Jagriti Yatra 2017 – Day 8 – Dec 31: Orissa – Gram Vikas community, Village visit and BGT Preparation

Mr. Joe Madith, Gram Vikas

An Activitist turned National builder from Madras University, 1971 batch.
[Have noted COMPLETE details in my Notebook. Need help in formatting it properly and post it here]

Finally met Abdullah from Kerala here, with whom I was messaging on Day 1. Also met with , Another Crypto guy. Then we went a tour around the Community, where we got to see

1. Cows, Deer
2. Farms of various vegetables, greens, etc.,
3. Huge Vermi compost pits
4. Fish pond
5. Solar Panels and many.

Some Adventure

I have had enough! So many trees and not climbed one since morning. Couldn’t hold myself anymore. Started climbing a 2 storey high tree. Wow. What an amazing feeling, when you feed the Monkey deep inside you with the activities that it needs to do. Body is also fired up. Then started climbing another tree, followed with excellent running race with Rajkumar and Sahar.

A reporter from News 18 joined us at Gram Vikas and was interviewing Interesting and Inspiring people. And she covered our 19B Cohort hero, Vivek

Had a good talk with Nasmin from Kerala on her I-Lab activities and Grassroots. Having done with Lunch, Myself and Arush started for a good long walk around the Community.

Village visit

Then we went to a beautiful Village. Roamed around the village for an hour. While other Yatris were engaged with the villagers in Hindi, I engaged with Dogs and Goats in there 🙂 But the cows are not playful. They are probably worried about the sudden Human invasion into their Village.

School visit

Then we went to a School, supported by Gram Vikas community. Most of the lectures were happening in Hindi. So I went to 1 corner, where there were a couple of playful dogs. Played with them for almost like an hour, interacting with other Yatris who came to play with the dogs.

New Year Celebrations

We then moved to the Railway station by around 9 PM. Everyone was in celebration mood and I was depressed with Climate Change, skipped the Celebrations, went to my Boggie and made a New year Post.

For other day experiences, visit the Summary page.