Joining Pravah
Mazin, my room mate and friend came back one day saying that he's joined an NGO called Pravah and they have selected him to be a part of a 10 day exposure camp to be held somewher in Gujarat. I was immediately attracted to the idea and asked him whether I could join him. The next day we went to the Pravah office and I joined the organization which'd prove to be a really interesting place to be. They were not sure about my chance of getting into the Gujarat team at that time. I would wait for Neha-our co-ordinator- to call me. She did call that too with the good news that my ticket is booked. I was excited. I've always thought of visiting that place where hundreds of people were killed in a gory communal riot in 2002. I wanted to know what really happened and most importantly why it all happened. How could a man kill another man so brutally. The level of brutality was that horrible, I couldn't just imagine that kind of a violence in real life. So my excitement was natural. I was told that we're going to have an overnight orientation camp on 30th September. I was also supposed to do a presentation on two NGOs-Yuvshakti and Janvikas- which were hosting us in Gujarat. I prepared a bit for that and waited for the 30th.
The Team
Me and Mazin reached Pravah office by around 3.30. I was about to meet some really interesting people who'd be cherished forever in my life. Oblivious to this particularly interesting fact, we knocked at the door of the office. Neha was there waiting for us with her trade mark smile. She was co-ordinating this trip. She was from Gujarat, which made sense!! She had this talent of making people realise that what they thought of many issues were wrong. She knows how to correct people without hurting their ego. She was a good photographer too. Next their was Kapil, he too was from Pravah. He was a wonderful guy with a lot of knowledge and a great temperament. He was someone who had a strong determination to bring about changes. fact we followed Neha to a room where some quilts were At one corner of the room there was this girl, who was keenly reading a book and making notes. Neha introduced us to her. She was Sheena, who'd later turn up to be a funny little girl whose absent minded utterings would make me cry out of laughing!! She'd also prove to be a fantastic communicator who could easily make a connection with people and to make them talk without any apprehension. She was doing her graduation in Psychology. Then came Rajani, who'd turn out to be the sweetest and most mature person of our group. She was visibly excited about the whole thing. She was a post graduate student in political science. We both happened to be from the same state, Kerala. That made me more comfortable with her. Then came Kamal, another fantastic guy who came to this camp from the middle of his hectic MBA classes. He also had a part time job in a bank. The first inspiration came from there. There are people who wanted changes to happen in the society and no tight schedules is going to restrict you if you've the will to do something. Then it was Harish Bhai, a very inspiring elder brotherly guy who was doing his degree in mass communication. He was with us for this trip despite the physical challenges he faced. That was also a great inspiration for me. I was overwhelmed. I was never inspired this much in such a short span of time!! Then there was Vineeth, who was not coming with us. He was going to some other place for exposure. He was a really cool guy. Most of the time he seemed to be absent minded. Being a student of physics, it was quite a desirable quality. Newton's absent mindedness which lead him to think- rather than to eat -about an apple which fell in front of his eyes, lead to some of the sadest academic tragedies!! Even I was a victim..! Now that 9 of us was there including Kapil and Neha, we started the first session. We played some small games and did some energizers. I was still apprehensive about talking to everyone. My Hindi was pretty bad, and I didn't exactly know the vibes of urban youth, on what to talk and what not to. So I remained in a serious mode which made'em think I'm an intellectual!!!Looks can really deceptive, I thought!! After this warm up session, two more guys turned up. One was Ankur whom I've met once. He was a genuine guy. He was cool, smart and a good artist. He was doing his graduation in English. The other one was Ravi, the most down to earth guy I've ever seen. He was a good analyser too. Like me, he was also an economics student. After their arrival, we started a session on Violence. The theme was " Violence is Justified". We were told to be divided into three part. One which supported the statement, one which opposed and one which was confused over where to go. I was in that, ofcourse! There was a good debate on the issue. I was of the opinion that violence is justified in some conditions, but what confused us was what level of violence was justified and who decides right and wrong. It was a really insightful discussion. Neha and Kapil-both from Pravah, and our co-ordinators- interjected accordingly to clear our misconceptions about some facts. The night has started falling by then.. We went outside to a nearby park and played some really cool games. After that came the last two members of our Gujarat team. One was Karishma, the naughtiest-in almost best possible way!!- girl of our group and also very sensible. I would tie a rakhi on her defying conventions! The other one was Amrita, a very caring,sweet, fun loving and very easily confusable girl!! I bet she'll be confused if she reads this!! Both of them were doing their gaduation in Sociology.
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