Biking in the Konkan

Imagine riding a bike through that for like 12 hours straight! It is bliss, I tell you.. :D

7 of us took off on 4 bikes from Pune to a place called Dapeli, nestled in between the beautiful Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The Konkan belt is amongst THE most scenic routes one can take for a bike trip. And we had amazing weather too! We did get a bit of heat for few hours over the 2 days, but it was very very pleasant for a lot of the trip..

Biking is an amazing thing to do! This was my first long bike trip, and it was one of the best experiences in my life.. One of my good friends who is an amazing musician/ endurance sports enthusiast put it this way, "long distance biking is a kind of active meditation." That may not be a very musical statement, but I tell you, that is one of the truest things you will hear.. 

"Active Meditation" is probably the most brilliant way to describe the experience of long distance biking. It felt like experiencing a beautiful piece of art. Different kinds of terrain evoked different emotional flavors in me, some discrete and tangible, while some very abstract. These would sometimes come up as pleasant recollections of some of the better moments in life with loved ones, sometimes bring visions of previous moments spent in the cradle of nature in all its resplendent majesty and beauty, sometimes a peaceful and somber realization of some particular aspect of life and many more that are very difficult to put in words. The most fascinating thing is that, while biking, your mind is forced to remain fully engaged in the present moment.. Your life depends on it! It just does not wander. All the previous described mental activity occurs as a sort of automatic process where a small part of the consciousness just acts as a witness, and you go through all these subjective experiences in a very very detached state of mind, which sort of frees you from many many impressions. Hence, I say it truly is a meditation!

And after all these hours spent on the road, I can confidently say that biking is only as risky as you want to make it. If you keep your head in place and not attempt unnecessary showmanship, the risk of fatality is no higher than any other means of transport. Yes, on a dark night, and on a thin poorly made path, biking is riskier.. But otherwise not. Oh, and all said and done, it is a bit tiring on the lower back and the region further south, but that is just a small opportunity cost for the immense joy it has to offer. Plus, you could get a Thunderbird-like vehicle designed for ergonomic comfort and save on that too! :D

We stopped for the night at a beautiful beach near Dapeli, swam in the Ocean for a few hours, chilled and relaxed for the night (really deep sleep! :D ) and drove back to Pune the next day by a different and equally scenic route..

All in all, an amazing trip and the beginning of my enthusiasm for biking! I am eagerly looking forward to my next such trip.. :D

Jumping into a well...

When I was standing at the edge, with nothing to do but take the plunge, it was scary. I knew more or less what the experience was going to be like. I knew it could be done safely(I saw a person jump in before me)... But I was still apprehensive. The second time was a piece of cake.

In my childhood, owing to the nature of my dad's job, we would shift cities every 2-3 years and I would have to join a new school each time. The first day was scary in the same way. I knew more or less what school would be like, having been in one before too :P But it would still take a few days to be at ease. Venturing into the unknown, while always generating feelings of apprehension and fear, also gives a sense of excitement and enthusiasm. It keeps one alive and helps one live in the moment. I've gone through many such experiences of stepping into a dark room with a torch, fumbling until I find the light switch, yet its amazing how each new room comes with its own fresh thrill of excitement and apprehension. A new school and new residence (new social group, new place etc...) every 2-3 years, my time in Vijayawada for my JEE preparation (one of the tougher ordeals I've been through), my admission into IIT, travels and experiences acquired while volunteering with the Art Of Living Foundation, social and cultural activities in and out of campus through my college life, internships and summer travels in various cities of the country ranging from Kanyakumari to Jammu, including 2 Himalayan summits in between and various other instances.

In all of this, I've always had amazing people helping me through various stages and also a fair share of sour grapes, making each journey more interesting, challenging and more memorable.

