As the train chugged past the rugged landscape of Maharashtra, plains and streams greeting us as we sat there our gazes transfixed on the many beautiful things India had to show to us, many new faces greeted us. For better or worse, our compartment was the first one on our bogie. That naturally meant, everyone passed by us in order to get to the Chair Cars where the sessions took place, or to use the wash and the toilet. This was the good part. We could meet everyone. This also meant that we would have people opening the doors at stations and popping out for the security to chide us for opening up the doors... That, and the fact that sometimes, some genius would not flush the bioflush latrine properly, or leave the door open and our olfactory senses would wish they'd had a cold. I otherwise would have skipped this, but as I write, I am greeted by the smell, so...
Ours was a specially chartered train complete with our own cooks, housekeepers and security and these were elements that the organizers took very seriously. We had no stops today, and we were to attend an in-train orientation that was to tell us basic dos and donts and familiarize ourselves with the schedules. We had a late start to the day, obviously... Woke up at around 10. I'd taken the topmost berth, with Dr Gupta taking the bottom one directly below me. Since we did not have a 6th member, the middle one was free. We had a Yatri mistakenly join us while boarding, but then he was sent to the right compartment later. Gaus Bhai took the top one next to me with Vipesh below him and Shantanu (CA Saab) on the bottom berth. Yashwanth took the adjacent berth and the one above, we used as Luggage Storage. This was pretty much the standard format followed on all bogies.
The train layout was something interesting. The Engine and Store came first, followed by the Girls Bathrooms and Bogies. In the centre were the 2 AC Chair Cars were all our sessions and discussions took place. Next were the ERC and Resource Person Bogies. Also AC. The Sickbay, Control Room, Lost and Found, Media Room, Blogging Bay and all others with ERCs leading them was here. The first bogie after the ERC Bogie was ours, much to our releif. During the long ours of water stoppage of which there were many, we had the easiest access to the adjacent bogies' facilities! We had more boys sleeper bogies behind us. Then, the Staff Bogies - Housekeeping, Servers, Cooks, Security and the likes. The Pantry was next, where all the magic happened! Many a times I spent long durations there just observing their brevity and speed with which they worked. It was something to marvel at! Tailing us at the last, was the Boys' bathroom.
The bathroom was innovation at its best! They had an interesting setup, with a modified General Sitting Coach fixed with Plastic Cages made out of PVC pipes. Multiple Tanks filled with water were kept adjacent to these cages with buckets and mugs aplenty. The cages had jeans covers around them with zippers to open them up and get in. The setup inside had a central standing area sandwiched between to higher points that gave a bench sort of setup. The drainage was central and the water would wash off into a central collection facility to then be disposed. The watertanks were to be filled at 5 in the evening, so the bath had to wait. The train was still being fitted with extension ports and speakers for announcents and other requirements.
The day began with us discussing the possibility of opening up a Book Club. Dr Gupta who is the codinator of the ECell at NIT Raipur spoke to us about Design Thinking, Growth Mindset and other positive ideals we could inculcate in our lives. After breakfast was served at the compartment itsef, we made our way to the AC Chair Car for the first session of the day by Ashutosh Kumar, CEO of Jagriti Yatra. Dos and Donts were talked about and then we were asked to do something interesting - Lifeline Sessions.
This was a Group activity and encouraged all Groups (a set of 3 cohorts) meet up and plot their lifeline. The highs, the lows, the turning points. It was an interesting exercise that took place after lunch. 17 people from 3 cohorts were crammed into 9/1 and we shared our lives. The diversity in th Group was amazing. On one side we had Cathy, a Chinese origin graduate from Columbia, who had worked in a variety of things before choosing to work for the Indian Development spaces. On the other, we had Sandhya madam, a Homemaker and entrepreneur from rural Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. We had Sumi from Kerala, who was maried on Monday, and on Tuesday instead of on a Honeymoon, she'd chosen to come to the Yatra, and we had Apoorva from Ghaziabad working to educate young children from low income communities in rural parts of Delhi Every one of those stories was unique and thought provoking in different ways. Many a times we think life in the cities in affluent families is a bed of roses, and rightfully so, but the difficulties and hardships that they go through are just as if not more heartbreaking than rural or underdog stories,. I will be putting up some of these stories on the Blog in the days to come. The setting was most interesting though. We had 4 people sitting on each of the lower births. We had one fellow adjusting himself behind the luggage berth and Gaus and I hanging from the top berths with our heads down sharing it with a couple more folks. Tea time overlapped with this and sipping hot tea whilst listening to the stories in what was a cozy safe space brought very homely feels to the whole group.
At around 7, it was time for a Chair Car session. Why not to start-up? The interesting title intrigued all, as it was full and overflowing by the time we got there. We sat down on the floor and listened to Chirag, the founder and CEO of Get My Parking. Speaking about his journey, and drawing parallels with a lot of other startup stories and why most start-ups fail 90% of the time, he kept the crowd engaged for the entire session. Interesting titbits and redflags to look out for while starting up, the kind of hires you should make, the kind of commitment you should have, the kind of mindset that needs to be there among others. Of course, it's not an algorithm that can be exactly followed to the tee to get a successful enterprise at the end of it, but it's a step in the right direction!
By the time the session was over, it was quite late, and we had dinner and most of them crashed. The speakers had been set up we got all updates over the PA System. Nights out was at 11, but we went back to the Chair Car because there was a call for Teams.
This was one of the biggest lessons of the day, whether one can agree with me or not... Many a times, especially in Manipal Clubs, we spend a hell lot of time ideating and executing recruitment processes. Jagriti Yatra also recruits volunteers to help out the Organizing Team in the activities. Crowd Management (Disha), Waste Management, Media, Yearbook, Logistics, Branding, and many others. Everything was done in a matter of an hour. Parallelly. By 12:00 midnight, half an hour give or take... we had the orientation, recruitment call, selection of teams, introduction and setting of the agenda for the next day, done with!
