Navaarambh (Abhinav, GM'13)

Of Change, Peace and Passion:

It all started on the 9th of June 2013, when i was supposed to meet a few of the change-agents selected by 'Youth Alliance' for their rural exploration program: Gramya Manthan 2013.

The venue was conspired to be 'Gandhi Ashram', New Delhi. The name of the place filled in an extra zeal within me even though I had not been there ever before. On reaching the peaceful yet vibrant Ashram, I was welcomed by a couple of members of the Youth Alliance team and was introduced to a couple of my fellow change-agents-to-be: Ranjeet andSamarth.

We, then, started towards the hall where a workshop with focus on how film-making can be used to share the goodness in the society was being conducted under the Yes, I am the change project.

On the way, we met an ever-smiling personality, aptly named Kishan Gopal as he, with his deeds, seems to have been preaching the lessons of Gita in this Kalyug.

The session that we attended, was although a winding up session, had a lot of things to be learned about images, camera, and photography. The key take-away from that session was rightly quoted by the photographer-speaker (Rahul) as 'Skills are cheap; passion is priceless'. He might have meant it for film-making and photography. But this principle is applicable to any and every field of our interest or to whatever we are passionate about. We can polish the skills that we already have; we can also acquire an all new set of skills over a period of time, by paying up material money. And we can earn out of the skills that we possess, as can be inferred from a famous quote by one of the most legendary characters played by an equally legendary actor (Heath Ledger), the Joker: "If you are good at something, never do it for free". But at the same time, if we are passionate about something, we do not need to pay for it and we do not have to earn out of it for sure and that is why, if we do something that we are good at for free, we share our passion with others and make it priceless.

While the participants of the film-making workshop went out to capture pictures using some of the techniques that they had been taught, we moved to the tomb structured and peacefully radiant prayer place, where i believe Gandhi ji used to prayer, to meet some of the change-agents from the previous years’ Gramya Manthan batch, and a few of the other Youth Alliance team members. Interacting with them gave us an opportunity to get an overview of what Gramya Manthan is all about even before it started. They talked about their experiences with the Youth Alliance team, the villages and the local communities and answered to a few of our queries, which helped us in getting a gist of what needed to be done but the question of “how” was kept open.

Of beauty, happiness, love and oneness:

We, again, moved to the hall where closing of the workshop was about to happen. Playing of two beautifully inspiring movie clips about: (1). how social media and film-making can be used to share the little moments of happiness and giving (which are stories in there selves), and (2). what message Gandhi ji would have given to the world if the technology prevalent today had existed during those times (the message of love and oneness), had a huge impact on my mind and i realized that it was the social media, Facebook to be precise, which made me informed about 'Youth Alliance', 'Gramya Manthan', and 'Yes, I am the change'. It was the social media that brought all of us over there and transformed us into a single community comprising of entirely different people belonging to different backgrounds, classes, and age-groups. The love felt during those moments cannot be and should not be expressed in words as love is a feeling to be experienced and not a thought to be expressed. The reflections that people shared after those clips were examples of what coming together means and how it spreads love among all. The words spoken by Kishan Bhaiya about Swami Vivekananda ji were exactly the same as the ones I spoke on Swami ji’s 150th Birth Anniversary, commemorated at 'Prem Dham', Shivpuri. This made it clear to me that there are other people in the world with similar knowledge and similar thoughts even though everyone is unique in his/her own thought process. There were certain other reflections shared by a few more people; which reflected not just their minds and hearts but mine as well.

Once the workshop got over, Madhusudhan Agrawal of 'MAM Movies' and 'Yes, I am the change' or Madhu Bhai (as he is fondly called) asked, those willing, to join a group hug. I did it and it was a very fresh and lively experience for me. After the hug, I went to Kavita ji, touched her feet and told her about how radiant she is and that it is the people, young at heart, like her who inspire the youth of today. While sharing my reflection five minutes earlier, I mentioned that her tears showed the extent to which she was missing her son who was about to go abroad in the coming few days and whom she could not meet that day. I also told her that the advise, that she gave to all the youngsters present over there to take care of the physical and mental well-being if we were to bring out the changes that we are looking forward to, reminded me of my mother. She hugged me and had those pearls in her eyes yet again. The participants of the workshop dispersed and the Youth Alliance team members, change-agents of Gramya Manthan ’12, Samarth and I moved back to the prayer place (Ranjeet had already left as he had to reach his place in time).

Of prayers, principles and goodwill:

We continued with our discussion back at the prayer place about the Gramya Manthan program when an old man accompanied by Kishan Bhaiya and a few others came to the place. The old man was introduced to us as 'Subbarao ji', a living spirit of Gandhi ji and rightly so. He shared his experiences, some from the pre-independence era and most from the various camps that he had organized across the country and the world. He even shared the activities which are usually conducted during those camps. One such activity is the representation of all the national languages included in our Constitution by individual participants dancing together. This activity, as he said, is a symbol of the vastly diversified people of India living together. The singing of songs like 'Naujawan aao re, naujawan gaao re', 'Ek dulara desh humara, pyara Hindustan', and the 'Sarvdharma prarthna' summarized the essence of what those camps try to achieve: "to make a family of youth belonging to all religions, regions, languages and political thinking", and "to inculcate Sadbhavna" (goodwill) among them. The prayers ended and the facilitators dispersed.

The remaining set of people started little chit-chat conversations over hot and tasty Samosas; when we were introduced to Gitanjali, a young social worker who runs Kat-katha at G.B.Road, Delhi for the Didis and their children. The way she love humans without discriminating them on any basis could be easily seen in her eyes and through her charming facial expressions.

Everyone left the place one by one; Samarth and I started moving towards the metro station. We talked about his studies and his internship at mPaani. I shared about my experience at HCL Technologies Ltd. and whatever insight I have gained about the Indian IT industry during the past one-and-a-half years. At the metro station, we met Hardeep, who was also present at the Gandhi Ashram and who had been a part of Youth Alliance’s another flagship program Lead The Change. He talked about his professional experience and his stint at Youth Alliance. We were told that the cool sling bag that he was carrying across his shoulders was a product of the Swaraj livelihood center set-up with the help of Youth Alliance in one of the villages where Gramya Manthan takes place. All of us got off the metro at our respective stations and moved towards our own destinations.

I reached my flat but could not stop thinking about the last few hours: about Gandhi Ashram, about Gramya Manthan, and about Subbarao ji. And as usual, I started to browse about all these over the internet and came to know that Dr. S.N. Subbarao is the director of National Youth Project, a movement started in the year 1970; when some youth workers met at the Mahatama Gandhi Seva Ashram at Joura in the once dacoit affected Chambal Valley in Madhya Pradesh. The Ashram had played host to hundreds of notorious dacoits (bandits) surrendering to Gandhian principles. Subbarao ji has been carrying these heavyweight principles all these years; a small and lighter portion of these rubbed off his shoulders, on to ours.

It was a new beginning:
a beginning of change, peace and passion;a beginning of beauty, happiness, love and oneness;
a beginning of prayers, principles and goodwill.

Abhinav Saxena

Originally from Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, Abhinav just left his job at HCL Technologies, to explore the education sector while doing his MBA. He intends to start a learning center of his own and/or design a curriculum based on activity learning for the school being run by his family in Shivpuri.