Recently, I shifted to Bhopal to study Classical Music at a gurukul in Bhopal. It being a completely new city (its more of a large town actually :P) to me, my initiation into the "Bhopali way of life" was made much easier by Rini (friend and co meditator from IIT) and her family. My life in Bhopal started amazingly with a superb Mrityunjaya Homa early in the morning at her home, followed by a short and sweet satsang. Then after a day of chilling, I visited my home for the next phase of my life, a small ashram-like setting seemingly in a different planet, far far away from the entropy of the city with almost no physical connectivity to the outer world. Though I was a bit apprehensive about the complete lack of external connectivity, I was looking forward to start my musical journey. After visiting a friend in Indore for a couple of days before my gurus could arrive, I returned to the Gurukul and it began...

Stranded in Jammu...

I wasn't really stranded in Jammu. It just felt like such a catchy title... :P More about that incident in the post.
Let me start at the end. The end of my BTech from IITB. 4 amazing years... Made some really amazing friends, met some amazing people, went through some amazing times... Learnt a lot. Saw a lot. Felt a lot.

After I was done, I had around 2 months without any agenda before I had to leave for my education in music. So I decided to make use of these 2 months as best as I can. And I'm happy to say that I did do this. I climbed snow clad peaks in the Himalayas (escaped the Himalayan Tsunami by just a few days.. Thankfully), traveled with friends around Mumbai, Bangalore, Punjab, Delhi and even Jammu, worked with the Art Of Living rural empowerment team in an intensive training program in Maharashtra and even went on two mini pilgrimages with my parents and sister.

These last two months were very very active, with a lot of travel and I had great fun and again met some awesome people and saw some amazing things. Travel is an amazing thing to do. Especially if you are on a low budget and without any fixed plan and not afraid to rough it out. You get to see the country in a different light, understand how her people live and what they go through, see all the beauty she truly has to offer and fall in love with her, her people and her places. About the time in rural Maharashtra with the Art of Living team, I'd written a post before. If interested, do check out this.

A group of us from IIT had gone a 11 day trek to a place called SarPass in the Parvati Valley region of the Western Himalayas. Having done the Basic Mountaineering Course, I had spent a month in the Himalayas few years back and was already smitten by the beauty there. The life is terribly difficult in the mountains; more so than one can ever imagine or expect. But it still captivates and calls back those who have been there. You get closer to nature than anywhere else in all its beauty and glory and a newfound respect for nature is born in you. You also get glimpses of nature's fury and majesty and learn not to mess with her. If unlucky, you get more than a glimpse... We had a bit of trouble with the weather, though now we realize we got away with very very little hardships, compared to what we would've had to go through if we were even a few days late.
After this amazing tryst with the beautiful Himalayas, 3 of us went on to Chandigarh and Amritsar with a couple of other friends. Punjab is an amazing state. The people there live straight from the heart and make you feel at home right away. And the Golden Temple in Amritsar is a must visit for all. The energy and spiritual ambiance there is simply amazing, and I have had some of my deepest meditations sitting in the courtyard by the pond there.

Then 3 of us went on to the famous Vaishno Devi temple in the state of Jammu. Visiting the temple involves a 14 km trek up a mountain and back. The purpose is so that if you walk so much uphill, all the restlessness in the body and mind get finished and you become mentally and physically calm when you reach up. It is then much much easier to get into a meditative state near the shrine and experience the joy within. While climbing, it was very sunny. But when we reached the top, the skies were covered and we were caught in a really heavy downpour for a couple of hours. It was freezing cold and the really heavy winds made it even more tough to bear. But the rain eventually let away and we were able to resume with just a small experience of the fury of the mountain monsoons. One of my friends (Tau a.k.a. Sumit) whose dad is in the army got us in through the army line, and saved us almost 10-12 hours in all. Thanks to him, we could return the same night. I had to be back in Chandigarh to see off a close friend who was leaving the next day, and this wouldn't have been possible if not for "Tau"!

