Tata Jagriti Yatra - Yaaron Chalo!

The yatra started on 24th of December, 2009, taking 400 youth across 13 cities covering 9300 kilometers over the span of 18 days to meet exceptional Indians and see the real India. Too many words in one sentence, right? Yeah, that was the case with us too. Just so many incredible things happened to all the yatris and me, that I guess it’s a little difficult to pen everything down. But I’ll still try.


I don’t think I need to mention that it was a memorable experience. That’s obvious. But while I come back and scratch beneath the obvious, I see many more things that are not visible in the photographs.


Everyday when I woke up, I had something to look forward to. Each day brought to me role models to meet and their institutions to visit. These individuals have done exceptional work. Transforming liquor torn villages to self sustaining economies, setting up a school for blind children in a place where blindness was considered a curse, serving a million children everyday through mid days meal programmes and many more such extraordinary causes. And mind you, most of these were not charity based organizations but sustainable and scalable enterprises. Their confidence and faith despite struggles and strives taught me, that no dream is unachievable and no problem is insurmountable. If your intensions are good and your conviction strong, then there is nothing that can ever stop you!



Every city was different and every state displayed something unique. With each state, the languages changed, the landscape outside the window changed. We started with Maharashtra’s Konkan region and moved to Kerala’s backwaters and ended with Gujarat’s salt city. On the yatra I saw Ganga’s immense power and Rajasthan vast deserts. When we started off from Mumbai, the weather was warm. Then we moved to the pleasant Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. But as we headed north, the cold started gripping us. I still remember bathing in the ice cold water in Delhi! This is India, it is huge, it is beautiful and it is multi dimensional.



And what do I say about my fellow yatris! Each one of them – a treasure of dreams and hopes. Each one of them had a story to tell, an experience to share. Yatris came from all parts of the country with different social, educational and professional backgrounds. There were doctors, architects, social workers, sportsmen, lawyers, environmentalists, educationists, media professionals, and obviously engineers! A Lot of engineers. Each yatri was a pool of energy and enthusiasm. Being a yatri on that 16 bogie train was a journey I am glad I experienced. The moving train, the mind boggling landscapes and 399 yatris there with me… Yaaron Chalo!

I’ll be putting up my day to day account soon.