Reminiscing the Bharat Darshan

Former POTUS Barack Obama is a big fan of Jazz. He said, “There is something fearless and true about jazz.  This is truth-telling music.” And if you ask jazz musicians, it is the improvisation allowed in jazz that makes it fearless, letting each musician leave their own identity in the musical landscape. Bharat Darshan, also known as the Winter Study Tour of the IAS probationers, had no such room for improvisation.

It was planned in great detail, with most places having 180 of us simultaneously. We moved like a giant mad elephant, leaving ruckus and chaos on our way. The schedule had little flexibility except for the few times we were in smaller groups of 15-20 people.

We began our journey with full enthusiasm, at 4 AM on the 2nd of May. Little did we know morning fights were going to be the norm than the exception. The first attachment was with the army base somewhere in Tinsukia, Assam. We lived with the army for the next 1 week and learned their ways. It was here that I discovered different sides of group members, Mithun Premraj, and Abhishek Shukla. 

Mithun is an early riser. On Day 1 of our stay, he woke up at 5 AM and woke all of us up for the day. By day 3, he was waking up at 3 AM and driven by his compulsive need to wake up others, woke up army jawans. By day 5, he was waking up at 1 AM after sleeping at 12.50 AM, to go to the ULFA camps to wake them up as well. Shukla, on the contrary, would use his morning time for more productive purposes. He was FILO (First In, Last Out) in the common bathing area and hence, bathed with everyone at the base.

We also celebrated Rakesh's official birthday at the Army base. Respecting the traditions of the 14 Assam battalion, he cut the cake with two swords that weighed more than both his arms combined. This was the moment of reckoning for Ashish Mishra, who gets inspired easily. He decided he would celebrate his birthday at each new place, have his cake and eat it too.

The next attachment at Chennai was very enriching as well. The Health, Education, and Industry attachments were well received by the members of the group. We learnt that robots perform robotic surgeries, good health facilities lead to good health outcomes, giving personal attention to students improves learning outcomes and that factories can produce cars through assembly lines.

Having explored Chennai, our group marched to Lakshadweep. The morning flights continued and henceforth began the tryst of Faizan and all of us catching up with the timetable. It was a close contest throughout where we won some and lost a few. 

We spent practically all of our time at Kavaratti Island, the weather playing spoilsport and not letting us hop between islands. On Day 1, we explored the naval base and a nearby beach. This is when our group noticed the photographer in Vivek Pankaj. He would capture the beautiful landscapes on his phone with a skill only few can claim to possess. The skill, as it later turned out, was at display only when the landscape was beautiful.

On Day 2, we explored the few tourist spots on the administrative island. By day 4, we had explored everything we could on the island and were starting to venture into people's homes. Fortunately for the residents, we were airlifted the next morning and we landed at Cochin in the evening. It was a transit point on our way to Kannur where we had the Naval attachment. However, in the spirit of ignoring the Navy while talking about the armed forces, I'll skip this part of the Bharat Darshan.

From Kannur, we landed at Hyderabad, the city of Nizams. The air force attachment started at 5 AM, requiring us to wake up at 3 AM. The presentation started before sunrise. I am sure there must be some lesson in the timings for us to imbibe, but clearly, I am not a good student.

Hyderabad also treated us with good food which made zero difference to me given that I am a non-foodie. I felt like Minnu in mountains – unable to enjoy the one thing good about the place because of reasons beyond my control. This is also when one of our group members, Pulkit, had to excuse himself from the attachment. Having followed the schedule religiously thus far, he fell sick and to his dismay, could only learn the functioning and structure of the air force through Archana's meticulous but handwritten notes. 

However, this sadness was short-lived because the modules at Bangalore were very enjoyable and he could attend those. The module on disaster preparedness taught us that we must have a large number of sensors and a good analytics team to be able to predict disasters. Apurva had never thought of this by herself but thanks to the attachment, she learned it firsthand.

Our stay at the Kumara Krupa Guest House was transformational, not for us but for the guest house, which soon became a replica of the Ganga Hostel. Our Assistant Group Leader Sameer Kishan enjoyed the Bangalore leg a bit too much. We couldn’t spot him during modules, but by his admission, he felt loved in the city. Jayant, on the contrary, couldn’t stop ranting about Bengaluru’s traffic.

Next on our itinerary was Odisha. The state lived up to its sobriquet of India's Best Kept Secret. We had almost no expectations while going to Odisha, especially after checking out from Bengaluru guest house at 2 AM to catch our yet another early morning flight, but it surprised us. The welcome accorded to us and the hospitality received by us wherever we went touched our hearts. Om Prakash Gupta in particular was so touched by the state, that he has been looking to change his cadre ever since then. 

We visited SHGs and when we weren't visiting SHGs, we were being served coconut water. Sometimes, we were having coconut water while visiting an SHG. In the midst of this, Jayant wanted to rant about Bengaluru’s traffic, but we stopped the discussion midway because people began looking at us suspiciously.

Mizoram was next on our itinerary. The PPT attachment continued on Day 1, but our transparent faces gave it away and the other days were converted to the Tourism module. We did short treks and explored the hills and valleys. Two of our group members Praveen and Anamika got lost for a while. Conspiracy theorists amongst us called it intentional, but rationalists knew it was a case of poor border network connectivity.

It was here that Shreya revolted against the standing Group Leader Himani and demanded Trial by Combat to stake her claim at being the supremo. To no one's surprise, Himani pinned her down, looked into her eyes, and then gave a blank stare to each of us. This was the moment we thanked our good sense for having attended to all the attachments. Jayant wanted to rant about Bengaluru’s traffic, but one look at Himani and he decided to let it go.

From the quiet of Mizoram, we directly went to the hustling and bustling Mumbai. By now, our Treasurer Sumit's luggage had increased by 5 kg because of all the bills he had been carrying from all the places. There was a visit to the BARC which inspired us to establish a nuclear reactor in our districts once we get there.

Delhi was Laxmikanth turning into 3D. The institutions of our democracy came alive and awed us. It dawned upon us that we also had a role to play in its smooth functioning. Be it the PM’s museum or our visits to the Parliament complex, there was something that reminded us of the monumental roles we would assume.

All cribbing and complaints aside, Bharat Darshan was transformational by all means. It is one thing to read about the diversity of India and a different experience to witness and be a part of it. The culture, food, and clothes would change at every destination, but the warmth of the people remained the same. We learnt how well meaning policies had to be implemented in a similar fashion to get the desired results.

Everywhere we went, we would see a new bit of India which was waiting to be acknowledged and explored. We learned a bit, and we had fun at other times, but we felt alive for the entire duration!