Now coming to the "title story". We reached Katra (the town at the base of the mountain of Vaishno Devi) at around 1 am and found that there were no buses to Chandigarh/ Delhi. At the bus stand, there were buses leaving to the town of Jammu, about an hour away and the conductor very convincingly assured us of buses to Chandigarh and trains to Delhi from there. On reaching jammu, Tau proceeded to the station to go to Delhi and I got down at the "bus stand", a stretch of road beside a bridge, with a few buses parked for the night. On asking around the few people who were loitering there, I realized I was not going to get any buses to Chandigarh until the next afternoon. A few private car owners offered to take me to some other place from where there were assured buses to Chd for a few hundred rupees, but they seemed to just be running their business. After interacting with few people at a shop that was still open and a police officer, and validating data from different sources, I boarded a Roadways (the government bus service. Not very comfortable, but very very reliable) bus to Jalandhar, got down at a place called Dassuan at around 4 am, and got onto a bus to Chandigarh from there at around 5 am. For the benefit of all those reading this, know that you will never be truly stranded in North India thanks to the amazing Roadways there. At about 1 Re per km, these buses connect the entire North India if not directly, atleast with a few changes, throughout the day and night! But just be aware and ask the right people for information.

After spending a couple of days at Chandigarh, I went on to Delhi, spent a couple of days with friends there, visited the beautiful Akshhardham temple there (another must. Its amazing!). Stayed with a senior from IIT who quit a high-paying job in a top tech firm to prepare for IAS there. Then it was back to Bangalore; home after a long trip. Spent a lot of time with my seniors from IIT here and Art Of Living volunteers. We had a lot of fun here too. Early morning Yoga sessions, bike trips around the city and to the ashram to meet Guruji, organizing courses in the city and our own personal masti around the city.

Now I'm relaxing for a few days at home, still spending time with friends and volunteers in Bangalore, getting ready to go to Bhopal to learn music and begin the next phase of my life. All excited... :D

8 Days...

"YLTP is my heart; and Yuvacharyas are my heartbeats"  - Sri Sri

Today I know why... The Youth Leadership Training Program of the Art Of Living Foundation is an 8 day journey that focuses on uncovering the tremendous leadership potential and skills required to effect transformation in society in those already passionate about contributing to their nation. A special YLTP was organized for graduates between the age group of 20-40 with a very senior teacher (Jayantji Bhole.. More about him in the end.. I could write pages about him!) and focused on creating an intellectually equipped team of Yuvacharyas with a practical and wholesome understanding and experience of service in rural India; to give a technical lead to the YLTP.

These 8 days were the most empowering of my life. They gave me an in depth (theoretical and practical) understanding of leadership, responsibility, service, empowerment, presentation, communication, practicality in service, environment and spirituality like nothing or no one ever has. I've been involved in service projects and spirituality since the last 4 years. But compared to the energy, commitment to work and implementation of knowledge I saw here in the YLTP, the last 4 years feels like just a trailer. The workshop contained modules and sessions that very concisely and directly drilled into me, made me understand patterns in myself and more aware of my actions. 

The first couple of days were completely about empowering us to come out of our comfort zone and taking action. Coming out of one's comfort zone is not easy. It requires immense courage. But then, transforming the society is not for the weak. With a very clear sense of purpose to serve, all the knowledge and wisdom that I learnt and assimilated in the past 4 years came to the forefront and I understood it at a level I had not contemplated before.

The next few days contained more activities to take us further away from our comfort zone, field work with an elevated sense of awareness and enthusiasm (which active Yuvacharyas live in day in and day out) which led to an amazing revelation of the leadership potential within each one of us and also the ability to bring about change if we wished to. There were also more processes and activities to enable a deeper understanding of our mind, intellect and ego. To those who know what they are, YLTP includes processes and activities from Part I, Part II, DSN and even TTC apart from of course its own uniquely brilliant content.

