#jy2014

My Yatra Series -> https://gokoulane.wordpress.com/category/jagriti-yatra/?order=asc

Every Time I think of yatra, I just feels like a dream. It was an awesome amazing journey and It will be one of my best memories cherished forever. – Gokoulane Ravi

This journey made a huge shift on my perceptions towards people and certain aspects of life. Few of my friends even complain than I had become bit more serious person post yatra. It really turned out to be Inspirational and Motivational journey. I could go on and on about yatra as it had made a significant impact in my life. Either it be my birthday or a flood it my city, I got yatris all around the country to call and wish for my wellbeing. I am even lucky to have few yatris from other states visiting my home during their stay at Chennai.

There are few things of mine which make me feel nostalgic about the yatra. So, I thought to share those souvenirs with you.

My Yatra ID Card, At times I feel it hard earned than my marathon medals.

Golden Momento,  for all those Golden Moments

A small Buddha statue – Bought it from a small novelty shop at the Ruins Of Nalanda. One of the very few things I bought during the Yatra.

Such a sweet note from my Facilitator Mr. Dinesh.

How could I ever forget those midnight Hindi lessons from my dear friend and cohort mate Sushil.

Values – A gift from my buddy Jai from Gandhi Museum, Ahmedabad

RosaPoo Chinna RosaPoo – A parting note from Manikandan. Though from Kerala, he sings awesome tamil songs.

Yet another awesome note. This time it’s from CEO Charen, Our gang’s official photographer and a multitalented personality.

Someone gave me the heart-in on the last day of the yatra, I bought myself that personalized key chain from mumbai.

A Lovely postcard all the way from Nagpur

Thank You Aakash Broda for such a wonderful postcard.

I know there will be moments in my life which might make my spirits go low. But, I hope these things would keep me inspired and motivated enough.

My facilitator Dinesh, Awarding me memento and certificate.

With Col Bhaya, Our train incharge.

With Pravin

With Amit, our food ERC.

Thats Dewal a.k.a Devil

With Pooja

Mahesh, Me, Pooja and Dewal

Shri..

With Kishori

Me Kishori and Rohini

With Sruthi.

Mr Kishore Mandhyan, interacting with us on board.

Me, Supriya, harinder with Shashank Mani, Director JY

Our train being a low priority train, it halted several times and ran slow as we near  the busy lines of Mumbai. When train halted in a suburban station for a long time, our Chennai gang decided to get down in the midway and reach our boarding place by taxi. While I was waiting for their final confirmation, the train started moving and later realized that everyone got down except me. Again our train halted for a long time somewhere near Ghatkopar station, As it would take a long time for the train to train to reach LTT (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus), few yatris including me decided to jump down the train with our luggage. Reaching the main road was bit painful with heavy luggages and few metres of walk, Then I hired a taxi to Dongri, our boarding place.

Got down the train and walking with heavy luggage and heavy heart,

The 1st thing I did after reaching the room was to take a hot water bath, one thing I missed lot while on board. After getting freshen up, the gang decided to roam around. As it has ever been, our top priority was to find a better place to eat. We were craving for some non-veg food, as it’s been veg food for last 15 days on board. After a swift search, we narrowed it to nearby Shalimar Hotel which is famous for its Biryani. After having a sumptuous meal there, we decided to visit the famous Juhu beach. It wasn’t as good as I imagined, the water was brackish and the sand was  dark. Will those stop us from having fun, definitely not. We had Panipuris and Gola Ice, I had Kalakatta flavor, which made my mouth look like a blood sucking vampire. Then, some time passed blowing bubbles and clicking all our footmarks on the sand, It turned out to be a fun evening. It was already midnight by then and the cops nearby requested us to kindly vacate the beach. On our way back we went via Worli Sea Link Road and stopped by Antilia, Mukesh Ambani’s home ( $1 Billion worth World’s most expensive residential property). By the time we reached our room, I was sleepy and tired to death, this time I slept on a bed, not on a train berth and it felt very strange.

