Asha Diary - 1 - Asha Darshan Schools

It was my first visit to North East. I have never heard of Rangiya (few stations away from Guwahati). My expectation was simple- to spend 2-3 days in some schools supported by Asha for Education, Silicon Valley chapter. It is my 25th or so Asha visit, did not expect much difference. However, I ended up spending 8 days in Tamulpur village near Rangiya and felt quite refreshed before heading to Tawang, Arunachal.

This area is quite close to the Bhutan border. I could easily enter Bhutan by foot and many locals fill up their tank in Bhutan. The demonetization happened the day I reached Rangiya. I spent 5 days in different schools playing academic games, trying to figure out ways to improve the quality of education. It was very lively interaction to say the least. Some villages have more Bengalis than Assamese. Some villages have mostly adibasi population. Some villages have mostly Boro whereas few villages in the Bhutan border have mixed population. There is one thing common - they all dance very well!!

Now what are the challenges in running school here 

a) Different languages people speak

b) Decades of conflict have caused a lot of issues in the infrastructure. Govt schools were not there in multiple villages. 

c) Violence among different groups were not uncommon few years back. Now things are apparently quite peaceful.

d) Elephants come down from the mountains almost every day. They ruin the vegetable and paddy field in some villages.  So "bhago" is the word after 4 pm every day.

Put your children in these settings and imagine how they will concentrate on studies where electricity is scarce and elephants keep making a mess.

                                                                Scenic villages of Assam

But the landscape is very beautiful coveted with tea gardens, mustard fields and paddy fields. It was quite fun to interact with kids in these settings. After spending time in all schools, I could also spend one day teaching Class 7 and 8 kids. But my best experience was the dance experience with the kids. 

Another thing I noticed in these schools is the bonding between the teachers and kids. I think the learning becomes perfect when you can explain your problems freely to your teacher. 
 

There was a dance drama named " Mukti" during the events. I felt only education can create a nice path to forget all the conflicts, make the infrastructure better and make this new generation free from social and politics-driven chains.
 

They also spread the message of peace among different cultures and religions.

I could attend the children's day event and be a judge for the dances and vocals. At the same time, I had more chances to dance in the tunes of "O Seni Mai". 

Apart from all the judging, posing, dancing ---- I taught a bit too. This is the proof :-)

Asha Darshan runs schools mostly in Assamese and Boro medium. The Boro medium students do not have much option of higher studies in mother tongue so they have to learn English and Hindi fast. Ditto with the Adibasi school in Sonmani (it is amazing how they have the same script as the adibasi in Ayodhya hills). There is no computer education anywhere. Glad to see teachers being trained to use computer. Next will be the kids :-)

While I look back at these selfies, I feel the positive energy created by Asha Darshan among these kids. Not only kids from different languages, different cultures are dancing in the same stage changing the history of conflicts and differences, they are creating a better world every moment they smile.

More details about this project, click here. 

The Life After.....

The context is simple. Even if it is common in Western world, taking a gap year seems like a distant dream for most people in India. I am only talking about the well educated and well to-do section only, even though you do not need a lot of money to travel properly in India. Anyway, since I have quit my job and started a simple journey only 3.5 months back, it is good to write some thoughts down.

My Primary Agenda - To be relatively free and do things I love to do. That includes two things - Travel (mostly mountains and trekking) and Non-profit work (via Asha for Education, being involved for last 10 yrs - I have a pretty good platform). This small list can be quite different for others. So taking a break, does not mean travel for everyone. It can be a time to nurture other passions, lost hobbies or anything that can refresh your core.

First step - Explaining your near and dear ones. I have realized and explained the main reason - TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I AM BORN TO DO RATHER THAN WHAT I AM TRAINED TO DO. What that means, I am trained to be an engineer, trained to do practical things, trained to plan finances, trained to drive, trained to plan travel and entertainment. But probably I am born to do much more than that. So, unless you pause from your regular life full of comfort zones, how are you going to figure out your more adventurous/dreamy self and your potential beyond comfort zones?

