The Yatra of Konkan Day1 - Fortress of Rairee

A fully loaded rucksack journey to the lands midst of the western Ghats and the Indian ocean sprinkled with rivers and the backwaters, bordered by foggy beaches and the interspersed misty forts, supported by the jettys of the jungle, the trains in the tunnels, the tooktooks and the vadaps..the buses and the ricks..in times when the strong wind stirs the calm tranquil ocean, when the August rains dresses up the brown plains in the color of life green, we started our quest to grasp the history in the dispersed geography in the land of Konkan.

The Malavali Lohgad parked the idea of such a journey in the garage of our minds. After a lot of googling, learning, deliberation, discussion an itinerary emerged from the flood of information all over the internet. 7 days of sun and 7 nights of moon and a journey along the 700 KM of the rainy green coastline... finally began to emerge within the realms of our reach.

The WE who made this journey together a success grander than we thought.
Threesome who met on one such Yatra on the rails across the bounty of India:
Ice- A scientist married to speech whom silence eludes, one of the greatest story tellers of our times… The stories which kept us grounded to reality on our journey across the unknown lands .
Beanbags- A journo who should have adorned the Ramp but was instrumental in making us meet the photographers within… A cheerful, bubbly young lass who brought all the right colors, beauty and spirit to our Konkan Graze...
And of course the me- crazy optimist in words of my peers and fellas.

On the chilly rained night at 10:00 PM two nites before the August of Independence, we took our first flight albeit comfortably seated in the MSRTC bus from Borivali to Mahad. We just managed to grab our seats, a second more… a tick delay and it would have marred a beautiful beginning. As hourglass switched itself 6 times, before the dawn, at 3:40 AM we saw ourselves in the land of Rairi. Another 45 min bus ride to Pachad we grounded ourselves at the base where the doors of our journey opened to the 'The Gibralter of East', 'Shivtirth' or the Fort of Raigad, descended from Mauryan dynasty to the Marathas, to The Shivaji Raje, the one in History. Built around tens of hundred years back in 1030 by Chandrarao Mores, 2700 feet above the level of sea connected by a flight of 1400 steps cut in the rocks, it brings in a moment of realization when heavy waters falls around walls of fort gush 2700 feet down to hit the grounds, whether I should marvel at the engineering of the walls built atop, or whether I should immerse in the thought of time travel to the times of Shivai or the times even before that… The times of the Mauryan dynasty or I should forget the associated past and just let the now to soak me in its fullness. A ropeway fleecing through the clouds to take you across thousands of feet to the doorstep in four tiny minutes..Even as you hear the thud and gush of the water across the hills and fog enlivens the spirit rather than dampen it.

All decorated in our rain coats, and the wet rucksacks soaked heavy in water we step into the fort of our dreams…. One wanting to be the queen of Shivai, and one wanting to be the beloved daughter of Maratha King we move across the stairs and the rocky gates soaked in mist and rain… It was a dream albeit with open eyes… An emotion that made me feel that I was parked on a fort built on a cloud…If there was something more than awe, I felt it there… Cupid had struck… Raigad, the fort of Rairi, I just fell for it… Just wanted to unwind the time to the times of 1676, when Raigad fort was made the capital of the Maratha Empire… A fort which was re-erected in a span of a decade and where Shivaji breathed his last breath but more than that a place where he lived for more than a decade. We could see how much the queens of those times were loved by the Kings… The ruins of the chambers, where the queens lived, six of them seperated by the walls amidst the fountains 3000 feet above the ground… Aaah… Just took my breath away…

The bazaar peth where men with muscles enough to pick a rock more than a ton in weight rode on horses to shop… Men who never bent for whom the shops were raised in height… Sixs of thousands lived above the hills and the mountains. Folks who Walked up and down the fortress 1400 stairs in less than an hour walking past the falling water and the flowers bloomed walls of the fortress…A dog Waagha which threw itself on the pyre of his beloved master…the King of Maratha.. TakmakTok a corner from where punished would be pushed to the ground. A place from where once Shivajis beloved fellowman fell but Shivaji’s advice on time to hold onto the umbrella till he landed on the ground not only saved his life but led to the nomenclature of Chatri Nizampur.

