Death always brings along with it a feeling of sadness. It also leaves you thinking about after-life and what lies in store for a person after death. I felt alone and empty when my father died a few months ago. I felt sad and lost when I heard about the death of Ningamani a few weeks ago.… Continue reading
Jaagruthi Yathre and beyond…
A lot of people are now asking me what would we do now that the RTI (Jaagruthi) Yathre is over and done with. Some have even questioned the wisdom of our walk and whether the effort was worth it.
Everyday, we receive more than 50 telephone calls at our RTI cell.… Continue reading
Another walker shares his thoughts…
The impact of an experience, an event, or a relationship is sometimes judged best by the feeling you get once you realize it’s over. Sometimes you don’t realize how tired you are until you lie down on a straw mat or a cold floor.… Continue reading
Impressions of a Yathri…
I apologize for the submitting this late even though Dr Anil kept sending gentle reminders. I was waiting for the various impressions of the walk, to settle down into a calm river from which I could pick out the sparkling stones that still catch my attention and present them for everybody to read.… Continue reading
Jaagruthi Geethe…
This song, composed by Prof. M.S.Venugopal, captures the essence of the Jaagruthi Yathre
ತರುವೆವು ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಯ
ನಡಿಗೆಯ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಯ ವಿಧಾನವು
ಪಾದದ ಯಾತ್ರೆ ಜಾಗೃತಿ ಯಾತ್ರೆ
ಮೈಲು ಮೈಲಿನಲಿ ಕೆತ್ತಿಹುದು
ಸರಗೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಉಗಮವು ನಾಂದಿಯು
ಹೃದಯ ಹೃದಯಗಳ ಬಿಂದಿಯಲಿ
ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕಾನೂನು ನೆವದಲಿ ನೆಪದಲಿ
ಮಿಡಿಯಿತು ನಡೆಯಿತು ಯುವಶಕ್ತಿ
ಹಳ್ಳಿ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲಿ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯಲಿ
ಸಂಘರ್ಷದ ಸಮರವಿದೆ
ರಕ್ತದ ಕಣದಲಿ ಅಂಜಿಕೆ ನಿರ್ಲಕ್ಷ್ಯ
ಪರಿವರ್ತನೆಗೆ ಸಂಕಲ್ಪ
ಹೆಗ್ಗಡದೇವನ ಕೋಟೆಯ ಕಪಿಲ
ಪೇಟೆಯ ಗುಂಡಲಿಗೆ ಕುಂಡಲಿನಿಯು
ಚಾಮನ ಹೊಸಜಿಲ್ಲೆ ಕೊಳ್ಳೆಗಾಲದಿ
ಉಲಿಯಿತು ಯುವಸ್ವರ ಹಾದಿಬದಿಯಲಿ
ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ ಸ್ಪೂರ್ತಿಯು ಯುವಜನ ಗುಂಡಿಗೆ
ಆದರ್ಶದ ತೊರೆ ಯುವಶಕ್ತಿ
ಬಿಸಿಲು ಮಳೆಯಲು ಅಳುಕದೆ ಉಳುಕದೆ
ವಿರೋಧಕೆದುರು ಮೊರೆದಂಡು
ಗ್ರಾಮವು ನೂರಾರು ಪ್ರಭಾವ ಲಕ್ಷ
ಯಾತ್ರೆಯ ಯಶಸಿನ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಯಲಿ
ರಾಜಧಾನಿಯ ದಂತದ ಗೋಪುರದಿ
ಮೊಳಗಿತು ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕರೆಗಂಟೆ
ದಾರಿಬೀದಿಯಲಿ ಮೈಮನದಲ್ಲಿ
ಬಾಂಧವ್ಯದ ಸೆಲೆ ಸಾಂತ್ವನವು
ಆಸೆ ಕಂಗಳಲಿ ಕನಸು ಹಂಬಲದಿ
ಪ್ರಗತಿಯ ಭರವಸೆ ಬೆಸುಗೆಯಿದೆ
ಜನಪದ ಅಂತರಂಗ ಅನುಭವ ಗರ್ಭದಿ
ಜನುಮ ತಳೆದಿಹುದು ಹೊಸದೃಷ್ಟಿ
ಭವಿಷ್ಯದ ಗಗನಕೆ ಚಿಮ್ಮಲೆನಿಸುವ
ನಾಯಕ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯ ನವವೃಷ್ಟಿ … Continue reading
A new beginning…
The day finally arrived! Looking back the last one month, I feel that we have come quite a distance, both figuratively and physically. The walk of 400 km has not left us exhausted as I had initially presumed.… Continue reading
As we near Bangalore…
30th Sept 08:
The way in which people are rushing ahead with their lives here is amazing! All of them seem to be in such an undue haste. They hardly seem to have time for anything. Some people that we tried to interact with curtly asked us to be brief.… Continue reading
A few more thoughts from the Yathre…
29th Sept 08:
…This Yathre also showed us the real situation regarding the caste divides prevailing in rural India. At many places, when we went to drink water from a hand pump or a water tank, people would wash them with a bit of cow dung and ‘purify’ the same before and after our use.… Continue reading
Please join us…
Dear friends,
The Jaagruthi Yathre will be reaching Bangalore as planned on the 2nd of October. We will arrive at the Gandhi Statue on M.G.Road at around 12 noon and will be received by Hon’ble Justice M.N.Venkatachalliah, the former Chief Justice of India and Rashtrakavi Sri G.S.Shivarudrappa.… Continue reading
The ‘Yathre’ enters the final leg…
25th Sept 08:
The Secretary of the Gram Panchayath at Shivanahalli met us and explained to us the difficulties he was facing in the Panchayath because of his honesty…It is indeed a tragedy that we have managed to keep the honest people in the Governance system subdued or suffocated.… Continue reading
Moving on towards Bangalore…
20th Sept 08:
We started our walk after breakfast through the town of Malavalli. On the way, our team went into the Junior college and broke up into smaller teams. Each team went into a classroom and interacted with the students regarding RTI.… Continue reading
Day 16
19th Sept 08:
We are now proceeding towards Malavalli. On the way, we interacted with students of a D.Ed College and Morarji Desai Residential School. At lunch time (in a village called Pandithahalli), we had a long discussion on the history of the organization.… Continue reading
Midway through the Yathre…
17th Sept 08:
We started after a sumptuous breakfast, provided by Rotary Midtown of Kollegal. We walked through the villages Hosahanagalli, Saragur, Naripura, Dhanagere and finally reached Sattegala. Today’s walk left us feeling low for many reasons. One, the response of the community was varying between indifference and apathy.… Continue reading
Snippets from Balu’s journal
13th Sept 08:
…We first visited the nearby hamlet of Karadimoole, where the women received us in large numbers. We spoke on RTI, NREGA and PDS. Everywhere we find that people immediately relate to PDS. PDS by itself is another wonderful scheme of the government but is one of the most corrupt too.… Continue reading
A walker’s musings – Sept 12th
Today we were joined by Mr.Jayaram, CEO of Zilla Panchayath, Chamarajanagar and Mr.D.R.Patil, former MLA of Gadag. The discussion with Mr.Jayaram on the functioning of the bureaucracy and administrative system in India was a real eye opener. Mr.Patil and his friend (an ex-MLA from Bagalkot) wished to organize similar walks in their areas.… Continue reading