Hello there!
My first write up was about how to travel to Europe in less than INR 1lac and today am excited to bring to you another travel blog about how to discover India in 15 days flat under INR 1 Lac or $1400 - or even less!
India is a giant country and you can spend months here discover its food, people, cultures and traditions. Its languages change nearly every 100kms and so does the taste of water and food. Jagriti Yatra is a great way to discover the length and breadth of this country especially to experience not just cultures but also to meet people of local cities and speak with them to understand how are they making their cities better.
I came across Jagriti Yatra in 2013 after clearing my CA examinations. Imagine 15 days, living, eating, meditating, doing, creating and celebrating inside a train home. I haven’t had a better view of my own country and I cant wait to share it all here with you!
Jagriti is a hindi/Sanskrit word which means awakening and yatra means journey. So its basically a train ride curated specially for the ones who wish to awaken their souls to understand this beautiful country and its people. The idea is to introduce young mind to how several people are working together to build India through social entrepreneurship, at the same time, exploring the Indian food and its traditions.
It starts from Mumbai and covers the following states in all the directions:
- Kanyakumari (Tamil Naidu)
- Madhurai (Tamil Naidu)
- Bengaluru (Karnataka)
- Sricity (Andr Pradesh)
- Vishakapatnam (Andr Pradesh)
- Ganjam (Odisha)
- Nalanda (Bihar)
- Deoria (Bihar)
- New Delhi (Delhi)
- Tilonia (Rajasthan),
- Ahemdabad (Gujrat)
- and finally back to Mumbai (Maharastra)
You discover food of various cities in 15 days
You experience all weathers and seasons
You feel motivated after hearing the local stories
It opens your minds and you become more mindful & resourceful
It leaves you with endless travel and start-up stories and memories
Sharing three most wonderful things that I took away from this train journey here :
1. The Local Food in the train
The best thing for me during this train journey was how the organizers managed to feed us so well and nicely. They prepared the food fresh with minimal resources and it was a treat to watch how they made all arrangements. The setting of buffet on train platforms and service inside the train. The caterer made sure we got to taste the best of each city as we would visit them or cross them – that too served fresh inside the train!
If you are someone who is open to experimenting with food options and have always been found of the variety Indian Food offers, this trip is just the thing for you!
2. The Local stories across India
You get to hear , understanding and decipher so much from the local entrepreneurs who making society better each day with their continuous efforts. This journey helps me broadened my mindset to become more comfortable with uncomfortable situations, to respect the budding entrepreneurs more, to start accepting my failures more sincerely and rework the ideas in hope of success and to learn how people are doing wonders. It leaves you motivated to give back to the society and come back stronger after each ideation.
3. The Networking and friendships
I now have a friend from Russia who is also a science enthusiast, I have already visited a friend in Rome who made me try some great Italian Ice Creams. I now could skype call my friend in US to know her views of their new policies – all of these friends came in from this journey of 15 days. It’s a great platform to find people of similar interests and travel alongwith them. It gives an excellent opportunity for a cultural exchange, ideas and networking!
To apply to this year’s Jagriti Yatra you could google more about it and put up your application. No matter which country you are from, you are welcome to experience India like never before! After coming back from my Jagriti Yatra, I definitely knew why we call it as Incredible India!
PS : Also there are sponsorship in case you are unable to afford the whole fee which is close to INR 60,000-70,000