A Shiva Temple gaurded by Nandi in the center of the fort, Large Royal tubs to bath.. Larger water reservoirs, Deep warehouses..A sense of the bhavani temple in beneath the fort blessed by whom was Shivajis first sword…The broad dwars or gates and the burujs or towers adorned the fortress across the length and the breadth of the fort. A fort inaccessible stood like a Gibraltar in the history when Shivaji, the Marathas ruled the South Asia. The sense of grandeur interlaced with a Gingered tea at a height where clouds reside, where waterfalls feels like a heaven fall, where mist left to our imagination the unseen glory of the time, we started returning through the glorious passage from the clouds back to the grounded earth via the ropeway. A strong resolve to return to Rairi was written as we looked ahead at the next flagship of our Journey enroute. A ride on tooktook from the base of Raigad from Raigads Village of Pachad to Mahad to take on the MSRTC bus to the see the unconquered fort of Shivaji… The Murud Janjira of the Siddis. Taking away with us the Glory that resides even in the Ruins of Rairi we started our journey towards the beautiful revered coasts of Raigad…

The answers that got me selected for the yatra....

This was the form that got me selected for the yatra...The answers i will cherish all my life....

Hi Supriya,

Please find your Registration Form details.
Registration Form

Will you be able to contribute towards your costs of the Yatra: agree
Level of education: Post graduate
Vocation: Corporate
Would you like to be a social or business entrepreneur? Social
Would you like to be a Facilitator/Participant? Participant

Who is your role model in life?

You never know how small things make so much impact in your life. It depends on how much im portance you attach to those small things giving it a magnifying effect. If I have to consider as one person being my role model it would be Robin Sharma. He is my positive thinking guru. The change begins from within. Positive thinking is a continuous effort, it takes a lot of effort and guidance. The effort has been from within and the guidance and inspiration has come from him. I have been a fairly fairly simple girl, hooked up to studies in fact that’s it, nothing more do I remember about me. But some experiences and his books have taught me how never to say die. It has actually helped to stand up to my beliefs in my own right. And today I don’t ask question, can I do it, I rather ask question how can I do it. Life has so much to offer us, it’s just that we are not ready to see. Today I can say that I am learning to live my life to the fullest. If positive thinking can make so much impact in my life in a span of two years, a big part of it was struggle, I think thi s world will be very happy and beautiful if this idea spreads across this world. If I could move my entire residence from Nagpur to mumbai in 3 days because I believed I could do it and never had doubts. I realise most of the times its just the mental boundaries that we need to break, things are very much achievable. I owe a lot to my Guru.

Have you already done something, which demonstrates social or business entrepreneurship?

I don’t remember me doing any kind of service prior to two years. I will list it down all the activities that I have seen me doing 1)I have started donating blood. Now I am a regular blood donor. The simplest of contribution that I can make. 2)Whatever initiatives my organization takes like Nanhi Kali and other CSR activities. I contribute and spread a word as much as possible. I have found that people are willing that they don’t know how to do things. 3)I have ran the first marathon dream run of my life. I know its not a service but it’s a salute to the spirit of India. 4)I am a registered volunteer of Make a wish foundation. Though I have not made any significant contributions other than spreading a word about the organization, I know the realisation and awareness at this stage is important. 5)I have been a part of marketing group, we had received tremendous success in a short span of time though because of some reasons we actually had to back out of our campaign. But we had a realisation that focused unity towards achieving a goal always results in success. 6)Small Kids in the vicinity who sometimes need assistance for education but are poor enough, I have taught them. Till now that’s all I can think of.