We met some amazingly crazy people, people so passionate about service, that even with 300 armed gundas behind them threatening to take their lives, stayed on and took down one of the biggest real estate giants in the country with just a team of 12 odd people "ordinary" people. We met people who even on being discouraged by their own beneficiaries, converted villages rampant with political rivalry and substance addiction into a thriving empowered society free of alcohol, with numerous self help groups, means of financial sustenance, chemical free organic farming and lots more...

Finally, we had an opportunity to take up a massive undertaking as a group and effect transformation in hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. This project which our team took up involves empowerment of 14 villages and study followed by execution of an eco-friendly, organic solution to preservatives, insecticides, water body cleansing and many more applications. Since this is in progress, I will write more about it once we develop it and work on it further.

I learnt a lot these 8 days, grew as a person, a leader and a sadhak. I am extremely grateful to all those who made this happen.

Jayant Bhaiya: In the realm of the human, I have come to respect this man more than anyone else I know by a huge margin. In a way, the whole effort was worth just to spend some time with him; learn from him. He knows SO MUCH about SO MUCH. We would have special sessions with him where he would reveal amazing insights into topics ranging right from astrology and palmistry (where he brilliantly sorted out the scientific principles) to amazingly innovative techniques in agriculture, to cultural and political strategies that lead to social and economic degradation or enrichment of society as a whole. He literally has infinite energy. He would sleep after 3.30 am, be up by 5 am every day of the course, take all our sessions with the same energy and passion, lead projects (really big ones.. impacting thousands of lives) and give guidance in between, spend some time after the day's work on his own personal business and repeat the same thing the next day without a single sign of wear! While we had to run through a pretty rigorous schedule these 8 days, for him it is the same every single day of his life! He spearheaded the Vidarbha project, a region where one suicide occurred every 8 hours.. 518 villages were adopted and in 2 years, total transformation has occurred. For the past 8 years, not a single suicide has occurred in these 518 villages. They are self sustainable and empowered. This is but one of his undertakings. One can see him living every principle of spirituality and service to the fullest, every moment of his existence through every cell of his being. He drilled in us a holistic approach to service where we empower the beneficiary to help themselves long term, and maintain a practical and sensible mind while taking up new undertakings, yet not losing the sensitivity and awareness that makes us loving and caring humans. It was truly an honor doing a workshop with him, and he will continue to inspire me and lakhs more for ages to come. Any chance anyone reading this gets to interact with him in any way, grab it! You will relish the opportunity. 

Hope you get/ stay inspired to take responsibility to develop and empower society to the extent you can. All the best!

Jai Hind!

