The quest for learning about new things, has always inspired human kind. Since time
immemorial, homo-sapiens have been
moving from one place to another. This is even more true in the modern age
where even the thought of travelling and going to some exciting place makes our
mind go crazy. And when this journey covers the full length and breadth of
India, that too for two consecutive months, it’s like a super treat. Well, as a
part of our training in Phase I, we all Indian Administration Service (IAS)
Officer Trainees (OTs) were sent on two months long Bharat Darshan. My group travelled in a zig-zag vertical line
passing through the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Delhi.
We were a group
of 17 OTs and visited different places, serving different interests. They
included visits for understanding about country’s three armed forces, tribal
places, tourist places, private and public sector visits and many more. In the
course of time, our learning and appreciation regarding the diversity of our
country kept on jumping up at galloping pace. We witnessed many happy moments
and some not so happy ones too.
Our Bharat Darshan began with 10 days attachment,
which is the longest attachment during Bharat Darshan, with the Indian Army at
Akhnoor Sector in Jammu. Till now my interaction with army has been via media
and occasionally through interaction with one or two jawans. But those ten days we lived with the Indian Jawans. When I remember the bone
freezing temperatures, incessant rains and hilly terrain of Jammu and Kashmir,
I am amazed by the courage with which the Indian soldiers are living in those
harsh conditions. The hospitality of Indian Army was undoubtedly the best
throughout whole tour and the more we travelled, the more we missed Indian
Army. The sense of duty, discipline, devotion etc. among the jawans was commendable, keeping in mind
the fact that they stay away from their family when they work in such
inhospitable conditions. We travelled in the plain as well as in the hilly part
of Jammu region and went to as close as 50m to the Line of Control. The sheer
thought of travelling beyond the LoC wire, within the firing range of Pakistani
soldiers made me shiver. Though I went beyond the LoC fence, but it was under
the protective covering of our soldiers. This, the soldiers do, day in and day
out. In the mountains, civilian habitation can’t be found for many kilometres.
Still our jawans stay awake
throughout night, to check the infiltrators.
Our visit gave
us not just the information about the Indian Army as an organisation, but we learnt
much beyond that. Our aim was also to learn as much as from the soldiers, who
are living in small bunkers, making food by themselves, as much as we could. We
promised to ourselves that whenever we face some litigation work or any other
problem involving army soldiers, we shall try our best to help them out as soon
as possible, because I know they have much bigger role to play up there and
their holiday time should be spent with their family members instead of
visiting the administrative agencies to get their problems sorted out.
Indian Navy and
Air Force attachments at Mumbai and Adampur (Jalandhar) were comparatively
shorter ones and our experience with them was quite different. There work is
more technical and involves less of jawan
like entities. But they carry out a different mandate all together in order to
serve a common purpose at the end. We learnt a lot about instruments, weapons,
technological advancements, limitations of our armed forces etc.
Another
important part of the tour was tribal attachment, which was scheduled at
Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. We interacted with the people of Koru and Gond tribes.
I for the first time came so close to understand as to why the tribals and
backward people in our country are still so poor and backward. When the
protector transforms into the destroyer, one can imagine the fate of those
being ruled. When the ignorance and simplicity of the tribals is being misused
by the people who are trusted for their protection, nothing much can be
expected. While we hear so much of huge corruption at the higher level, at the
same time the amount of malfunctioning at the grass root level is really
disturbing. One possible solution to this lies in strong check and balance by
the higher level bureaucracy on the lower level officials. For this we need to
move out of the AC rooms and check upon the functioning of the lower
administration. Occasional visits to the field can bring much difference in the
desired direction.
Similarly while
visiting the Satyamangalam forests in Tamil Nadu, we revisited the terror that
Verappan and his gang let loose in the region. The tribal people of the forests
told us about those days which deprived them of their freedom and instilled
their mind with insecurity. The attachment was with the Special Task Force
(STF) which played pivotal role in the killing of Verappan. The concerned Major
told us about their encounter with the Verappan’s gang many times before his
killing. These encounters resulted into killing of many of his aides but we
also lost our many soldiers. The sense of duty and sacrifice can still be seen
on the faces of STF jawans. They are
expert of what they are doing in that forest region. Hence even after the
killing of Verappan, STF continues to survive, though its role and mandate has
significantly changed. That is from being a protector to now an enabler. They
also protect and conserve the forests now.
We also visited
private sector and public sector entities, which were Hindustan Unilever
Limited (HUL) at Mumbai and Rail Coach Factory (RCF) at Kapurthala
respectively. These visits gave an insight into the functioning of both the
sector. I would say that both the organisations displayed very high level of
competence and excellence in their respective spheres.
We also had
attachments at many other places like Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) at
Ludhiana, National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) at Lucknow, KIDS NGO at
Darwad, Municipal corporation at Coimbatore, MYRADA an NGO at Hosur, Kochin
Port Trust at Kochin etc. All these attachments were more like informative
where we learnt about their functioning, what they do, how they do and so on.
All these attachments with different agencies not only helped me in enriching
my understanding about these organisations but also gave me insight into the
functioning of similar organisations on a broad level.
Another
important one was with National Security Guards (NSG) at Manesar, Haryana. This
was a very live, swift and brutal display of the skills by the commandos. These
skills include heroic display of firing, protecting the VIPs, smashing the
terrorists in their backyards, physical drills etc. We were also briefed about
the mission that NSG undertook in Mumbai during the 26/11 attacks.
Till now I have
described the places where we were learning something, rather than enjoying the
Bharat Darshan, but we also visited
some places where we simply enjoyed the physical diversity of Indian as a
nation. These were very important and beautiful trips and include places like Hassan
in Karnataka, Kanyakumari and Ooty in Tamil Nadu. In Hassan, first we visited
the Jain Temple of Lord Gomteshwar. It was a massive single stone statue which
is a beauty in itself. This was followed by visits to Halebidu and Belur
Temples made by the Hoyasala Kingdom. These temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva
and Lord Vishnu respectively. These temples are beautifully carved out and
without the use of cement and mortar have been standing proudly on its ground.
This has been done by carving out images on huge stones and placing them
together by interlocking patterns. The walls depict scenes from the ancient
Hindu scriptures like Ramayana, Mahabharata and others. I can say a great deal
about them but that would be too much to write here.
This was
followed by visit to Ooty, another beautiful place to go. The plantation
covered mountain slopes are like huge stretches of Greenery. Ladies picking the
tea leaves and working in the plantations made the scene more alive and it
appeared as if it is some beautiful scene taken from some movie. The winding
roads, misty air and cool weather made the day for us. I even bought homemade
chocolates and Nilgiri special tea from Ooty.
Finally another
beautiful place was Kanyakumari, the last point of the Indian mainland. The
view of three seas meeting together gives special feeling. The ocean was little
rough that day, hence huge waves were crashing against the shore. But then it
gave me more pleasure as if they want to say something to us in a musical tone.
The ferry ride to the Temple of Kanyakumari and Vivekanada Statue in this rough
weather was very exciting as the ferry was being tossed up and down on the
waves. I enjoyed watching the setting sun beyond the horizon. This was really
very beautiful scene. Later we went to Trivendrum in Kerala and we witnessed
the sunset at Kovalam beach. It too was enchanting.
In this way we
completed our Bharat Darshan, which
gave us lot of knowledge about the diversity of our land in the terms of its
people, culture and physical landscape etc. It was not just a two month tour as
a tourist, but it was the learning bed for an IAS probationer. We also saw
different angles of administration, some good and some bad. But all these days
have taught me great lessons, which I am never going to forget in my life.
