“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
– Helen Keller”
It is said that the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. And the Explorers Fellowship made this discovery for us.
On 8th May, three room-mates started their 46- days long journey,each filled with excitement and anxiety. Excitement to witness the tradition and culture of 19 states of country.And anxiety to travel more than 10,000 kms with our so called “Plans”.We started this dream journey from the Dream Capital of India-”Mumbai” and with blessing from Siddhivinayak temple ,we ended our biggest journey with an immortal impression on us at Qutub-Minar in Delhi.
In this journey , a journey of more than 10,000kms and journey exploring 3 industries,5 Central Institutes,many agricultural fields and stay at 2 IITs -IIT Bombay and IIT BHU,we got “new eyes”.New eyes by witnessing heavy rainfall,snow covered mountains,scorching heat,sand covered beach,border at an altitude of 15,000 feets,plateau,hill station,blinding clouds , diverse flora and fauna and with all of them sufferings of common people.New eyes by exploring the “Incredible India” on the topic-”Affect of Modern Practices on Traditional Agricultural Style”.
From humid weather of Kochi to White snow of Rohtang-Manali ,from scorching heat of UP to indo-china border -” Nathu-La” in Sikkim,from “land of beaches”-Goa to “land of god”-Kerala, from agricultural field of village to splendour forts of great rulers.From the soul-stirring temples of Bodhgaya to the mesmerising beauty of Vishakhapatnam, from the temples in Varanasi to the falls in Himachal, from the sweetness of Kolkata to the spices of Hyderabad.We witnessed everything in our dream journey.
We three always stood together whether in making any decision or coping any situation. Whether it was standing for 10 hours in train or walking for more than 25kms.
When we were heading for fellowship we were worried for budget but together in our journey money never become an issue. It is said that “Balancing your money is the key to having enough“ and we three did the same.And this helped us to do every foolish things that we love; from water sports in goa to rafting in Rishikesh,from 6 day stay at Sikkim to 1 day at Rohtang,from savouring cuisines to shopping mementoes. We did everything under budget! Our team was best linguistic combination. Whether it was “Chetta” in kerala or “Anna” in Telangana or “Ae Bhaiya “ in bhojpuri. Our team had at least one “skilled person” for each language.This journey teaches us both the value of person and money.
Hurdles never let us lose the sight of infinite hope.In our this journey we found many hurdles to make us more tough and skilled. And at the same time we found many friends to cope us from hurdles.This journey give us the lifetime chit-chat topic, and incidents to tell our friends. This journey can never be expressed in words.
We thank IIT Gandhinagar and our director for providing us this opportunity of innovative learning of life and of ourselves. We thank Prof. Chetan Pahlajani ,Shri Krishan Birhman, Miss Avipsa Dey to take responsibility of EF2k17 and Mr. Tushar Pareek to manage this record.There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. You made a difference. Thank-you so much.
