Encounter India 2016 The programme is designed in such a way that it helps the participant understand the diverse and complex culture of India. It’s an experience that could alter one’s perspective of the country through travelling and interacting with the local entities. It’s a 3 week long programme exploring the cultural, political, social, economic and religious aspects of India. Day 1: The programme began with a discussion about the book ‘Land of the Seven Seas’ and the diversity and the contradictions existing in our country. Geography, social issues, and how the map of India evolved though hundreds of years were important to study before the programme went further.
An icebreaker game was played called ‘Zip Zap Zoom’. After which, an interesting activity was carried out where the participants grouped themselves according to the country where they belonged and how they migrated to reach the campus in Pune. They were then asked to sketch their first impression of India which was then stuck onto a map of India, reflecting the characteristics of a particular city. The participants were also introduced to the neighboring countries of India and their relationships.
The upcoming schedule of the programme was told to the students and their expectations were penned down. They were also shown a commercial advertisement for Incredible India and then asked to locate the characteristics on a map according to the state or the city.
Two quizzes were held as the participants were divided into 2 groups. One was about the general facts about India and the other was about the Indian sportsmen.
India, as a country was then introduced to the participants through a presentation which spoke about the religion, Indian flag, politics, geography, states, nuclear power, space programs, etc.
Day 2: The reading given last night was discussed first, which spoke about the rural problem of using subsidies that the government provides the people. It came out that education of rural people matters the most. The fact that they are given subsidies by the government but they don’t know how to use it makes it difficult for the people to make the most of it. And how these people are deprived of the ‘privilege’.
A game was played, called ‘Splat’. Everybody stood in a circle and one person was in the center. So the person in the center had to call out ‘splat’ while pointing to anybody in the circle and that person had to kneel down. The people on the left and right side of that person had to point towards the middle person. Anybody who didn’t respond quickly would be out of the game.
In context of the discussion in the morning, an activity was carried out that required everybody to stand in a line at the same point and they had to move according to the questions that were being asked to them, most of which were personal for them. If it was a positive answer, they had to move one step forward and vice versa. It eventually left a few people behind and most of them were in the front. It was actually a way to make people realize the concept of ‘privilege’.
Another activity was performed in which there were 2 teams, each one of them had 1 kid and they were given some money to raise him/her. For instance, at first they had to choose if they wanted their kid to be delivered in a public hospital or a private one, given the fact that the government hospital was cheaper yet dirty but private was expensive and hygienic. So at each step of their life they had to chose between such things. It was an experiential learning for them that how each parent on earth has to go through this dilemma and how they are able to make their children’s life privileged or non-privileged.
People of Akshara Foundation had come to meet the participants. They first gave a presentation about their activities, how they are contributing to the society. Then they showed us videos of the dances that we all would be performing. For the same, they divided us in groups. After that, we all played games like Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, Langdi, etc.
Sadhna Village near Kolwan is an organization which assists the specially-abled people and the under-privileged and work for their welfare. Medha Tai, along with her volunteers had come to meet the participants and tell them about Sadhna Village. They also introduced them to the special friends by sharing their pictures and talking about them, to build the context in their mind before they actually go and meet the friends.
The next task was to cook dinner for everybody in 2 groups. So the participants were taken to Paud, the nearest village to MUWCI, where they could buy the grocery. They were given a certain budget and had to buy within that. As we came back to campus, they started cooking and made some delicious delicacies.
Day 3: The day began with a new game called ‘Gold Spot’. Beginning in a close group, everybody scattered in different directions and had to move only 2 steps one by one to touch the feet of the nearest person, so that they could be out of the game.
The next session was about understanding the history of India. Being such a diverse country, we couldn’t go into many details but the broader aspects were discussed with the students. Starting from stone age, iron age, Harappa and Mohenjodaro, everything was covered till the 9th century.
After that, was a discussion about the holiness of the cow in India, and the fact that beef is banned in the country because of various social, religious and political aspects. In contrast, the ban actually increases the business and the economy flourishes as well.
The participants practiced their dances in respective groups. After lunch, the 2 groups of Encounter India- Shiva’s Snakes and Crazy Indian Cows were divided for farming in a village and meeting the special friends at Sadhna Village. People who went farming were helping the farmers in the field work and the people who went to Sadhna Village spent time with the special friends and played games with them.
A Bollywood movie called ‘Rang de Basanti’ was screened at night which helped the students look at the political as well as historical scenario in India. It’s plot revolved around the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and how the politics in today’s world reacts to a similar situation.
Day 4: Group dances were practiced with the Akshara foundation people and was followed by ‘Gold Spot’ game.
