The all-familiar vendor’s cries of ‘chaai’ and ‘samosa’ are missing on this train.
Instead, words like ‘startup’, ‘business plan’ and ‘SWOT analysis’ are bandied about in the AC chair car coach. Elsewhere, in another, an antakshari is in progress, with participants breaking into a rendition of ‘Kabhi Kabhi’ in unison.
Life inside the Jagriti Yatra special train is special. Every day is different and every passing hour, an experience. Yatris — as its passengers are called — often describe it as a “life-changing moment”.
It is. Conceptualised in 2008, this year’s edition of the Yatra picked 525 people from different parts of India, selected after a screening of 47,000 applicants in the age group of 21-27 who are interested in entrepreneurship. The participants then visit 12 destinations across India, covering 8,000-kilometres over a 15-day trip during which they meet role models, observe business enterprises and get a glimpse into how India works, with specific focus on tier-2 and tier-3 districts.
Some of the yatris from the 525-strong Jagriti Yatra
| Photo Credit:
S Shiva Raj
Travelling with them is a team of volunteers, some former yatris, and also a few foreigners, trying to catch a glimpse of how rural India operates. They eat at platforms, share seats and responsibilities in buses and wait for each other’s turn in restrooms. As the train chugs along the heartland of India, friendships are forged, introverts open up to strangers and somewhere along the way, business ideas are shaped as well.
The Jagriti Yatra, organised by non-profit organisation Jagriti Sewa Sansthan and in its 17th year now, aims to do one thing: build India through enterprise. “We want to create more job creators than job seekers,” says Ashutosh Kumar, CEO, Jagriti Yatra. According to some estimates, more than 800 million Indians live in tier-2 and tier-3 towns. “They don’t have ecosystems or role models to look upto and so, all of them are migrating to bigger cities for jobs that aren’t there. We need enterprises to nurture local development.”
Different dreams
“I hope to meet my co-founder here,” says Agam Agarwal, a chartered accountant by profession and entrepreneur by passion who is undertaking the yatra, “I have a crazy idea that I want to execute with someone on this train. A majority of the rural population don’t pay taxes, which leaves them away from the loans they can avail and Government subsidies that they can use.” For this, Agam hopes to create a platform to spread awareness, which will help the rural population file IT returns.
He is on the look out for a tech guy on the train to set his plans in motion. Like Agam, there are several others with business opportunities. Take Tejaswini Kapadia, from Solapur, for instance, who quit a corporate job to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams. “My younger brother and I now run a ghee business and we are looking to scale up. Ghee is an ancient Indian superfood and we want it to go to the global level,” says Tejaswini, who says she is undertaking this yatra to develop her personality and increase her network.
The yatris aboard the train
| Photo Credit:
S Shiva Raj
Also doing that is Shivam Porwal, founder of IT consultancy firm Expertsmania. A differently-abled professional based out of Ahmedabad, Shivam’s driving force was to meet like-minded people. “I strongly believe that your network is your net worth,” he says, “I was fascinated that I could meet 500 people on a single train. Through this journey, you understand the real India.” He credits his fellow yatris, all of whom he met during this journey, to have helped him during the travel. “Accessibility is an issue. I have felt exhausted on the train and found it difficult at railway stations. I understand we are a minority but just constructing a ramp will impact our lives greatly,” says Shivam, who urges every Indian with entrepreneurial dreams, including physically-challenged persons, to undertake this journey of a lifetime.
During this trip, some participants find investors or collaborators, while some others, find their life purpose. Some find life partners, like Jignesh Talasila, an alumnus of Vishakapatnam’s Gitam University, did in 2014 when he went on the yatra with his now-wife, Vyshali Sagar. Many other established professionals too attribute their success to embarking on this train journey, like Prachi Shevgoankar (Cool the Globe), Aditi Madan (BluePine Foods) and Ayush Bansal (iDream Career), all of whom have also featured in the popular business reality television series, Shark Tank India.
Back to the roots
While in Sri City (75 kilometres from Chennai), these yatris got a peek into manufacturing business units, and a visit to the Akshaya Patra Foundation in Vishakapatnam gave them information on the workings of an organisation providing nutritious meals to school children. As the train journeyed into Brahmapur in Orissa, yatris took a trip to Gram Vikas, an organisation that helps rural communities lead a dignified life by concentrating on aspects of sanitation, hygiene and education, among others. Explains Chinmay Vadnere, COO of the Jagriti Yatra, “Someone on the train is from IIT but there’s also someone who is a farmer. The common aspiration for both is developing the country. In this diverse crowd, we see not just networking, but also the sentiment of collaboration because they are all on a trip together.”
An entrepreneurial session on, aboard the Jagriti Yatra
| Photo Credit:
S Shiva Raj
From more than 8,500 people who have undertaken the journey over the past years, 28% have started their own enterprises after the yatra. There are more plans in future, as Ashutosh reveals. “We are mulling on doing two yatras per year, considering the demand. We also want to do a ship yatra along the coast. Someday, we hope to make that happen,” he says.
The waters will have to wait, but for now, Jagriti Yatra 2024 – which is currently on, till December 1 – is journeying through places like Rajgir (Bihar), after which it will cover Deoria (UP), Delhi, Tiloniya (Rajasthan) and wrap up at Ahmedabad.
As the train travels past these towns and villages, late in the night, just before lights off at 11pm, the yatris are still up discussing the day’s events. During that time, they also touch upon business ideas and processes in their hometowns. Come morning, when the clock strikes 6 and the sun makes a shy appearance, the yatris wake up to AR Rahman’s stirring ‘Yeh Jo Des’ from Shah Rukh Khan’s Swades, which plays from speakers set up in all compartments. It is a brand new beginning – they could be in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa or Bihar – and they are awake and ready.
India is waiting.
Participants of the Jagriti yatra
ON THE TRAIN
Who?
Anyone in the 21-27 age group who hopes to be a changemaker or an entrepreneur can apply. Professionals above 28 years can apply to be facilitators. This year, 47,000 applicants were received, of which 525 were selected for the journey. The selected participants have to pay around Rs 70,000 for trip costs, for which scholarships are available for the economically-disadvantaged sections of society.
How?
This special train from the Indian Railways is meant only for the yatra and has 19 coaches. It stops at 12 locations across the country. Along the way, the passengers not only network among themselves, but also meet social entrepreneurs and observe their business models.
What?
Designed as a university on wheels, the train usually runs in the night to the next location. Food is sometimes served on the train by a special catering team or on the platform. While the amenities are much like any other train, it has speakers in each compartment for communication, charging points, clothes hangers and a few bathing units. It undergoes a deep-clean service every day in the mornings when the passengers are out.
For information and to apply for 2025’s yatra, log on to www.jagritiyatra.com
Published – November 27, 2024 01:48 pm IST
