Gramya Manthan - The Beginning

So my first Shatabdi ride, and I was supposed to be all excited about it.

I was. But the reason was not Shatabdi. It was the program I was going to be a part of for the next 10 days.

Gramya Manthan started with a ride in the Ambulance from the station to the RSS School were we were supposed to spend two days. Ambulance? So that they don't spend extra on hiring a cab. Interesting.

We meet up the volunteers, get a short interview recorded, have dinner and take rest for the day, which was quite a difficult task considering the level of anxiety in everyone around.

Day 2, we wake up to expectations of meeting mentors and beginning with the program right away. But the team had other plans. We start the day with dividing people in random groups, having activities which made the child come alive in all of us, pumped us up and gave us a push to open up and share, which was the first level of achievement for all of us.

Next to come was a 'timeline' exercise, called the LifeMap in Gramya Manthan. Give people 10 minutes to think about your life and draw a graph of ups and downs and you'll literally have sweat all over your forehead. It was yet another experience sharing about our lives, and as we sat in a group of 15 people each, a personal space was created and shared in such a pure way that everyone could reflect and be open about their own lives.

The best part about Gramya Manthan so far are the energizers! We're made to do crazy activities so that we don't sleep, and when we're in the peak of energy, the next activity begins.

So Day 2 Activity 2 was dedicated to a Kabir doha which states that he went into the world for searching the bad there, and he could not find any bad in others. Then he searched the bad inside, and he realized his bad was the biggest among everyone else.
The activity was to distribute people in three groups - one group with people who agree to the Doha, second with people who disagree and a third 'confused' group. The 'Yes' group stands on a side, the 'No' on the other with the confused people in between them. Now the 'Yes' and 'No' groups were asked to win over the confused people and the group who convinces most confused people would win. It was shocking to see that in a group of such intellectuals, such differences in opinion could exist. This was the learning that we got - each and everyone of us have different perspectives and opinions, and everyone thinks his is the right opinion, but then it's just a matter of perspective.

We also played Volleyboll, which was quite fun-filled. It rained briefly which was a big bonus as the weather became beautiful and cold enough to calm down our 'roasted' nerves!

Gramya Manthan has been an interesting journey so far and I'm sure with so much more to see, I would have a lot to share with you :-)

Elishia

Elishia looks at you innocently and smiles, and suddenly life glows bright as the sparkle in her eyes infects you deep inside, and you’re too moved in that instant to absorb the intensity of her vibrations all at once, so you smile back a silly smile and you know how impossible it is to look away. But then she looks away herself, and the painful pleasure that dawns upon you makes you realize the fallacy of conceptual beauty you’ve known till that point of time. That how a delicate smile could disillusion age-old concepts of love and compassion established by the wise and the old, and establish forth a new meaning behind the youthfulness of the beauty in those eyes, thus imparting a beautiful meaning to beauty itself.

She looks back at you, and amidst deep silence you say so much of the unspoken love, of how badly you could give up anything just for her to keep looking in your eyes like that. But just in that moment, she would look away, close her eyes and smile, and you ask yourself if your thoughts were too loud, for the redness of her lips and the pink of her cheeks say much more than the richest of literature could ever even dream to convey. You want to believe that she feels you, that she loves the way you hold her hand and tell her how beautifully carved her fingers are, and how every entity of His creation could envy the softness of her skin, and much more, of the softness within.

And while you’re sitting down looking at her, wishing you could freeze that moment and make it stay like that forever and maybe even more, the hard unemotional reality strikes you painfully and you know she would have to leave you now, leave you alone on those steps where every moment would make you look up at Him and wish you lived that lifetime again and again just to be with her for that one single moment. And so you’d promise yourself to live every remaining quantum of time with her to the fullest, to softly caress her, to envelop her in your love compassionate and intense. But she would suddenly feel it and run so away far, hiding her spectacular aura behind the frame of her colourful spectacles, unintentionally softening more against you, in a way touching you strongly inside in a strangely painful manner which makes you smile on the outside but burn deep down. The lips would bid goodbye, but impossible it would be for the spirit to detach. But just then, a realization dawns upon you as you embrace her for the last time - a part of your stays with her and a part of her stays with you. Forever.