The history of India was continued today. It spoke about the events that happened from the 10th century onwards, the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Orccha kingdom, Maratha Empire, and the Rajputs. How Vasco D Gama came to India and how the East India Company was established. The various wars that happened on the land of India including the Battle of Plassey, Buxar, mutiny of 1857. Years later, Mahatama Gandhi came in and the formation and activities of the Indian National Congress till India and Pakistan were partitioned.
It was time for farming and Sadhna Village again. The group that went farming yesterday went to meet special friends and vice versa. Since it was a new set of students meeting the friends today, they interacted with them first and after a while they played a game of Fire in the mountain. Later, they also painted on paper.
To look at how the Britishers exploited the Indian people, this Bollywood movie called ‘Lagaan’ was screened at night. It also showcased one of the most popular sports in India that is cricket.
Day 5: The day started with the dance rehearsals in respective groups.
We went to different public and private schools in the nearby villages to observe their functioning, infrastructure, how the space is designed and how easily accessible it is, how many classrooms are there and what is the strength of the students in one classroom, noise levels, ratio of teacher to student and some more similar points of that are necessary for schools.
Students were again divided into 2 groups as per their choice for farming or Sadhna village. Once we returned back to campus, everybody played cricket. Since cricket has such a high status in our country and having watched the movie ‘Lagaan’, it was relevant to the programme.
The scenario of education in India was discussed as the students had been to different schools in the nearby village. They shared their observations about the schools, for instance how there was difference in the number of girls and boys in one class. They also spoke about their interactions with the kids in the schools where they mentioned that some of them liked coming to school and some didn’t because the teachers were strict and they didn’t listen to their problems.
Day 6: The day started with dance rehearsals in respective groups. A session with Madhukar and Anidha had been scheduled. It was about the education system in India, how there is inequity in access to education and how gender and caste also influence who gets type of education. It was a very interactive session which involved providing solutions for case studies. In groups, they also devised plans to implement the ABL learning in India
.
Today was the last day to visit the special friends at Sadhna village and to go farming. Again, groups were divided as per choice. For the special friends, the participants had planned to play some music for them on guitar and then on table. A few students also came up and danced for the friends.
Day 7: We left for the city of Pune early morning and reached the Shaniwar Wada directly. Having seen it in the movie Bajirao Mastani, it was all fresh in the minds of the students. We entered the massive gateway and the students wandered off to various sites depending on their interests. We all met after 15 minutes and the discussion began about the grand fort. It included answers to questions like how the entire city was visible to the rulers from the front at one point of time and how it caught fire suddenly in the mid 1800s and how the door was strategically built to protect themselves from the enemies.
We also strolled through one of the old lanes of the city called ‘Shanivar Peth’ and observed the architecture of the houses today. Soon we reached Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum which houses memoirs of the 14th century in categories of jewelry, kitchen utensils, musical instruments, weapons and more.
The students were later given time to shop for a while in the nearby market and then we headed back to the campus and back for the home stays in the villages.
Day 8: Each of the students were residing with one of the farmer families in the villages since last evening. They had to be a part of their daily routine for one day. So all of them went farming with their respective families today in the morning. Students came back to the campus in the evening. Reflections were held after dinner for the students to share their valuable experiences. Most of the responses were positive and the aim behind the home stay was accomplished. Day 9: Dance rehearsals with Akshara foundation people was held in the morning. It was followed by a small down time for everybody.
Medha Tai from Sadhna Village had organized a meeting with the women belonging to the Self Help Groups in the afternoon. It was an informative session where the women shared their personal experiences and the reasons why they had to be part of the SHG’s and how it has helped them cope up with their difficult times. Because the women were speaking in Marathi, there was translation of it in English simultaneously.
Day 10: Shelter Associates is an NGO which focuses on the provision of proper sanitation for the urban poor or the more specifically, the slum areas. Pratima Joshi from Shelter Associates had come to speak on the same theme. She discussed how the organization has grown from its inception. How much have they achieved their systematic urban planning.
Prashant Mehra from an organization called Mindtree discussed the problems of the country in terms of the economic issues faced and how the economic growth of the country was done. He also introduced the students a relatively new concept called ‘platform economics’ which reuses the existing resources for the consumers. For example, Uber.
The students then made some pretty ‘Thank You’ cards for their host village family and they were also given gifts to wrap for them. They were supposed to come on the day of our cultural programme to watch us dance with the Akshara people along with special friends.