In your opinion, what is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade?

“CHANGE” For each one of us living each day the way we want happily is a challenge. But as a nation united together we have lots of challenges making a mockery of us, because we are still not ready to address them. We are more interested in irrelevant things. We are a much much better nation than we right now. I will just try to list down in my view, which are the major challenges that we face as a nation: 1) Change of attitude and perception. We have enough real issues to keep us busy enough for the next half-century atleast. Lets remove the focus from religion and vote and move it to science, education, and technology. We have enough diseases, enough illiteracy, enough poverty, enough natural calamities to focus. Just focus on these problems to eliminate from the root. 2) Show the needs their way to fulfilment. Simple ideas and enthusiasm and efforts to implement those ideas is what we need. A simple idea of adotion of children and efforts by CSA to implement it just showcases of how problems can be beautifully solved and happiness comes into lives of many people. A lovelorn child gets parents and parents who are so wanting of a Childs presence get a child become their part of life. We need more ideas and those ideas need to be implemented. 3) We as a nation have to become independent. We have to identify what are the strengths of our country. We have brains, we have land, we have water. We have to find the ways to fulfill the needs of our nation. Simple solutions are the most difficult to implement, because they are simple we don’t put much effort into implementing them. Basic requirements of any individual food, water, electricity, gud healthy environment and a shelter are the requirements of any individual. We have to find simple but viable solutions and then focus with lot of dedication on implementing these ideas. 4) We need to create an educational environment which focuses more on vocational trainings, some practical implementations, some open environments, hygiene as well as making all citizens of this country able to defend themselves. If possible military training should be included compulsorily in the childrens curriculum. If I said the change would take 50 years, we as a nation after 50 years are what our children will be at that time. We have to bring them up real positive, healthy and strong. We will be unbeatable. 6) Bring like-minded people who belive that things can be improved and problems can be solved and hand over problems and leave it to them. We can do it together. We just have to stand together and fight. We need ideas to bring people together and make them focus and work on problems. I suppose this yatra is one such effort 7) We need more doctors; mathematicians, research scientists, musicians, artisans and all these people should be encouraged to make a difference. We need to give a lot of encouragement to our peers, to our families, to our friends, to our society, to our country to make them believe that they make a difference to us. Everybody wants to make a difference; we have to just help them show how they can do this. We have to awaken a country. It is just about that awakening, the day it happens it will be a revolution. But to bring that awakening, its really difficult. People are not ready for a change. Why do we need terrorists attacks to implement simple security measures. We have to shed our laziness. 8) We have been too focused on ourselves we have to get ready for the natural calamities, we have enough of them lined up and laughing at us because we are keeping them unseen and are very busy with our internal politics. Noone from the outside world will come and help us, neither will it differentiate between us on any basis. So how do we address to solve this problem?

BRING A CHANGE VIA SIMPLE SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED WITH FULL DEDICATION AND HARDWORK.

What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?
Right now all the ideas are at a very basic ideas, nothing concrete: 1)Identify problems; find ideas and people who can solve it. Any problem has a solution we have to think about solving. Build a group of enthusiastic people who can make it possible. 2)Travel as much as possible see the history and geography of this nation across length and see what the problems are and what could be the solutions. I have just started travelling but still have not ventured into the real core places that will help me identify all these things. 3)Be part of events related to bringing the awareness among the youth as well as children and learn how to spread these kind of events across the nations. GET INVOLVED….FOR THE TIME BEING THAT IS THE KEY..I AM JUST DOIN THAT….

Why do you think you should be selected to be on Jagriti Yatra?
I will always keep trying something or the other. If I get a chance to be a part of jagriti yatra I will be a part of it or from Dec 26th to Dec 31st which is supposedly my holidays I am going to be a part of Help a Santa, a group of children who would be helping raise funds for NGO’s. It is during one such search I came to know from one of my friends about Jagriti Yatra. You guys have a real tough job of selecting 350 people across the country. I have just stepped into this zone of service many veterans would be there. I consider myself as a kid on this zone. I will find my own ways to find the answers I seek. As I said only awakening is important ways are many to achieve what you want. If you find that I can contribute to make this effort better and add a colour to it then take me in. All the best to you guys to make this event a success.

