his mom saying “They are my friends, from Hyderabad” pointing at me and Gayathri. This line rushed smiles on to our faces.  She warmly received me and Gayathri offering a coffee. We thanked her for the gesture and left to join our mass as they don’t know where we were. We declined the offer only because we had to go. We waved them bye and clicked a picture with him and his sisters. As we left their place and with great joy walking towards our crowd, Nasir came to me running with a big smile on his face, asking to gift him something so that he would keep it as my memory. I was so moved emotionally. I had nothing to give him except the pen in my bag. He accepted it with immense happiness saying he will use it during examinations and score well than before.

“They are pure from heart
and clear in thoughts.
Their smile was so true
that our sorrows just flew.
With joy they greet
and talk so sweet
as though we are meant to meet
back again, in their street!”

I marched on with my thoughts echoing amidst greenery. We went to a temple in the village to get our minds shaped with knowledge by Mr. Venkata sesacharyulu, one of the             well-known sculptors there. He shared his knowledge without hesitation and sprinkled a few words on us about their tradition and ancestry. In the divine premises we clicked our group photographs with the yatris who were with us for the Day1 and had to leave as they had to submit their project the very next day.

Brig. has got many gifts packed for us. He opened them in between the talks to make our walks as interesting as his talks. The gifts were the stories of grass-root innovators whose innovations brought a great change in the farmers’ community. First-to-share story was about Chandrasekhar gaaru, who with his team had received Rastrapathi Award in Delhi and whose innovation was one of the “reasons of success” of the yatra. His innovation, Sri Tailam, a herbal oil, was like a solution to numerous problems. It was like a shield which protected us from mosquito bites and made our yatra safe.
Brig told us some harsh truths:
- Ayush gives license only to the approved medicines.
-Research is limited to 350 plants and the scientists declined to accept research on Sri Taylam as it doesn’t include in it any of the 350 plant juices.
-Back to 8 years from now i.e. 2007, idea of Sri Taylam aroused.
-It took 7years for the entrepreneurs to accept Sri Taylam.

Wesipped in some tea and welcomed a new yatri, Madhavi akka to join us.
The sky slowly changed its attire from blue to black with a diamond, shining at the centre. We didn’t want to create an artificial environment and hence said NO to torch lights and walked under the moon light with fireflies around. What a beauty!

“Cool breeze touched us with Love
we lost in its thoughts, don’t know how!
Fireflies accompanied us till the end
each one being our tiny little friend.
We walked under the night sky, fearlessly!
Trusting our mother nature for she loves her kids, endlessly!”

An energetic group of 6 joined us to make the yatra more interactive and knowledgeable.
These packets of energy were parcelled in NIT-W. Their train was late so they joined us in the dusk. Brig introduced them to us and we welcomed them. These guys were like the mystery characters of the film. They joined us when the sky changed its attire from a party suit to a black track and tee with a radium white circle on it. We couldn’t trace their expression in the dark yet, we began to interact with them. We stopped by the road for a tea break and Brig was ready again with a 2nd surprise, the 2nd story. We were all ears. This time the story was about Air Seal Tube, Innovated by Mr. Pandurangadu. His story behind this innovation made me think. “One cannot innovate something just because he wants to. He has to understand and analyse the problem, think of all the possible means which lands him nearby the solution. But before identifying a problem one would have had undergone struggle.” Out of pain comes the innovation. It comes out of suffering. Innovation is the answer button for the call of necessity. Air Seal Tube is of great help to the motorcyclists as it prevents tyres from getting punctured.
With the marks of inspiration in our minds we continued to walk. Interactions became more powerful and productive. NITians grouped with Brig for the master talk. With the new crowd and new talks we walked on to a new path (East Gogulapally) diverting from the actual route (West Gogulapally) unknowingly. We rolled 2km ahead from the actual path and after quick realisation we rolled back with hungry stomachs to the West. We reached our destiny of the day. That was actually the time to celebrate but because we were tired, mosquitoes partied with their crew sucking our blood, dancing on our heads, singing beside our ears with extreme joy and happiness. Unable to bear, we transformed ourselves into the soldiers of Indian Army in the battle field with our shield, Sritailam for self-defence. Raju anna, our captain, brought food for the injured and hungry men. Surprisingly, everybody was offered food because they were either injured by the enemy group or tired of self-defence and hungry. Behind the battle scenes, Brig was interacting with the villagers sharing the ideas of innovators.
After the delicious dinner, we had an interesting and important session of interaction and impressions. I grabbed the points of every speaker. As I already said, they are the quality packets of stupendous ideas with huge quantity and of course priceless!! ;). We fell asleep with the safety mode (sritailam) on.