The first week - Yes, I have worked for a stretch of 13 years without any lapses of employment. So after 650+ weeks of employment, when I quit, the first week without pay will be different. But mostly, it feels like a holiday. Thankfully, I did not miss my work. I was initially missing the lack of agenda in a day which I slowly started loving in the weeks that followed.

The first  three months - Now that I am free from all the constraints of leaves and deadlines, I started giving more meaning to my time. I started thinking what I really love to do. I started feeling home in the middle of mountains, in villages at altitude of 14000 ft, while cutting grass with villagers, while trekking with a GPS --- literally any place where people have time to listen to you, you are not judged by your qualifications/salary and you can express yourself better.
I am meeting new people every day, some of them leaving a mark, some of them disappearing in my passive memory zone. I have started more spontaneous travel as well. Bathing in the beauty of mountains became a habit....I started doing things that I used to consider impractical at one point of time. I listen to others more, I keep an open mind to let more rays to enter & probably I am tapping the better part of my self, more than before. 

" May be the journey isn't so much about becoming anything. May be it's about unbecoming everything that isn't you so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place." - Unknown

Months back in a Whatsapp forwarding, I read this quote that perfectly explains why I started the journey and I realized it even more after a few weeks on the road. I am not just an engineer, I am not just a holder of list of degrees and bank accounts, I am not just that name everyone calls me, I am not the resume, I am not just the person who needs to be predictable so that everyone can give me stamp of a good citizen, a good son, a good friend and a good engineer. I personally think if I can be the best that I can be , I can fit in all those roles with new vigor and energy. 

I think the smiles I bring in peoples' faces when I meet them and the peaceful feeling that comes to my mind and soul in the midst of nature, defines me more than anything else.

I am probably not trained but born to dance  next to a 15000 ft Lake in Ladakh ( Tso Moriri).

If you are in rush, you can stop here...Otherwise, go on!!

To answer a few questions I have been hearing numerous times and sometimes I ask myself as well -

Is there any risk involved to break the monotony of life ?
When you are driving in a highway, and you make a stop at a rest area, what is the reason for that? Without stops, your driving will be worse and you can meet accidents. It works like a refresher. Now lets say, you love the rest area more than the highway, do you want to spend more time. Probably yes, when you are not in a hurry!.. For me it is just the opposite. I was in a rest area, and started driving in the highways :-)

Is travel the only way to refresh your energy? 
Absolutely not. For me travel and non profit work revitalize me. For someone it can be spending more time with family or following a long lost hobby (writing, photography, painting....). I can only stress the need of rethinking your life after a point of time.

Is it the right time?
No time is right time. But having a little bit of buffer money in bank helps! However, you need to break the chains of insecurity, otherwise no money is enough as buffer money. Some people may want to pursue a gap year after working for 2 yrs, some 20 yrs. But we need to invest on our wishes and consider that gap not a loss of your salary rather a gain in terms of experiences. A refreshed mind can work better, so it may be good for your career too.

Am I making a statement?
Definitely not. I try not to be the person who claims whatever he is doing is the right thing for everyone. I am trying to do justice to myself.
Being the manager of my heart, mind and soul, I need to make all three happy. Sometimes I follow the practical part of my mind, sometimes the dreamy part... sometimes I want to be somewhere that touches my soul, sometimes I listen to the words that touches my heart. I can only tell others to listen to every words inside you and do not suppress them giving practical reasons.

How can I sustain these?
Seriously, how can one sustain working in a boring place for 8-10 hrs a day without loving work, that I do not understand!! A bored engineer has more sustenance problem than a happy traveler :-)
I am not telling that I will keep doing this till eternity. Life is lived in moments, not in years. If I gather enough moments that I feel satisfied , I will be the old practical self again. Or may be I will be a different person at the end of this journey.. a person who will follow his heart and invest his energy in something he truly believes in.
I want to be the child again who wants to play all day defying his parents because he loves to play. May be when I play enough, I will come home and study books for a reason, not as a burden or compulsion.