Chintanz Registration form!!!

This is chin2's form....that made me feel doob mar suppu.....Read and see if u too get that feeling....

Hi Chintan,

Please find your Registration Form details.
Registration Form

Will you be able to contribute towards your costs of the Yatra: agree
Level of education: Graduate
Vocation: IT
Would you like to be a social or business entrepreneur? Social
Would you like to be a Facilitator/Participant :Participant

Your professional experience and references

Who is your role model in life?

Khushroo Poacha, founder of www.indianblooddonors.com, an online community that cares. He isn’t a wel l known personality but his achievements are nonetheless. With the utmost dedication to serve the society, he has never backed out from his ultimate aim i.e. to save precious human lives. From the day he and his wife, Fermin, started this new non-profit venture, there have been many ups and downs but his determination could never be shattered so easily. He started this service way back in 1999, the era in which internet was available only through dial up connection and he had to pay heavy telephone bills and internet usage charges too. Being from a middle class family and serving in a government job, many a times he had to face the financial crunch. In the worst conditions he even had to call off his security deposits and provident funds to pay the internet and phone bills. However, his faith and determination knew no bounds. We all wish if we can give something back to this society but unless there is a strong motivation factor one hardly adopts it as his career. And I am p roud to say that he has always been my motivation. Thus today, he stands out at top amongst all other entrepreneurs in my list and I owe him a lot in my life.

Have you already done something, which demonstrates social or business entrepreneurship?

1) 7th August 2005, approx 10 days after the floods of 26th July in Mumbai, I assisted a local social group named Alert group based out at Walkeshwar(south Mumbai) for their rehabilitation camp. The camp was organized at Miyagaon (near to Panvel) after a survey which was carried out 2 days prior to the camp. I was a part of this survey team and also a team which organized the camp. In survey, we had covered approx 15 small villages in the area nearby to Panvel which was the worst affected area. We then chose Miyagaon as our base for the camp as there had been massive destruction (more than 100 families were affected) and also adequate government aides had not reached the re. We had distributed food and grains, cloths, household utensils and moreover, we showcased humanity. Most admiring and secular element of this camp was, Alert group is formed by Hindu-Jain people and this camp was carried out where majority were Muslims. Hats off!!! to those for whom humanity is above anything else in the world. 2) www.indianblooddonors.com, an online community that cares for those who need blood and helps them finding a donor from the list of registered volunteer donors on the website. I had registered as a donor in December 2005; however since October 2006 I am also an active volunteer for this noble cause. Currently I am looking after the co-ordination for Mumbai based blood requests posted on the website and am likely to be honored by an additional responsibility of controlling the misuse of website at all India level. I have also given an effective solution for curbing the misuse of this website, hope it is implemented soon and helps saving more and more lives. 3) Make-A-Wish, India. This is an NGO which fulfills the wishes of the children who are suffering from life threatening diseases. I am an active volunteer for fund-raising team, one of the three teams of volunteers. I had manned the exhibition desk to help raise fund by selling merchandise of Make-A-Wish group. I myself had adopted a wish of 1 child which was fulfilled on 12th September, 2008, one of the most memorable days in my life. I have also encouraged many of my friends to contribute towards this cause by adopting wishes. 4) I am also an active volunteer of my company’s CSR activities. We have adopted Nanhi Kali initiative of Nandi Foundation which aims at providing education to a girl child. We had organized an awareness camp on 24th September, ’07 & ’08, International girl child day, under CSR initiative and had helped raising a good amount of fund for Nandi foundation. 5) I drive a small initiative by myself in Mumbai local trains. I commute through local trains for approx one and half hours daily and I find many people throwing chocolate and gutkha wrappers, water bottles and spitting on railway tracks. Unfortunately, even in the sophisticated first class coach I find many illiterate educated people doing such things. I perform a silent action and bring the most comprehensive effect. I simply take their garbage and put it in a dustbin or in my bag (if dustbin is not available nearby) without uttering a single word. This certainly puts them into an embarrassing situation and many a times has forced them to realize and confess their mistake. I had also been praised couple of times by my fellow commuters, which has surely boosted my confidence and now I don’t feel shy or hesitance to take my action against anyone. I hope that it brings in a ripple effect.

