Tata Jagriti Yatra – Day 1 & 2 : Mumbai to Trivandrum train journey

Day 1 saw 400 people from 23 states assembling at Ravindra Natya Mandir in Mumbai. Some were delayed due to the gujjar agitation. We dropped our luggages which were to the railway station by bus and proceeded to complete the registration process. Groups and cohorts were formed. Each group was formed to ensure diversity.

My group has members from several states including Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Delhi and even the United Kingdom. They are from different socio-economic backgrounds and all of them don’t speak English. Some are students, some are social entrepreneurs, some are exploring themselves.

We had a fantastic orientation session and an inauguration session. We were taught the theme song and dance of the Tata Jagriti Yatra. The entire team was introduced and Shashank Mani addressed us. I have been reading his book and it was very inspiring to hear the man himself talk about his vision for the Jagriti Yatra. He said “Have fun building India”.  He spoke about purpose. It is an arduous and tormenting process to find a purpose for oneself . A purpose that is extraordinary and which will drive a person and make the toughest of tasks lighter.

I feel like that about iReboot. I could connect with exactly what he was saying. I have often been asked “What are the challenges you faced while starting up?”. I don’t have an answer because I don’t remember. There was no problem for which I did not or could not find a solution.  I have found a purpose – it is to eliminate phrases like “Monday morning blues” and “Thank god its Friday” from the vocabulary of working professionals. I want to see everyone happy at work and across all socio-economic segments. This will happen if everyone works on what they are passionate about and/or find their purpose. Purpose or/and passion can drive a person.

We then boarded the train . I have been living 2 days in the train now. They wake us up with music. The entire train has a great PA system. Every boggie has a speaker and there is a control room from where announcements are made. Its great to wake up to some music. While we entered the state of Kerala, a bunch of people from there took over the control room and spoke about the state of Kerala. It is at these times I wonder about how it is to belong to a state. As a Sindhi, there is no place really that we can cal our own.

Breakfast is served at our compartments (and so are all the other meals) and we are given time for our morning chores. They have been very innovative with their bathrooms. Here are the pics.

We had cold water bath – this was quite an experience for me because I am the kind who has a hot water bath even in summers!

We were in our groups and my group is the “R” group. We have come with a war cry as well. We call ourselves the Rockstars and from what I gather from the rest, the energy and enthusiasm of our group is quite the envy of others. We sang, danced, played the most famous Indian game – antakshari! We had a girly discussion late into the night and slept.

We also have volunteer teams – I have volunteered for the crowd management team and the programming team. The other teams are branding, train punctuality, electrical and some others.

Today we have a discussion on enterprise led development and middle India with the experts. We had a discussion within a group this morning about it and it was very insightful. I heard perspectives of people who have grown up in villages and the rural India. I will post more about the discussion later.