Day 11: Dance rehearsals were done in the morning, which was followed by a session with Vaishali from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She was there to discuss about the idea of disability in India. She began with differentiating between ‘disability’ and ‘normal’ human being. She had planned small activities to make the students realize how privileged they have been to be born like they have been, like writing with left hand, or making a face with their feet. She also encouraged inclusion of disability to cure the problem of neglecting them on daily basis. It just meant sensitization and awareness about disability. She even made the students do a blindfold walk in pairs to make them realize what emotions and problems the blind people go through. At last, she showed a short film on disability awareness, which also included some famous people around the world who were ‘disabled’ according to the society but actually performed well and the whole world remembers them now.
It was the night of the Culturul Programme today. The special friends and the host families had come to the campus to watch us dance on the regional dances. The performances included Koli dance, gondardh, laavni and Bollywood. The thank you cards and the gifts were given to the families. A few people like Medha tai, the head of the food and travel throughout the programme were thanked as well.
Day 12: “Encounter India’ finally began today. The train journey to Jhansi had to begin in the evening for which we had to leave the campus in the afternoon. Some safety tips were discussed before leaving related to travelling, food and accommodation. The expedition took off at around 2:30pm in the afternoon.
Day 13: As we reached our first destination ‘Jhansi’ at around 3pm today, we left for another 2 hour journey to ‘Orchha’, where we stopped at the ‘Orccha Fort’. It was built in the 16th century by the Bundela Rajputs of Orchha. It was a huge complex with different sections. We went to the Jahangir Mahal where Prashant discussed a bit about the fort and the rulers. Like how the outside of a fort usually looks very simple yet powerful and strong but the inside of the fort should always look intricate and beautifully decorated.
Just near the Orccha Fort was the ‘chatris’ of the Bundela rulers. Those were basically cenotaphs along the Betwa River. They were built around the same time during the 17-18th century. They were cubical in structure and also had a conical top. The reason behind these structures was to honor the dead ancenstors of the Bundela Dynasty.
We left for Kahjuraho in the evening after visiting the cenotaphs.
Day 14: Our accommodation in Khajuraho was walking distance from the Khajuraho temples. We left for the western side of the temples in the morning. After discussing the architecture and also the art aspects of the temple, the students went out to observe the different parts of the complex.
After these, we rented bicycles for all of us and explored the city of Khajuraho riding on it. After lunch, Priyanka from Khabar Lahariya came to meet the students and she also briefed about what Khabar Lahariya does and what problems do they face and also about what projects will they be working on next day. What she told them about the working conditions of the women journalists of Khabar Lahariya was that they operate in 7 districts of Bundelkhand, UP, which is a place full of casteism and sexism. It is run only by women. She also compared Khabar lahariya with other big newspapers whose offices are not located in the same place as the place they cover the news for, which in their case is not the scenario.
Chausath Yogini is also one of the oldest sites of Khajuraho that we visited. It was an open patio that had several small doors for different incarnations of the mother goddess. The students also got to witness an evening arti at the nearby Hindu temple. Being a heritage site, there were a lot of local handicrafts shops outside these temples which attracted the students. So they also got time to shop some local goods like sarees, jewelry, playing cards, etc.
Day 15: As we all reached the office of Khabar Lahariya in Mahoba, the projects the students would be working on were mentioned and they were then divided into groups. They left for their concerned village as soon as possible. The stories to be covered included the suicide case of a farmer, difficult conditions to reach the school for children, a village that has no electricity, and the worse conditions of the children who work in the mining industry of Mahoba.
After a few hours everybody met for lunch, which was followed by a meeting on the banks of a city lake. All the students then shared their experiences wherever they went and also appreciated how the women of Khabar Lahariya managed to do their work in spite of a lot of roadblocks. Overall, this experience was very reflective about the working conditions of women in rural areas, the state of poverty in our country and the unequal distribution of the resources among the population.
At night, we had to catch a train to the city of one of the 7 wonders of the world, Agra.
Day 16: We reached our hotel in Agra at around 10:30am. And after half an hour of break, we left for our next destination, which was Sikandra (Akbar’s Tomb). During the discussion about the tomb, some interesting points came up like Akbar himself had commissioned the making of his own tomb while he was alive and then his son Jahangir completed the construction process.
Fatehpur Sikri was our next stop. Having been the capital of Akbar’s time, it was one of the most talked about architectures in Agra. The fort was divided into many sections. There were different places for the common man and the courtisans, the diwan-i-aam and diwan-i-khas. Prashant also mentioned about the 2 famous people of Akbar’s time, Birbal and Tansen. Where Birbal was known for his wit in solving the problems of the court and Tansen was known for his musical performances.
In the same area, there was a Fatehpur mosque as well. It was really crowded and was a major tourist spot.
Day 17: It was time to witness the magnificent Taj Mahal today. It is the most revered and famed example of fine Mughal architecture. Prashant spoke to the students about the life of Shah Jahan, how they also had simple names when they were young but as they grew and acquired such an important position in the sultanate they got names which reflected their grandeur. And a very interesting point that he himself inaugurated the Taj Mahal.