In your opinion, what is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade?

There are many national concerns like Poverty, Illiteracy, Malnutrition, Child abuse etc and many global issues like Global warming (warning), economic slowdown, and security from neighboring country attacks are just to name few. But all these issues according to me are linked with only one cause i.e. lack of awareness among people and especially among the youth. I would call it a biggest hurdle for any kind of problems as the youth contributes to as much as 30% of our population and unless we have the awakened youth we fail to achieve anything superior. Youth has the capability to drive the change that this world needs to observe. Youth has the capability to in turn awake the entire world. They have the capability to foresee. They have intellectual power to bring in new ideas and possess zeal to bring them to implementation. Despite of knowing all these facts the youth in India has been literally wasting the ir power of making this world the most beautiful place to live. The youth that has always been taught to think only about his career and personal aspirations can otherwise be motivated for his responsibility towards the society. There is no use to creep about dirty politics, lack of infrastructure, and potholes on roads unless we ourselves put our legs in their shoes and understand what problems they could be facing. Many of us are smart enough to curb the malpractices of our system but have no will to give their contribution towards upbringing our society. If the awareness about the issues of social concern is brought in at the early age, as early as he is a teenager then it certainly can make a big difference.

What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?

Though at a rough stage, I do have some plans for awakening the youth and these plans can surely be improvised after bri nging them to execution. First and foremost thing is to create a community of volunteers that would help in achieving this goal. This could involve highly motivated youth to those who have already achieved something in their life. After having a group of people with similar interest, the idea is to create awareness amongst children right at their early teenage. This can be done by… 1) Presenting effective seminars in schools, motivating speech by our achievers and by making them understand their role. Awareness sessions can also be a part of summer camps where children develop their hobbies and interests. 2) Creating an NGO for NGOs. There are many NGOs in India and many of them are working for a same cause. The idea is to bring in a collaborative approach which would help them to share their experiences, workforce, best practices and achievements. We can also create a list of volunteers who are keen to participate in NGO activities. This common platform hence can provide multiple experiences by making them work for different social concerns and would also help NGOs to implement bigger projects without feeling a crunch of workforce. The common list of volunteers will thus make a best use of their abilities and enthusiasm. P.S. The solutions mentioned above are at very abstract level and needs to be revised regularly.

Why do you think you should be selected to be on Jagriti Yatra?

Guru-mantra for success is “to never expect anything that you don’t deserve�. I have applied for this yatra as I think I surely deserve to be a part of it to bring in the changes that I and in fact everyone wants to see in this world. My application says all about me and I am sure enough to succeed in my expectations this time. There is a very thin line between over-confidence and self-confidence, I hope I am not breaching it and would never breach that

So thats chin2's form that left me puzzled on what shld i write in my form and how on the earth am I going to get selected....So next I will upload my form....

Spilling yatra over the blog....:)

Hmmm...finally suppu gets her laptop...poha for me is on d way...and watching the marathon live...i just miss being in mumbai and being a part of marathon...its live on doordarshan...its a perfect environment for me to start unleashing the yatra experiences...I feel as motivated and inspired as I was from d idea of the yatra...the commentator just said that this a salute to the spirit of mumbai after 26th November terrorist attacks...our yatra was a tribute to the spirit of India...WOOOOOOW it was....yeah i know everyone wants to know about it....how it was when 450 ppl stay TOGETHER for 18 dayz....Just loved it....

