The Journey of Bharat Darshan

         Charu

I have always liked travelling. Therefore, Bharat Darshan or the Winter Study Tour (‘the official term’) was one of the most anticipated event for me during the training. But this time I had different purpose in mind, that is, to enjoy as much as I can with my group. To learn while having maximum fun.

We started off on our tour with Jammu. I, along with a dear friend, was attached with the Army unit of 10 JAK Rif in the Mendhar sector. While I have heard about working in the Army from my relatives who work therein, this experience was completely unexpected for me. Here, we were hardly 100 metres away from post of a neighbouring country from where gunshots were fired just a year back. Those few days in the region, with the brave and courageous soldiers, it had been awe-inspiring. In the morning, we used to get ready and start trekking to different posts. If I close my eyes, I can still vividly see the path, passing through dense yellow bushes, feeling the slight breeze. Sometimes, I would walk in my own thoughts. Sometimes, I would try to gather insights from the soldiers as to how they feel about working there. In the evening, we would come back to our place of stay. With bare minimum things around us, we would find all the comfort. I remember the day we were at the loading point in one of the posts. We had come back from a long trek to a nearby post. As the dusk set in, I sat in the veranda of our room. The brilliance of the stars in the sky reminded me of the stars and the sky of the Dalai hills in Mussoorie. Few lights were alit at the distance post in the PoK sector. Despite the fragility of the region, the air exuded calm and peace. Even today, that memory stands fresh in my mind and makes me grateful for that evening and the experience.

Post the Army attachment, we had a visit to mostly cities and towns of India. Now, we had little time to be still and were constantly on the move. We started our journey as a group from Katra. The first day was spent trekking to the Vaishno Devi Shrine and coming back. I was here last March as well. Few things had changed. Less crowd and RFID tagging for better crowd management. Our interaction with the CEO, Shrine Board was good especially in knowing the management of Religious Board.

From here, we moved on to Pathankot and Amritsar wherein we had Air Force and Smart City attachment respectively. Air Force is one organisation that has always looked a class-apart to me. I remember watching one documentary on Discovery on first three woman combat pilots of India and wishing if I could also have been a part of it (all day-dreaming, of course). With all the Armed Forces, the general experience was of seeing in real life what we had only read about in books. In Amritsar, I was more interested in learning than just touring the places. The advantage of going to a place for the second time is that we can be more observant about one place than just ticking off all the check boxes of major places of interest like a tourist.

Our next move was to Mumbai, for the Naval attachment and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Then onwards to Jabalpur and Mandla for the tribal areas attachment. But that place deserves a separate mention. The Naval attachment at Mumbai was an amazing experience. I recall the lines of the guide who showed us across the museum at the Dockyard, “The Dockyard grew up as the city of Mumbai expanded, and the city of Mumbai grew as the Dockyard flourished.” The growth trajec tory of both these places are intertwined.The city of Mumbai would have remained just a hamlet for the tribes of Kolis if British would not have decided to develop it as a port. And the entrepreneurial spirit of the city gave the push for further development of trade through the Dockyard. Therefore, learning more about the seas of Mumbai from its sentinels, the Indian Navy, was a profound experience.

Post Mumbai, it was Madhya Pradesh. I had been to Jabalpur when I was hardly six or seven so I don’t remember much about the place. This was the first time in Bharat Darshan that the state was also comparatively new to me. And it didn’t disappoint. A quaint state, with rolling hills of Satpura intermittent with few agricultural tracts near the Narmada basin. And more than the place, it was the people therein that left a lasting impression on me. Before Mandla, we have had good interaction with many government functionaries, some very open and some sincere but guarded. Herein, we met the District Collector (DC) who was equally open, passionate and sincere about her work. Before joining the services, 

I was often told by mentors that the true satisfaction you’ll feel is when you’ll work for the people who are still on the margins of the society.They are the ones who need us the most. The work of DC ma’am was good not just because her passion for the tribal population reflected through her work but because she was actually empowering those people. To stand on their own feet. To become confident in their own abilities. And that is the wonderful thing you can do to a person – to make them self-reliant.

We had similar experience later in Odisha as well. However, after MP, we flew to Hyderabad, witnessing another brilliant initiative worth emulating in other states. The AI Mission of Telangana. State of art building named T-Hub providing financial and technical support to start-ups in the field of AI. As these emerging technologies are revolutionising the world, Telangana is taking a lead in developing the capacities of its people and sparking their interest in this area. This is one initiative I felt that I could implement in my State of work so as to nudge people to think in this direction.

In the state of Odisha, after Hyderabad, we had similar experience to that of Mandla. Both were tribal-inhabited, forest districts. The geography was also quite similar except that the former was more barren. The Kandhamal district of Odisha is renowned for its Haldi and is one of the aspirational districts. The district is very basic. Hardly any pucca houses. Negligible cars on roads. Few signs of affluence. It was simple yet beautiful. The interaction with people herein was also amazing. The simplicity of the surrounding has shaped the simplicity in nature of people as well. They were very soft-spoken, almost docile. What I experienced here was that people were too much dependent on the government, in almost every aspect of their lives. Often too much dependence on others for too long, erodes capacity to self-initiate and think for themselves. But Odisha is fast-changing as it becomes more open and the signs of it can be seen in the city of Bhubaneswar.

As the tour started drawing to a close, I realised it is equally important to make beautiful and long-lasting memories with friends. We had Guwahati, Andaman and lastly, Kolkata on our itinerary still left. While Guwahati was mostly spent in enjoying the local places, Andaman gave us the delight of exploring the sea. The most- fun and relaxed experience with friends was here, especially in Havelock. It made the child in me come out, playing with waves and ducking friends in the water.

With Kolkata, we drew a close to our more-than a month long trip. It was full of learning, fun and enjoyment. Each place gave me something special to cherish. I was honestly one of the few who could have gone on and on with the Bharat Darshan. But the wonderful memories I had was only because of the people around me. Alone, it would have been boring. With them around, I would laugh, argue and travel. Journeys of hours would feel short with music on in the cars and conversations on random topics. The tour gave me an opportunity to go to places where I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. To see the places I had already gone to in a different perspective. To learn to relax and enjoy the present moment rather than just ticking off the check-box of multiple places. To make new friends and meet new people. To learn more about myself in the process. It’ll always be a journey close to my heart and memories to recall whenever I want to think of good times in the past.