All our footmarks, time stamped.

Panipuri <3

Kalakatta Effect

Ambani’s Antilia at night.

To Be Continued…

The first one was in our AC Chair Car. Music systems were set up in both our chair cars and we yatris danced to glory, few even danced standing up on the seats. We welcomed the New Year with a conventional count-down  and cake cutting (again lucky enough to get a piece :D ).

Excerpts from AC Chair Car Party

Excerpts from AC Chair Car Party

Excerpts from AC Chair Car Party

Excerpts from AC Chair Car Party

The second one was a privileged private party thrown by my friend Aswin Yogesh. He made his section of the bogie a highly restricted zone and allowed only a very few guests. My luck, I end up being his UNINVITED guest (He doesn’t want me talk about his INVITED guest). Aswin being an incredible host, made the party super fun. He used SOS feature in mobile flashlights to create Disco Lights (Didn’t I say you, he is one intelligent fellow nu) which added an awesome feel to the party. He and Emmanuel played cool numbers and then it was all dancing, dancing and dancing. All the fun came to an end around 2 AM, when we were strictly instructed by Aswin to head straight to our berths and sleep.

Excerpts from Aswin’s Party

Excerpts from Aswin’s Party

Excerpts from Aswin’s Party

Aswin’s Highly Restricted Party Zone

It doesn’t matter how late you sleep the last night, but you wake up early and be ready to board down the train when it stops in the station. We won’t be visiting any role models today, and as well as for next couple of days too, But we will be involved in Biz Gyan Tree (BGT), which is a business plan exercise.

The objective of the Biz Gyan Tree is to provide training to the entrepreneurial youth in making enterprise plans suited to the ‘Middle India’ (smaller towns & villages).

We got down at Rajgir station and reached Nalanda Ruins, our first destination for the day by bus as usual. I felt blessed to be there, to be in the ruins of one of the oldest universities in world. I wished those walls gets life and tell us all the things that they have listened from the scholars who studied there. We also had a guide, Mr Kamala Singh who told us the history and significance of the university. We also had an awesome meditation session lead by one of our facilitators Mr Sandeep.

Jagriti Express @ Rajgir Railway Station

Some History and Facts

That one big banian tree

Gate of Knowledge

Mr Kamala Singh, our guide

Nalanda Ruins, What’s left behind

Nalanda Ruins, What’s left behind

Nalanda Ruins, What’s left behind

Meditation lead by Mr Sandeep Anirudhan. PC : Sai Krishna Sujith S

It’s all yatris

Nalanda Ruins, What’s left behind

Selfie with one of the most knowledgeable walls in the earth.

Nalanda Ruins, What’s left behind

From there, we reached International Convention Centre for our Experts Sessions. Few topics like Customer Evaluation, Financing, Technology, etc. where discussed by resource persons on the board. We also had Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, Vice Chancellor of Nalanda University to talk about Nalanda University and its new campus which is being built. She also read, Nobel Laureate, Dr. Amartya Sen‘s letter to the yatris, who is also the current Chancellor of the university. In between all these sessions, our official photographer Pradnyesh Molak a.k.a Saaku managed to click a huge awesome group pic with all the yatris in an Open Air Theatre at the Convention Centre. That’s all for the day, again, as usual we pack and back into our train heading toward our  next destination.

Excerpt from Expert Session

Selfie, Just before group pic.

Selfie, Just before group pic.

That, Awesome Group Pic

To Be Continued …

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New Article published - Read http://youthopia.in/bank-accounts-deoria-dwellers-yatripreneur-story/

Travel encourages you to live a life on your terms. Manindar Tuli began backpacking in 2006, back during his freelancing days. Manindar was working in various roles trying to understand his passion but nothing pleased him more than travelling. So he started his journey again in 2013; as soon as...