What a gloriously sunny morning but what a rude awakening! The previous night, most of us had gone to sleep VERY late. I myself had reached R. E. M. state at around 3.30am and was meant to be getting up at around 6pm to make a 7.30am start to the Trivandrum Techno Park. As suspected, I didn’t get up on time. Instead I awoke to the PA system blaring out “Breakfast is being served outside on the platform, get up, have breakfast and be ready soon, infact VERY soon, to board the buses as we’re going to the Trivandrum Techno Park”. At this point, the typical Flintstones and Barny Rubble scene of urgent panic and insane madness ensues as I make a mad dash for the bathroom, change of clothes, brushing of teeth and simultaneously falling out, half asleep on to the platform to gulp down breakfast. With all of that over in a blink of an eye, and STILL feeling as if I had just run head long in to a brick wall, I stumbled on to a bus, completely separated from my own group and ending up next to a fellow Bengali with what one can only describe as an “interesting and persistent” laugh. Cue throbbing headache

The Trivandrum Techno Park is located up on a hill. As the bus entered the grounds, we were greeted with scenes of ultra modern buildings and house-hold names such at ITC and Tata Consultancy Group, amongst many others. The most striking aspect of the Techno Park was how spotlessly clean it was. This really did jump out at me as I walked around the grounds and observed the superb facilities dotted around the techno park. Unlike vast swathes of India that is often littered and dirty, the Trivandrum Techno Park did not have a single item of plastic, paper or any other man made trash visible on the ground anywhere.  What a refreshing and impressive change to the world just outside its gates.

We arrived at the Techno Park at around 8.30am and settled down in their outdoor open air audirorium. An impressively large venue, capable of holding at-least ten times more people than our yatra group. All the yatri’s settled down quicly in eager anticipation to see two very distinguished speakers.  Whilst waiting for our guests, a thought crossed my mind that the surroundings of the Tehcno Park added to the excitement. Participants were clearly impressed by their immediate surroundings and the chatter could be heard amongst the participants about the big name companies and the impressive architecture that was available within the Techno Park. Lets not mince words here, even I was impressed, and I’m used to working in big technology parks back at home in the UK and on my occasional trips out to the USA. I think for me the beauty of nature, palm trees, plush vegetation and impressive modern builders all seamlessly co-existing in a way that almost felt natural was the most impressive aspect of the outward physical beauty of the location.

Up on stage we greeted G. Vijayaraghavan who is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Technopark in Trivandrum. Technopark is India’s first technology park and among the three largest IT parks in India today. He was accompanied on stage by P. Jayakumar from Toonz Animation,  an animation company which has diverse interests in production and distribution of live action feature films, digital and gaming content, licensing and merchandising and media related education.  Mr. Vijayaraghavan took us through an engaging history of the techno park and spelt out a number of the challenges and issues he faced during the early days when he was attempting to acquire the land to build the techno park to the corruption and issues he faced after the techno park was built. He gave some very inspirational tutoring and encouragement to the yatri’s to be follow the path of truth, honesty and hard work without having to stoop to the level of bribery and trickery to get business done. This drew much applause from the young audience. Mr. Vijayaraghavan later returned to the stage after the Toomz presentation to give a one hour talk to the audience about entrepreneurship. This was a particularly educational talk, giving concrete and tangible advise to the gathered yatris. Topics such as how find the right talent, how not to build debt, how to treat your customers and how to not be afraid of failure was all spoken about with some great real world examples that helped to bring the message to the youth in an accessible manner.

Next stop Kovalum Zero Waste NGO, Kovalam Beach. Here we attended a talk about waste management by an NGO called Thanal. I was quite excited to note that one of our African contingent stood up to ask a question! Superb! I suspect the session was a little too lengthy judging by the flagging spirits of those in the audience and the dropping heads. Having said that, we did get a clutch of good questions towards the end an an opportunity to sample some of the local handy craft made by women who work at the NGO and make collectible items made out of recycles waste items such as paper and coconut shells.