Dombivili Diaries

I just returned from one of the best weekends of my life... Full of music, learning, fun and masti :D Thanks to Krishnan Keshavan for inviting me over to Dombivili... For those who don't know, Krishnan is this really cool dude. Very very talented musician (he sings amazingly well and composes tunes that you just cant get out of your head. They send waves of bliss flowing down you every time you hear one of them...) and one of the leads of The Bhakti Band (http://www.bhaktitheconcert.com/)
Its been a long time since I last posted something here. I thought this would be a good experience to share... Life was going on as usual; same arbit schedules of the average IITian, sleepless nights, snoring in classes, hanging out in Rahul's room (amazing view... He stays in the new hostel of IITB on the 6th floor) or Mugdha's lab at night, generally running around the campus doing arbit stuff, making plans to get up early every morning and making full use of the snooze facility etc... The latest YES!+ with Rashmin Bhaiya recently ended and 25 odd people became much happier, more content and more capable of living a happy and stress free life... :D
Then came the Ganesh Utsav and a five day holiday from acads!!! (5 days assuming a friday bunk in between... Taken for granted ;) ) I had made great plans to go ahead of what my profs are teaching... :P hahahahahahhahaha :D I'll never make the mistake of making such mindless stupid hopeless plans again... Energy may or may not be conserved in this universe... But students (if this doesn't apply to you, please stop reading my blog) can never go ahead of what their profs are teaching. You just cant find time no matter how many holidays in between you get. There's probably some law preventing this. The universe will conspire against you if you make such plans. Manage your time extremely well, use all the "free time" (defined: the time when the only option you have other than sitting and studying is sitting and staring at you nails) you have to actually study and you "might" be on par with what your profs are teaching... (again, if this doesn't apply to you, please stop reading this blog... :P ) Same thing happened to me... Wednesday went peacefully. Got up late after the 6 days of the YES!+ course, played guitar, studied for "some" time, chilled with friends etc... I got a call from Krishnan telling me he needs a guitarist for a satsang in Mulund. Now, I am a beginner guitarist. The maximum crowd in which I've played is around 20 people in our weekly IIT satsangs. And that too, I only manage to play few songs and had very limited knowledge of scales. I could never play unfamiliar songs impromptu. I told Krishnan that Im just a beginner, but he convinced me to show up. I ditched the IIT satsang (missed an awesome session with Rashmin Bhaiya, I was told later... But Im still happy I went.. :) ) and went to Mulund with Pramod Bhaiya's guitar (he has a semi acoustic... I just have an acoustic guitar.. cant be plugged into an amplifier).
The Mulund satsang was a new experience for me. First time I would be playing guitar on the stage, with real professionals. There was a professional keyboardist who was hired from somewhere. Krishnan on the vocals and few other talented singers. Amazing percussionists (tabla and djambe)... Just me from the beginner category. Luckily, my guitar dint get plugged in and the mike they kept in front of the guitar wasnt so effective. I was for all practical purposes playing just for myself :P and was only very faintly audible to the audience. So it wasnt so testing and I managed to pull it off with very few glitches. Playing on stage with professionals is a really challenging task. It needs extreme awareness and immense concentration... especially with a singer like Krishnan who raises the energy of the song so high and the beats get extremely fast. The experience was very painful and rewarding at the same time. I did goof up slightly at few instances, but managed to cover it up without making it noticable, thanks to the loud cover of the keyboard :). This was my first feel of a public satsang, with new songs and a totally new atmosphere altogether. Im very very grateful for such an experience. I learnt everything the easy way without having to go through any embarrassing situations on stage. After this, I got some confidence and realized that I'm not that bad a guitar player after all :D... Krishnan called me again to a satsang in Dombivili for the weekend and I just had to accept it... :) Once again, thanks to Krishnan for giving me this opportunity.