The Mehtab Bagh can be considered as the Taj Mahal viewing spot, even originally Shah Jahan had seen this site from the Taj and had decided that it would be perfect for viewing Taj from a distance and hence a bagh was built with a water tank, fountains and lots of flowering plants.
Another tomb called ‘Itmad-ud-Daulah and commonly known to be a mini version of the Taj Mahal, this tomb was made of white marble, implying a transition phase in Mughal architecture. Originally, it was asked to be built by Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir, for her father. But not only her father, even her mother and a few relatives were buried under this tomb.
Nearing the end of our trip to Agra, we stopped in the market to buy some local sweet called ‘petha’. The students first tasted it and then went on to buying packets for their homes. After all, the trip to Agra wouldn’t have been completed without having this sweet delicacy. After this, we left for the railway station to catch a train to Delhi. We reached there in about 2 hours and checked in to a cultural centre known as ‘Sanskriti Kendra’ in Anandgram.
Day 18: We visited Jama Masjid, the largest mosque of India early in the morning. The magnificent structure was discussed before exploring the inside of it. It was built by Shah Jahan, it has 3 gates, 4 towers and 2 minarets. It can accommodate more than 20,000 worshippers at one time. The students even caught a glimpse of the Red Fort before visiting it.
Having heard very little about the culture of Sikhism, we still had to witness one of the most famous religious centre of their culture, the Sis Ganj gurudwara. The tomb of the centre was covered with a layer of gold. The sikh men were found to be wearing a certain style of turban on their heads. There were also some men and women who were involved in volunteering for the sewa of the incoming devotees, without any greed for money.
The students must have come across one of the most interesting facts today that the Red Fort was a name given by the Britishers and originally, this site was called ‘Kila-e-Mubarak’. The fort was not even red in color, it was white. The huge gate like structure in the front had an empty space attached to it which guaranteed safety to the people inside the fort from the enemy armies. The first structure inside the fort was a market area where the best quality of goods was brought together under one roof. It is also believed that there was one throne for each day of the week for Shah Jahan and one of the most talked about was the Peacock Throne. As we looked out of the fort, there was a culturally rich and refined city called ‘Chandni Chowk’.
Rashtrapati Bhavan was the next destination which is also belived to be made on the lines of Mughal Architecture. The students were also informed about the parade that happens in front of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on ‘Republic Day’ each year, which showcases the best things about each state and the assets of our country as well.
A theatre group called ‘Aatish’ presented a play in the vicinity of an apartment. It spoke about child sexual abuse and live-in relationships, how the society perceives it. It’s narration included poetry and puppetry as well.
Day 19: As the students had already seen a bit about the culture in the religion of ‘Sikhism’, it was time to learn more about it from Jessica Singh, a freelancer in social work, who is also writing a thesis on child sexual abuse. The session happened at a nice small café called the Kunzum Travel Café in Hauz Khas Village. She also spoke about Sikhism as a religion and the concept of gender equality in Sikhism. It was true to some extent however it still exists at some point of time.
We then headed to meet the Strategy Manager at Microsoft in Gurgaon, named ‘Utkarsh Amitabh’. He opened up about his role in the company, that we worked on long term projects like developing a smart village or a smart city and also revenue generation. Speaking about how he manages his hobbies with his profession, he talked about success and career as well. Countering the questions by the students, he spoke about how Microsoft has been doing in India. The concept of the fourth industrial revolution i.e. data was also familiarized by him to the students.
Day 20: Qutub Minar, the tallest brick minaret in the world was witnessed on the last day of the Encounter India programme. During the discussion, it came across that Qutub was the original Red Fort where red soil was found. Even the oldest iron pillar which was made corrosion free at that time stands still even today.
As the last activity for the last day, the students met 2 of the co founders of an initiative called ‘IamGurgaon’, named Latika Thukral and Vijay Dhasmana. One of the projects of the organization called the ‘Aravali Biodiversity Park’ ensures that the right species of plants and trees are grown in the Aravali range. It is a man made forest that is securing the future generation’s lives. There were a lot of medicinal, floral and herbal plants in the forest that helped conserve the environment. In the evening, a lot of people also come for a walk in this region.
At last, there was a farewell dinner at night at a restaurant called ‘Impromptu’ in Gurgaon.
Day 21: The last day was finally here. It was time for everybody’s presentations about their experience during the whole programme and what were they taking back from this encounter with a culturally rich country India.
They also filled their feedback forms for their facilitators and then went off to pack their bags. Everybody then left for their home one by one and the facilitators just waited for the next batch of students to come.