We all headed back to the train station for dinner, then entered train at 12.30am to hit the sack. It was a long and thoroughly engaging day.

Day three of Tata Jagriti Yatra proved to be a one of those days that really captured the imagination of both participants and facilitators. Today we were to meet Shree Padre who hails from Vaninagar, a village bordering Kerala and Karnataka.  Shree Padre is promoting self-help journalism among farmers in Karnataka. His “Pen in the Farmer’s Hand” movement allows farmers to trade information on agriculture and related subjects, giving a new voice to traditional wisdom. He recognizes that, collectively, farmers know how to solve the various problems they face; what they have lacked is a system for sharing their experiences and techniques with one another.

Mr Padre proved to be an eloquent and thought provoking speaker, immediately engaging with the participants. I was fortunate enough to be able to squeeze in at the back of one of the classroom coaches and listen in to the afternoon session which took place. Topics were wide and varied but one which stood out for me was on the subject of water harvesting and resource management. It was clear that the participants were fully engaged with Mr. Padre’s talk as a tremendous amount of energy was thought was evident during the Q&A session. Today the two coach set up worked very well with questions being fielded from both sides and relayed via plasma screen between coaches so that everyone could see and hear each other, thanks in great part to one of our facilitators who made it a point to rush the mic over to the participants in the second carriage.  Following his morning session with the participants, we decided to give him a tour of the train and the whole set up. Lunch followed at the station we stopped at and the afternoon session with Shree Padre actually took place on the platform under the welcome cool shade of the platform roof.  Whilst the a large group formed in front of Shree Padre, smaller clusters of participants who had previously attended the morning session formed small groups to discuss in detail the mornings discussions and form their own opinions about the issues raised. I took an opportunity to walk around all these sessions, taken photographs and listening in to the - at times - raging debates, questions, answers and reports being exchanged between members of the various groups. At no point did any of the debates fall out with each other, which was heartened to see but a number of groups certainly did have some some robust and well thought out arguments. All in all, a very inspiring afternoon session of group discussions.

It was time now to head off to Kerala, our next stop Trivandrum where we woud visit the Trivandrum Technopark.

Oh gosh! Day two is a total blur in my mind as I type this blog entry. All I can remember is that we were still traveling along a VERY long stretch between Mumbai and Trivandrum and I, Kaustav, was running about like a headless chicken trying despirately to get a clutch full of useless data cards to work correctly on our stash of laptops.  With much groaning, cursing and head slapping, I managed to get some of them working. I then quickly got one of our respected photographers on the train up and running on the micro-site blog and enabled his blog account. As a result we now have five genuine yatri generated blog entries.  I really do encourage you to read them as they’re capturing some of the true essence of the journey. We have one yatri from London writing blogs, another from India with two different perspectives and incredible enthusiasm. We’d love to get your feedback once you’ve read their entries.

As I type, the days events are slowly returning to me. Two interactive discussions took place on day two, primarily to accomodate all the yatri’s on-board the train who otherwise would not be able to physically all fit in to two train carriages in one go. The morning discussion session was missed by myself as I was busy photographing life on board the train and interviewing yatri’s and facilitators. How I wish I could show you some of those snaps but the data connection is simply proving to be too slow. The afternoon session was one I did attend. There was intense chat and debate going on about the Lijjat Papad company that we heard about on the opening day at IIT Bombay. The pro’s and con’s of an all women organisation was debated and insights we made on Lijjat Papad’s model of women empowerment, transformation and their entrepreneurial and social spirit. One interesting observation I made during this session, as I was sitting next to one of our Kenyan African yatri’s was that in her own country she knew of a similar women’s co-operative, but it had failed primarily due to political intervention within Kenya. I really do hope that as the days roll on, our African contingent can build up the courage to raise their hand and ask some questions. One of the most heartening comments I heard today was that by coming on this jounrey of discovery, one of the Kenyan candidates was inspired enough to wonder if a journey like Tata Jagriti Yatra could be arranged by herself back in her own home country of Kenya and hopefully inspire a generation of entrepreneurs who believe in enterprise lead development. How wonderful! Day two and we’re already having an impact on our international members.