While returning, I was at kanjur marg looking for an auto to IIT. I saw a guy getting into an auto saying Hiranandani. I immediately ran after him and asked if he would drop me at the IIT main Gate. He said yes. We had a nice long conversation during the drive. He was into analyzing loan repayment capacities or something like that. He had met a lot of IITians and had a lot to share. We discussed finance, MBA, careers, IIT life, life outside and other things. I took his card and we bid goodbye.
We (me, Rahul and others) had a plan of going to Essel World on Saturday, but it got ditched due to unforeseen circumstances. So saturday, after lunch I left for Krishnan's house with my guitar and a change of clothes (plan was to stay overnight and return after the sunday satsang). I left at 3.30, but dint get an auto for a very long time. I saw an auto outside the main gate and a guy sitting in it. Many people go from IIT go to Kanjur Marg, so I just asked him if he was heading over to Kanjur Marg. He was going to Ghatkopar. I asked him if he could drop me to Ghatkopar station... His house turned out to be very near the station. So I went with him to Ghatkopar station. Again, had a nice long conversation with him about this and that. He turned out to be a final year PhD student in IIT. He too had done the YES!+ course. He said he loved it. But he had lost touch with the practices. He was really interested in getting back in touch and said he would repeat the course whenever he got the time. After ensuring he was on the mailing list, I bid him goodbye and soon was on a slow local to dombivili. I was worried I would be late as Krishnan had said satsang was at 5... :P Finally it started at 7.45. The time given was 7.30. At 5 there were some pujas there.
In the train, I met this awesome guy from Hyderabad. He was all drunk, though he was fairly conscious. He started talking about his life, wife and her family. He spoke about his job, mother in law, his brother and many other things. He had an awesome attitude. He kept saying "life me tension nhn leneka. Me bilkul tension nhn leta hun... me aisa hi hun. meri saas ko bahut problem hota hai iske waje se..." and more on those lines.. He said," maine biwi ko bola hai ki raat ko 9 baje aunga. par 5.30 tak pahunch jaunga. sahi time batao toh message pe message aega. aur meri biwi punjabi hai. Punjabiyon ka dimag hamesha bht garam rehta hai... sambhalna padta hai..." He narrated few incidents to illustrate his points. It was fun chatting with him (though I mostly listened while he spoke... :P u can never interrupt a girl on the phone or a drunk guy talking about his mother in law... )
After this interesting experience, I reached Krishnan's house by around 5.20. There he said me that the satsang is actually at 7.30 :P We had some time to practice etc... So we jammed a little. He gave me few tips here and there. I fixed my scale and timing. This satsang, I was the only accompaniment apart from percussion. So I couldn't hide behind the keyboard like last time!!! :P
And Krishnan, like a true professional, does a lot of improvisation and nothing is really planned on paper in his satsang. He moves with the flow. I was worried how it would go... I managed to pull it off :D No flaws... Krishnan blew everyone off with his amazing energetic voice... Everyone were dancing and singing loudly... It was lovely... And after the satsang, many people came to me and praised my guitar playing... Felt new and nice :D I gained more confidence on my guitar. We returned to Krishnan's house and chatted for some time. Krishnan's mom fed us really awesome rice, rasam etc... Home made food, that too south India food :D :D :D... reminded me of my home... Aunty too chatted with us for a while... After a good night's sleep, we got up; I did a bit of studying (had to... :P lots left over), we did a lot of jamming, came up with some amazing tunes ( I got to see a lot of Krishnan's talent this weekend :D the guy rocks.... \m/ ) watched videos of masters in action (Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan etc...) chatted about this and that and then went for the satsang again in the evening. This time, I was more confident. I was able to play more fluently than before. Though, one of the female singers started singing, I couldn't identify her scale. Covered it with some other scale, but I wasn't satisfied... Neither was Krishnan... But at that point, neither of us could identify the scale. Apart from that one song, everything else was top class... :D People loved it. Again they jumped with joy, sang out, danced and rejoiced... Felt awesome to see that while playing the guitar to Krishnan's singing.
Again my guitar playing was much appreciated (turns out that glitch in identifying the scale was not noticed by people \m/ :) ) and I left Dombivili to Mugdha's house. Krishnan had to leave for another satsang immediately... I went to Mugdha's house, arrived just in time for the Aarti... :D Had an awesome dinner there with her, Pramod Bhaiya and few of her relatives. Then we left for IIT...

