The Train of Awakening

This is no ordinary train journey. This is a train where the journey itself is the destination. A train that will carry 350 passengers in the age group of 18 to 25 on an 18-day trip from Delhi to Kanyakumari, and teach them lessons on Entrepreneurship and Leadership along the way. This is the Tata Jagriti Yatra.

Flagged off on the 24th December, the educational tour is currently making its way through several locations, exploring innovative initiatives, interacting with role models and getting insights into social entrepreneurship. Be it the dabbawalas in Mumbai, the ‘model village’ of Kuthambakkam in Chennai or Anand in Gujarat, the youths will get a sneak peek at what it takes to run a successful enterprise. Madhavi Rajadhyaksha reports in Times of India on the purpose of the ‘yatra’:

The whole purpose is to get the youth to connect with the genius of India and the focus is on enterprise-led development. Today, enterpreneurship and enterprise are no longer a luxury, but a necessity and we hope to spark interest in the youth,” said Shashank Mani, an ex-IITian and one of the founders of the concept, adding that they hope to make this an annual feature.

The students will also enjoy an interesting itinerary that will give them the opportunity to pack maximum learning in their limited time.

Explaining that the format wasn’t a classroom session but a see-and-learn experience, another organiser Raj Krishnamurthy offered an insight into their itinerary. “There will be conferences inside the train and stopovers to meet role models such as scientist R A Mashelkar (who formerly headed the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr M S Swaminathan who is known as the `father of the green revolution in India’ and Ela Bhatt who founded SEWA,” he said.

The final 350 were selected from nearly 10,000 applicants. Let us hope that many of them will be enthused to create successful social enterprises of their own.

Read the complete story here.
Image Courtesy: Tata Jagriti Yatra 2008 website