Day two seems to be getting foggy in my mind already. What with all the rushing about, photographing, interviewing, session attending and general train vigialance, I think the level of tiredness is telling me to call it a day and write up day three early in the morning. One thing is clear from day two’s experience is that the youth on board the train and not a laid back crowd. They do have opinions, they are switched on and most of all they are receptive to new ideas and discussing possibilities. I’m looking forward to speaking to many of the participants on day three to see if they would consider modifying their own lifesyle, belieafs and way of living to include some of the learnings they are making from the role model interactions. Day three of Tata Jagriti Yatra will defintiely prove to be interesting, as we will be meeting Shree Padre who works in the area of natural resource management. I’m sure his alternative methods and insightful advice will bring about much needed mind shifts and attitude changes amongst the yatri’s. I am particularly intererested to know how the yatri’s change their outlook on the usage and wastage of one of the most precious resources on our planet - water.  Only time will tell. Roll on day three!

Kaustav

Good morning, good evening, good night wherever you’re reading in this world.

The Jagriti Yatra train has finally rolled out of Mumbai, almost precisely on time. The run up to the flagging off was electric. In the morning everyone, yatri’s and facilitators, TV press and print journo’s converged on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. We all got to meet one another and form our cohorts and groups. It was quiet surprising how most people knew who I was, even though they had never met me before. the yatri’s tell me that they have been living the yatra dream during the build up via the yatra blog, website, chat forum, facebook group, orkut group and other channels such as Twitter. What better proof that the viral nature of the social web is working and our case it Is working REALLY well.

The afternoon kicked off with Jyoti Naik - MD of Lijjat Papad addressing us in her mother tongue, Marathi. We learned about one of Indian’s most successful all women co-operatives. Their primary business is to make the Indian snack known in the west as the papadum. They employ over 40,000 employees and all the major decision makers in the whole organisation as women. The men who work there are all on advisory committees. Their products sell the world over and we learned how and why their business model has been such an amazing success. The Q&A session was a little challenging as the English and Hindi spoken questions had to be translated to Ms Naik in Marathi and then her answer was translated back to the audience in English.

The evening session was held at the Rabindranatyum Mandir in a very central region of Mumbai called Prabhadevi. Due to earlier programming re-organisations, I was not sure whole our second role model of the day was going to be. Imagine my amazement when Mr. Manish Tiwari - the man behind the Dabawala’s came onstage with his classic and signature Dabawala white slacks, jacket and hat on. He immediately captivated the entire audience with his stunning and mezmirising style of talking. He exuded so much energy, with his lightening fast talking, upbeat tone of voice and broad chesire cat grin. In the space of twenty minutes he got the audience roaring with cheers, laughing and totally bought in to his philosophy, way of life and way of conducted business. I managed to make a full audio recording of his talk and hope to link it in as and when internet connections allow. At the end of his talk, Mr. Tiwari got an almighty standing ovasion and just ended the role model visits of the day just perfectly - leaving everyone on a major high. I was personally blown awy by this mans media saavy, and sheer brilliance.

Fcous then shifted to the main yatra as we all boarding the buses and headed towards Mumbai Central rail station. Before we headed there we had to make one last stop at yatra central, our office, to pick up boxes, laptop computers and all manner of things critical to the smooth running of the yatra. All packed and done, with car heavily loaded and ready to burst we took the short trip down to the rail station.

At Mumbai Central the atmosphere was electric. Hundreds of yatri’s, with the bags were being issued I’d cards, to be work by all through the whole yatra. Cargo was being rushed on, crates of water, food, supplies. Rail transport guards were boarding and ensuring the yatri’s all got on in time. Last minute fairwells and photos were being snapped and broad beaming smiles and excitement were the order of the evening.