Do I miss practical working days?
I only miss my friends and occasionally, the technical side of me. But I was never too technical in nature and tried to kept a simple identity outside workplace. Work was anyway my 2nd priority last 5-6 yrs. I think most people who lost their passion in their work, wont miss their work. If people comment about what I am doing with my education and training, I reply them that giving 13 yrs in the same field should have done enough justice to that.

Do I listen to comments and advice from people? What is my take on the suggestions?

In a country of ultra intrusive people, the only way to survive is to take comments in a sportive fashion. I hear comments from everyone - ranging from "you are doing injustice to your parents " to " I wish to live your life". I silently listen to these comments from all sections of society and smile. Trust me I even got comments from the person selling newspapers in Varanasi station to completely random strangers. Everyone has a theory in life and I do not mind hearing it.  In a society where your designation defines you, I want to see how people reacts to a traveler. It is funny how almost everyone thinks marriage and starting a family is like a goal for a bachelor and recipe of happiness. My observations among married people give a different story but still those suggestions will keep pouring. Thankfully my parents are not among those :P

So in simple words - I hear you. I respect your viewpoint but no! thank you! (Specially when you are giving strong comments that I should go back to the regular practical life soon)

Most people forget that we have different journeys to complete and we have different shoes to fit in, as well. I have always nurtured the second thoughts and believe that everyone has the right to follow ones heart. The same things do not bring happiness to everyone. Like many people consider travel a hassle, I consider happy secured life a hassle too!! That is the beauty of life and us. We are complicated beings with different wiring inside us.
If you want to have a wonderful life with family and kids, give yourself 100 pct on that. If you do not want to do that, do not get deviated by what others are doing. The herd mentality can not be good for anyone. I have one life and it is better to do things what I really want to do. I do not want to make a mess trying to reach everywhere at the same time or do everything that makes others happy.
I only want my kind of happiness not others'. That self analysis everyone needs to do at one point and I have done for myself long back! It may change over time and I am aware of that. But I do not want to loose the blissful moments of my kind in search of the ones that are definitely not mine.

I definitely do not look unhappy amidst mountains :-)

Please do not get me wrong. I am pro-family, pro-love, pro-travel and above all, pro-freedom. I love the beautiful affectionate smile, I see in my friends' faces when they look at their children and I can understand the bonding of heart in a family but I do not long for the exact same happiness right now. I am destined for a different smile  and a different bonding. As long as we understand each other, there won't be any confusion. That mutual respect needs to be there in every strata of society in India, specially while raising children. I strongly believe that the next generation should be given more chance to exploit what they are born to do.

What am I learning?

Actually I am learning life's lessons in most remote places. I learned the meaning of happiness when I saw a family in Demul village happily cooking alu gobhi (a luxury dish in that altitude) for dinner after spending full day in mountains collecting dried dung and finding visitors (without any prior notice) in the evening. I find the meaning of perseverance when I saw a German guy travelling from Ladakh to Spiti Valley on his own, trekking without any support. I feel the passion of travelling whenever I see a foreigner spending 6-12 months in India in shoestring budget. I thank every hot meal and soup after a long days of walk. I spent days filled with beauty with no concrete around where less is more. Those days taught me what I really need to be happy.

What next?

That is the beauty of freedom. I only plan for next week and few things I want to do over the coming months. Rest is decided over time. In the past, I have been to a place and depending on some suggestions from people I met there, I decided my next place. Overall I am in love with Himalayas, so that comes to my mind by default and gets included in travel plans.

Apart from travel, I truly believe in education, women empowerment and imparting employ-ability in the unfortunate classes of society. So I will spend more time with non profits I know and have been part of. It was in my wish list for a long time and I want to fulfill my wishes now.

I can jump high where ever I am :-) 

( First picture in Nubra Valley, Ladakh & second picture while visiting an Asha school in Naugarh area, UP)

PS: Why do I write such long blogs?

I either talk a lot or I keep my mouth shut. So I write less blogs but loooooong blogs...Can't help it :P

Picture Courtesy: As always, all pics without me, are taken by me and pics with me, taken by my friends in that journey.