DAY 2:
NITians went for a morning walk already by the time I woke up. I played with the village kids for a while and later pushed myself to get freshen up. We took bathe in one of the villager’s house while boys bathed in the well. Raju anna was ready with the breakfast for us. Without any delay we broke the fast. As we began to walk I just had one thing in my mind “Interact with most of the yatris today.”
Geetha Anna and I were the officially recognised smart pupils of CSY 14 :P Besides our interaction about hobbies and colleges, he also told me about an IAS officer, Prasad garu and his contribution to the society. Medha and I sang songs having all the fun during those little moments. With Chaitu anna I talked about spirituality and existence of god, Chetan Bhagath and Robin Sharma. We kind of had a good debate and discussion. Bhanu Anna and I rejoiced the moments of previous yatras. With Sameer the talk was all about blogs and books. With Chaitanya it was about Rubik’s cube all the time as she wanted to learn and I couldn’t teach. :P Pruthvi, Monica and I travelled back to our intermediate days recollecting all the best moments. Manikanta and I had had the discussion on application of theories of physics and chemistry in our daily routine. Shwetha and I smiled at each other so much that I’m sure nobody in the yatra did. Manoj anna had enough time to learn tutting (a dance form) from me. :P Madhavi akka shared her story and interests with us. She is a determined lady. Shailendra anna answered all my questions about his patents. We also talked about innovations and business. We were all more than excited to know about him as he is a PATENT HOLDER and had tons of knowledge to share with us. Amaan, Samad, Gayathri and I played the best in those 3 short days. Kranthi anna would interact only when we happened to meet by chance as he was assigned a duty to be behind the crowd, always at the last and make sure that nobody gets dispatched from the crowd :P Raju anna and I talked about schools in villages and his service to the society. With Yashwant anna the talk was professional. :P  Gayathri and I didn’t talk much during the yatra as we get to meet each other almost everyday.

Besides our interaction the best thing about second day of the yatra was “Salt Cultivation.” I was amazed looking at the salt heaps. I helped the working women in packing some of the salt packets. That was a great learning. Lakshman, one of the villagers explained to us the process of salt cultivation. We were all enlightened. Climate never troubled us in any of the yatras. Whether it’s winter or rainy, it didn’t matter.
It is all one-way theory I would say. Nature is friendly to us without a second choice. But strangely, being eco-friendly is an option for us. She loves peace and harmony. We first destruct and plan about reconstruction. Anything man-made might harm nature but everything nature gives is beneficial to man.
   
Day 3:
It is the third day of the yatra which made it more special and most memorable.
As I woke up I saw the sunshine, heard the birds sing, felt the cool breeze but it was not because of any of these that the yatra turned out to be inspiring. Our breakfast was delicious like the last two days, our tea was refreshing like always and again, neither of these are the reasons behind that “GREAT” day.
Soon after refreshing we dumped our luggage into the car. With Pamphlets, books and banner we were all set to kick-start the yatra. To our surprise we had increase in number of yatris that day. A bunch of boys joined us and they looked like high school children of the village. We were asked to interact with them. Bhanu anna didn’t miss to talk about these kids at least once during the last two days. Every time he talked about them he concealed something from all of us

. Out of curiosity I started off with my interaction with them. Yes, it was them who made the yatra the most memorable, highly inspiring and extremely knowledgeable. Though our interaction with them was all about education, their colleges and ambitions, we realised we met incredible pieces of creation only after we reached their home, the ASHRAM at Gollapalem, a village which was about 35km away from Nellore Town.
They welcomed us standing in two big rows opposite to each other with happy faces and innocent looks. It looked so filmy and each one of us was moved by their love to us, the strangers. Their Ashram was calm and serene. The surroundings lifted our spirits, we forgot about the distance we walked. Every one of us was enjoying the atmosphere. Sharath Babu gaaru, founder of the Ashram received us warmly. We had a meeting with him and few other members of the Ashram. We were completely immersed in his talk. He stood as an example for Determination. He has been serving the society since 40yrs and that great man never worked for fame. His inspiration was Swami Vivekananda. The idea of bringing the kids on railway platforms, kids of HIV infected parents, kids who were chain snatchers, gamblers, smugglers, pocket thieves and kids who were left out by their parents and bringing them all together with an aim to transform them from sand stones to polished gems amazed us all. Few among them became researchers, doctors, engineers, IAS and IPS officers, CI and chefs.
He is a man whose actions added more flowers to the Garden. 139 children call him “Daddy.”They follow everything he says, trust him, respect him and love him because for them he is everything.
Sharath gaaru says “There are no orphans, for each one of us is a child of god.”
Children of the Ashram follow a daily routine. They distributed daily duties among themselves dividing into batches. One group cooks for a week while the other group does the garden work. They are skilled in every activity right from cooking to construction of buildings. Most admiring thing about the children is that they built all the rooms of their Ashram except two.
They were taught to express gratitude to god, to the visitors, the donors and also to the farmers before their meals. They take care of their younger ones in every aspect and seek help from elder ones when in need. They celebrate all the festivals irrespective of their religion. They are the inspiration to all of us who has everything yet, doesn’t know to make use of resources in the right time at the right place.
I would like to thank Bhanu Anna especially for the third day of the yatra.

Learning:
1. CSY gave me an opportunity to develop communication skills.
2. knowing about Grass-root innovators is as important as knowing famous scientists.
3. Learnt about Salt extraction.
4. Learning from the 4 gurus.
5. Importance of introspection and the role of inner voice in decision making.
6. Learning from the Ashram and from the children there.
7. Knowing Sharath gaaru, a Real Hero of the society.

Thanks to Brig. for giving me an opportunity to explore, experience and understand different life styles, customs, people and society. Shodha Yatra connects us to people, nature and oneself. It helps to know more about ourselves and our level of understanding different situations. It involves dealing things practically, from nature to people.
As a leader, an orator, a teacher and a guide you are our inspiration. They say Great leaders are those who have a vision.  Indubitably, you are one such leader who has great vision. The knowledge you share with us is a branded packet of the yatra. Your patience and determination are two things that leave us all in awe. Thanks for all the gifts (stories of innovators) you brought and shared with us.

Thanks to all the fellow yatris. You have all been good companions for 3 wonderful days. Thanks for all the knowledge you shared. Waiting to see you all soon.