What do you do, was the question asked to me. I let out a dramatic sigh of exasperation before starting. "I am a Blogger, Photographer, Videographer, Graphic Designer, Event Manager and Media Producer..., I said. "And in my free time, I did my engineering," I added to a chorus of cheers and laughter. I was in!
Normally, this would be the end of the day. We would go to sleep, but the day wouldn't end for us without an adventure? What did we do?
I think I'll leave that for tomorrow, because... You know, it was tomorrow!
The train layout was something interesting. The Engine and Store came first, followed by the Girls Bathrooms and Bogies. In the centre were the 2 AC Chair Cars were all our sessions and discussions took place. Next were the ERC and Resource Person Bogies. Also AC. The Sickbay, Control Room, Lost and Found, Media Room, Blogging Bay and all others with ERCs leading them was here. The first bogie after the ERC Bogie was ours, much to our releif. During the long ours of water stoppage of which there were many, we had the easiest access to the adjacent bogies' facilities! We had more boys sleeper bogies behind us. Then, the Staff Bogies - Housekeeping, Servers, Cooks, Security and the likes. The Pantry was next, where all the magic happened! Many a times I spent long durations there just observing their brevity and speed with which they worked. It was something to marvel at! Tailing us at the last, was the Boys' bathroom.
The bathroom was innovation at its best! They had an interesting setup, with a modified General Sitting Coach fixed with Plastic Cages made out of PVC pipes. Multiple Tanks filled with water were kept adjacent to these cages with buckets and mugs aplenty. The cages had jeans covers around them with zippers to open them up and get in. The setup inside had a central standing area sandwiched between to higher points that gave a bench sort of setup. The drainage was central and the water would wash off into a central collection facility to then be disposed. The watertanks were to be filled at 5 in the evening, so the bath had to wait. The train was still being fitted with extension ports and speakers for announcents and other requirements.
The day began with us discussing the possibility of opening up a Book Club. Dr Gupta who is the codinator of the ECell at NIT Raipur spoke to us about Design Thinking, Growth Mindset and other positive ideals we could inculcate in our lives. After breakfast was served at the compartment itsef, we made our way to the AC Chair Car for the first session of the day by Ashutosh Kumar, CEO of Jagriti Yatra. Dos and Donts were talked about and then we were asked to do something interesting - Lifeline Sessions.
This was a Group activity and encouraged all Groups (a set of 3 cohorts) meet up and plot their lifeline. The highs, the lows, the turning points. It was an interesting exercise that took place after lunch. 17 people from 3 cohorts were crammed into 9/1 and we shared our lives. The diversity in th Group was amazing. On one side we had Cathy, a Chinese origin graduate from Columbia, who had worked in a variety of things before choosing to work for the Indian Development spaces. On the other, we had Sandhya madam, a Homemaker and entrepreneur from rural Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. We had Sumi from Kerala, who was maried on Monday, and on Tuesday instead of on a Honeymoon, she'd chosen to come to the Yatra, and we had Apoorva from Ghaziabad working to educate young children from low income communities in rural parts of Delhi Every one of those stories was unique and thought provoking in different ways. Many a times we think life in the cities in affluent families is a bed of roses, and rightfully so, but the difficulties and hardships that they go through are just as if not more heartbreaking than rural or underdog stories,. I will be putting up some of these stories on the Blog in the days to come. The setting was most interesting though. We had 4 people sitting on each of the lower births. We had one fellow adjusting himself behind the luggage berth and Gaus and I hanging from the top berths with our heads down sharing it with a couple more folks. Tea time overlapped with this and sipping hot tea whilst listening to the stories in what was a cozy safe space brought very homely feels to the whole group.
At around 7, it was time for a Chair Car session. Why not to start-up? The interesting title intrigued all, as it was full and overflowing by the time we got there. We sat down on the floor and listened to Chirag, the founder and CEO of Get My Parking. Speaking about his journey, and drawing parallels with a lot of other startup stories and why most start-ups fail 90% of the time, he kept the crowd engaged for the entire session. Interesting titbits and redflags to look out for while starting up, the kind of hires you should make, the kind of commitment you should have, the kind of mindset that needs to be there among others. Of course, it's not an algorithm that can be exactly followed to the tee to get a successful enterprise at the end of it, but it's a step in the right direction!
By the time the session was over, it was quite late, and we had dinner and most of them crashed. The speakers had been set up we got all updates over the PA System. Nights out was at 11, but we went back to the Chair Car because there was a call for Teams.
This was one of the biggest lessons of the day, whether one can agree with me or not... Many a times, especially in Manipal Clubs, we spend a hell lot of time ideating and executing recruitment processes. Jagriti Yatra also recruits volunteers to help out the Organizing Team in the activities. Crowd Management (Disha), Waste Management, Media, Yearbook, Logistics, Branding, and many others. Everything was done in a matter of an hour. Parallelly. By 12:00 midnight, half an hour give or take... we had the orientation, recruitment call, selection of teams, introduction and setting of the agenda for the next day, done with!
What do you do, was the question asked to me. I let out a dramatic sigh of exasperation before starting. "I am a Blogger, Photographer, Videographer, Graphic Designer, Event Manager and Media Producer..., I said. "And in my free time, I did my engineering," I added to a chorus of cheers and laughter. I was in!
Normally, this would be the end of the day. We would go to sleep, but the day wouldn't end for us without an adventure? What did we do?
I think I'll leave that for tomorrow, because... You know, it was tomorrow!