Suddenly, with bags all onboard, that tell tale jolt came. THE TRAIN WAS ROLLING! Just a few minutes past 11pm, Tata Jagriti Yatra was truly under way. We were at the beginning of what will surely be an oddessy, an epic journey of discover and a moment we’ll all remember for the rest of our lives. The morning will start at 7am, and so as 2.30am clicks around, I sign off at the end of the first day of Tata Jagriti Yatra. YARO CHALO!

Kaustav

It’s the calm before the storm. Day 1 of Tata Jagriti Yatra starts off very early. 5.30am rise from our slumber and a brisk shower. The wireless signal is flagging in the guest room where we’re stay and so the uploads from last night have failed. I tip toe out to the common room and place the laptop on the dining table and start the youtube and flickr uploads again and sneak back to my bedroom to complete last minute packing.  The sound outside the bedroom window at 5.30am is almost deafening! There are black crows squawking all over the place, yet day break is no-where to be seen. Traffic noise and people shouting and talking is drowning out any sense of tranquility or calm I would have normally expected anywhere else in India or indeed back home in London. The city of Mumbai truly lives up to its reputation as a never sleeping, never ending 24/7 place where no man or women has a rest.

The first of the yatra begins shortly with a 8.30am trip out to a part of Mumbai called Prabhdevi, where our African contingent are staying. We’ll be picking them up by taxi and taking all eight of them to the yatri orientation workshop up in IIT Mumbai which is loated in Powai, a good two hour road trip up in the northern outskirts of greater Mumbai. The orientation session will be similar to the facilitator work shop from yesterday but geared totally towards the yatri’s. They’ll get to meet each other, all 350 of them, for the first time. Many have been travelling down to Mumbai from all over India in large groups, having previously met up a few days back at “Tatat Jagriti Yatra meeting ups” in their own towns and cities. It’ll be interesting to see what cliques and groups have already formed and subsequently how we’ll manage that.

Yatri’s will begin to pour in to IIT Mumbai for registration at around 9am to 12pm and from around 13:00 we’ll start off the yatri orientation workshop which will end towards 2pm. Following this, the yatri’s will get to meet some stellar business and social entrepreneurs - namely Manish Tripathi and Jyoti Naik who will give a talk about their startups and organisations.  At 15:30 we all set off for the flagging off ceremony in Mumbai Central station. Gauri Sharma Tripathi, a well known Indian classical dancer from the South Bank Centre in London, where she is an artist in residence, will be performing a dance to kick off the proceedings at the train station followed by presentations and short speeches by various reps from Tata and then engines will fire up and the train will start to head out of Mumbai, initially north and then to branch out to the east and curve back down south, heading towards our second stop, Thiruvananthapuram, formerly known as Trivandrum.

As I sit here typing this blog entry, the full magnitude of the yatra has yet to sink in. I’ve been involved with this whole project right from day one. Although I’ve been involved with the minutia of all the planning, strategizing and build-up, I don’t think I will know what has hit me until I get on the train and start to see the landscape of India flow past. The yatra is going to be a unique experience for me and for everyone else who attends it. Each of us will take back our own learnings and we’ll also form our own opinions of what have to be done to improve the lives of millions of people who are still living below the poverty line. Above all, I hope ths yatra teaches us all about the importance of close collaboration; the ability to be able to bring together bright young minds and not fight each other based on ego or how more qualified we are compared to the next person; but instead learn to leverage the wisdom of the crowd, the power that lies within true group collaboration and work towards a common and unified future.

We’ll have laptops and datacards on the train, but I cannot guarentee that our connection will be constant or even fast enough to be able to blog, however, I urge you all the check back on this blog and at the official yatri blog throughout the full duration of the yatra, 24th Dec 2008 to 11th Jan 2009. We’ll endeavour to update this blog and also upload photos to our flickr group and youtube pages.