It was an amazing weekend for me :D I feel I have progressed a lot as a guitar player, thanks to Krishnan, for giving me the opportunity and experience and sharing his knowledge with me... I had a great time at Dombivili with the DOmbivili Idol, Krishnan Keshavan and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next time I get to play with him for a satsang :D

All the best for all your endeavors.... :D

GRA trip, Summer 2011

So we have this forum/community in IIT called the GRA. It stands for Group for Rural Activities. GRA has a simple yet very powerful purpose. It aims at giving rural exposure to the enthu IITian... We at GRA believe that our country will develop & move forward when our villages develop & move forward. To be a part of this, we first need to understand rural life firsthand, not through media or hearsay. So during the semester, we have many talks & presentations by people who are actively working in some rural area in some part of the country & we also make small visits to rural or related projects in and around the beautiful city of Mumbai. Apart from this, our main attraction if you will, is a 4-5 day camp at the end of every academic semester, where we actually pack few sets of clothes and a brush (some get soap too :P) and go live in a rural setting. We normally visit villages where significant development has been or is being done in a sustainable manner. Last year we visited Ralegan Siddhi, the village of Anna Hazareji, stayed there for 3 days & also visited a few projects related to watershed development in & around Pune.
This year, We visited 3 places over a period of 5 days. The first place we visited was an NGO named Shashwat in Bhimashankar, Maharashtra. It is run by an IIT alumnus & his wife, Mr. Anand Kapoor & Kusum taai... It was really inspiring to see an IITian (IIT Kgp, BTech Civil with Honours) living in a tribal area for so many years & serving the nation & its people. It was started for the victims of the Dimbhe dam construction. The tribals of that area were relocated very nicely on paper, but practically they were landless & had no water for irrigation. Kusum taai used to randomly go into the tribal lands & just live with a family & do all their general housework. She soon had an excellent rapport with them & soon she and Anandji started working there fulltime. Anandji made an excellent point... Never work "for" the people. Work "with " the people. You are not doing anyone a favor here. Its every citizen's duty to give back to his nation & people. We all are happily sitting in the comfort of our homes/ hostels enjoying uninterrupted power & water... We have no idea who is paying for it & how much.
We visited their tribal school & stayed the night with the children there. The school was really inspiring. They take in dropouts from other schools & turn them into educated responsible people. The kind of challenges they faced were immense & it was a real humbling experience for all of us.
We next visited a village called Hivre Bazar in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra. Its a model village & one of the best. As we entered the village, we thought we were entering some university campus!!! :P It was that good... The person responsible for this village's present is its ex-sarpanch Shri Poppatrao Pawar. We were fortunate enough to meet him inspite of his extremely busy schedule. One thing I got from his speech was that he was extremely forceful & ambitious. He never feared any challenge. He was unanimously elected sarpanch for many terms & united the village & brought about many excellent reforms socially, economically and morally. We then roamed the village interacting with the villagers. We could see the difference in the attitudes of urban people & rural people. I was really impressed with rural India :) We asked a group of young guys if they never had any problem with so many rules... They gave a weird look & said ki "yeh apne liye hi toh hai. Isse humme hi faidha ho rha hai. Problem kyun hoga???" When we asked what happens if someone breaks a rule, they said its immediately reported & the person is fined or some action is taken. When asked if this doesn't cause strained relations, they again gave us those weird looks & said "kyun? kuch galat kiya toh fine dena hi hai na... Aur kuch sochne ke liye hai hi nhi..." :) I remembered Kusum taai's words, "I first had to unlearn all the horrible things I learnt in the city after coming here. Then I was happy once more & we could start working".
Next we visited an NGO called Snehalaya in Ahmednagar city. This visit probably touched the deepest regions of our hearts... It was an experience at a level beyond the mind or intellect. The NGOs focus is on women & children in red light areas & slums. They also help in treatment & rehabilitation of HIV affected people & children. The level of commitment & dedication of the volunteers was truly amazing. Some of us had tears in our eyes while we were visiting the projects & listening to the volunteers speak. They have many centres in slums, red light areas and in 2-3 different parts of the city where the children are kept in excellent living conditions & holistic development. The children were extremely happy & we couldn't see ny lack in them at all. We were told that they were put in the top schools of the city & were topping there too :) It was a really touching experience. One of the most active volunteers there who was overlooking the construction of a major HIV research facility & rehabilitation center was himself a HIV patient. It was great to see his gratitude t oSnehalaya in saving him & his positive approach to life. He knows he is going to die in few years. Yet he's doing great work for others like him & the organization. We also visited their childline office & got to hear some really interesting incidents they went through to rescue children.
All in all, it was a great visit, very very inspiring & humbling. We learnt to appreciate our lives much much more & got a sense of our responsibilities & duties... I'm looking forward to the next GRA camp eagerly... :)
Wait for more....