How all this happened....It was a bit mellowed down day for me....I was waiting to meet one of my frndz for the last six months....one of my best frndz albeit wid a difference....and becoz of some problems i was almost sure that we are not going to meet....(in place of poha paratha aa gaya....anywys m used to uncertainities and I have learned to enjoy it...uncertainities are packaged surprises..loved it paratha wid dum aloo and next time there will be a jagritiyatra team fancily decked up in the marathon...its a deal) okies back to blogging...so i was a bit upset...my frnd chintan aka chin2 called up....I have always admired this guy for his spirit....We are not two frndz who share some gr8 frndship but we share some of the aspirations of making some difference to this society....And I know we will do it one day.... So whenever he comes across something gud he makes it a point to share it wid his friendz....So Chin2 called me up it was as usual a 3-4 min call...he told me there is a Jagriti Yatra around India 13 cities 18 days 350 ppl...It was like gimme the site...which forms I need to fill up...I will be online u come online....My Internet was not working...so off to the nearest cafe....chin2 sent his form as a format to look at what kind of questions and what kinda answers....I will post it for u guyz....U have to read it....I will post mine as well....So it was 29th November 2008... As I was filling up the form..I just thought jo bhi hain sach sach likh de....agar tujhe bulana rehega toh bula lenge.... As I was filling up the form...I got a call frm my frnd...I was totally lost in filling up the form...When he called up..I was like you also fill up this form and I started telling him about Jagritiyatra...Anywyz he is the last one on the earth to understand these things...I hope he does not read this blog...He could hardly understand anything and I was waiting for the past 6 months to meet him and now when he was calling me I was interested more in telling him about yatra..But thats how this idea of the yatra was...I always dreamt of some one who knew India wud take me around my country... To go across the rivers across the bridges across the fields...meet unusual people unusual indians....Indianz are unusual....sacchi....so dis was my chance I didnt want to miss it....Anywys for those of u who want to know whether we met or not we met....:) So I just filled up the form clicked submit...30th Nov was the last day to submit the form....I had done it...Hardly did I knew that my form was not submitted properly....And yes the age group was 18-25...I was 26...And Oracle I have joined recently....How will they react...18 dayz holiday...and 32,000 Rs Sponsorship....how in d world are u going to get selected...and on the top of it get the sponsorship....too much....but thats suppu for u....If she thinks its possible means its possible...

Rehana called up....A lazy sunday morning for her...So m alwyz updated wid all d happenings in mumbai...Yeah my phone bills have started touching 5K...tooo much you wud say...yeah its too much...So back to my TJY....My form was not submitted properly but then I had to be a part of this yatra....The dates got extended for the form submission....And i filled up the form again on 6th of Dec....And in a couple of dayz got the mail that I am selected...Yeah they selected me inspite of having no enterpreneurship experience.....And I got the sponsorship also....So I was in for the Yatra...But how to get the leaves.... 20 dayz of leave...its not a joke...

I wrote a mail to Kalyan, hez one of the best managers... You have complete freedom to try your options....So i wrote a mail to Kalyan...giving links to previous Azad Bharat Rail Yatra Videoz and Jagritiyatra Inaugaration Videoz....explaining whats jagritiyatra and why i shld not miss it...In these times of recession and that too as a trainer in Oracle...its not easy for him too....He wrote a short and sweet mail to me...

"Dear Supriya,

I have no objection. Please apply leave for the said period and inform the scheduling team about your absence.You are the best judge of your destiny.However, I definitely wish you a very safe , enjoyable and enriching national odyssey.

Regards,

kalyan"

Yup it was true....Only you are the best judge of your destiny....So yipeeee....All problems solved...I got leave, I got sponsorship...So In for the yatra....