The die is cast!

Way back in 1972, I did a 200 km padayatra in the company of 10 peer group friends and colleagues under the Gandhi Foundation in Chennai.

Arranged by Freedom Fighter Radhakrishnan, we walked from Pondicherry/Puducherry - the birthplace of Tamil poet and Freedom fighter Subramani Bharati to Tiruchengodu, near Namakkal-Salem where Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi paid a visit during his southern sojourn in the Pre-Independent India.

We covered a distance of 5 km in the morning and 5 km in the evening for 20 days.

We sang Vaishnava Janato, Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram and several Tamil patriotic songs - mostly penned by Bharti.(Vazhga nee emaan indha vaiyathu natil ellam...)

Incidentally, that was my maiden exposure to visiting Harijan bastis en route.

Of the lot, there were 4 tambrahmin boys and girls - including me. Naturally, it was tough for us to share space - mind and physical -with them.  By the end of the trip, I shed my inhibitions on the caste or varna issues.

Again, the walkathon bug has bitten me - partly following the visit to the Gandhi Ashram in Sewagram, near Wardha in Maharashtra and Paunar Ashram of Vinobha Bhave nearby in mid-August this year.

Both were great walkers for a cause.

Rajan Agarwal, Managing Director of  Rinku Commercial Carriers/Anand & Nagpur also played a role by making me read "Sewagram to Sodhgram" ....

This piece, written by a doctor couple who inspired by Gandhiji's Sewagram, set up a commune in Sodhgram near Gadchiroli in Maharashta to treat tribes in and around.

Sewagram to Sodhgram covers a distance of 225 km approx.

Gandhiji calls villages, "dung heaps" in his book, Village Swaraj

Less said about Bhave's concern for villages, the better.

This saint-patriot created the Bhoodan movement ...

Read Dr Abhay Bang's Sevagram to Shodhgram, recommended by Rajan Agarwal, was another eye opener.

There are people in India whose heart beats for the villages - the asli desh. Where a huge chunk of India lives. Real Bharat.

Dr Bang belongs to this tribe.

The physician - along with his doctor wife has settled down in Gadchiroli - a naxalite-infested district of Maharashtra to serve the tribal community. Just don't talk. Go and serve his life's message.


So, there is a lot of reality in the following words of Dr Bang:

Go to the people, Live among them
Love them, Learn from them
Begin with what they know
Build up on what they have.

Why Padayatra? Why walk?

Listen to Bhave:

"Walking has advantages which aeroplanes cannot provide. .... I simply wanted to meet and talk with people in the various places I passed through. "

Which route? How many kilometres? When?

Plans to do it in early 2014.

But the die is cast..

After 40 years, another trip to touch base with aam janta - villagers, truck drivers, dhaba owners etc

God be with me in this endeavour....

Jai Jagat! (as Bhave would like to end his communications).