a ride to raise their voice …

Covered 13 Indian states, met 11 communities (who were fighting against hungry )

From my Bangalore and Pune community interactions , I realized ..

.. AIDS and poverty are highly interrelated ! !

Day 3 @ Pune Highway

“ When his mother died, no one came close to

the corpse for 3 days “

“ We are totally detached from the humanity “

“ having ART on an empty stomach is almost like having poison, the govt should give us proper food to fight HIV…”

“ We lost everything what we had, Jobs, Health, Home, Money, Relatives,

Education for children, hope.. “

Akash Gaikwad, with his father Sandeep Gaikwad both are affected by HIV

Day 3 @ CYDA, Pune

- Says Mr. Sandeep , father of 4 years old son

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”

- Mother Teresa

Day 7 @ Ajmer, Rajasthan

Traveling is the best institute you will ever get in this world… You see it... You feel it… You will so be it … and lean & learn it.

Its you and me Its just you and me...

Over the hills and miles You and me.. all alone.. Aye, just you and me,

In the rain and in the pain..In the mist and in the dusts.. Were riding on my veins,While, the days tosses nights.

[ Cont ...]

You and me … all alone.. Aye , just you and me, my P180 !!

You take my breath out of me ..And rope it with the winds…

In my hands, I made you sing for me ,On the roads, You made me dance for youI fill you with fuels and foments, You fill me with bills and burns.

You bore my berates and blathering..Have shown the best days of my life.Still that scent lingers in deep...

“aye... we are popular now !!! Tourists are coming to see us these days”

- we call it “Slum Tourism”

Urban poor

Day 4 @ Pune

India’s best highway (Pune – Mumbai Express)

Day 9 : into the wild

“ Poverty can be defined as a lack of an opportunity to sustains basic human needs such as food, shelter and clothing. ”

A day etched in my memory forever.. An 11 hour long ride in the rain..

That was just a day before the floods in Karnataka.. Next day, in the news, I could see all the places I had passed by were badly affected..

Drenched in water top to toe..Now when I ponder over that eternal experience, Its simply awesome…

“For oft, when on my couch I lie, in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye..which is the bliss of solitude and then my heart with pleasure“ - WW

42% of Indians fall below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day i.e. monthly Sal of Rs 1800

NH 8(Rajasthan)

Jaipur - The pink city

Sariska – The Tiger Reserve (without Tigers)

Deep in the heart of this famous wild life sanctuary, four tiny villages of 100 families living their solitary life.

Among Kankwari, Umri, Haripura and Kiraska, I got a chance to visit Umri which is around 40 km away from the normal civilization and spoke to villagers who avidly await a miracle to happen every time they begin a new day.

Dilemma that conflicts between the vanishing wild life and the hungry human kind..

“ No electricity..No education for children ..No vehicles allowed ..No agriculture ..No means of transport ..No wells ..No business ..

.. and I am 70 years old, with one more unmarried daughter. What will I do !? “ says worried Mr. Saju Ram with his old hookah .

Everyone blames me

because I was born

a girl !!!

How I wish I was never born ! ?

Umri, Sariska

Umri, Sariska

Its not my guest house..Not my kitchen..Not my dinning room..Not my bedroom..

It is everything my family has..

Umri, Sariska

One third of deaths, 50,000 per day - are due to poverty-related causes...

...its like a 2004 Tsunami hitting every 5 days

Day 8 @ Sariska

Half of world's hungry live in India !!!

Black-winged Stilt @ Sariska

“I think the only sustainable process that can end poverty.. is not just the involvement of the government, NGO, or Society but mainly the community itself ..”

Only Indian Road were I saw the sign “Designed for 100 KMPH”

caution : speed thrills but kills

While drive on A.P NH

Day 11: runaway railway kids @ Vigyan Foundation

Our typical day at platform consists of

- feeling hungry - fear of being “caught by police”- fear of strangers - fear of being beaten up - restless and sleepless- clothes less

runaway railway kids

Source of poverty : - Natural Calamity (out of our control )- Society ( lack of education, corruption, unstable,

cartelized power governments , caste, social inequality,

health issues, extreme difference in income ratio.. )

But I wonder isn’t the so called “system of society” designed for the entire humanity rather than just a few,the rich get richer and poor get poorer.

“ Terrorism isn't insanity. It grows out of social conditions that are well known: poverty, social oppression, dictatorship, and a void of meaning in the lives of ordinary people. ”

-Deepak Chopra

Day 13 @ Varanasi

@ Varanasi

“What I feel very special about these community interactions is the happiest smile on their face that someone is at least listening to their problem ”

Budh Gaya – the place where Buddha got enlightenment. Even I tried for a while but all I got is sleep !!

Mr. Bittu - The Smartest guy

A guide pretending to be a 7th std school boy trying to help the tourist as his school teacher thought him to help others. Can speak 8 languages which include only one Indian language. All together, he is a interesting and a decent guy.

“ I know all the latest fashions in shoes !! …I clean them for a living.. ” - Mr. shoe boy

“Calcutta Samaritans” – an advisory firm for homeless people

Day 16 @ Digha

Day 16 @ Digha

Someone said “a man is born to live, not to prepare to live” may be sometime we swing fully into the system of saving money for future and family and forget to start living our life !!

Day 18 @ Ongole

"Travelling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, 'I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station" - Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

Most of the people asked

The possible solutions for poverty clearly depend on what is chiefly causing it, and this can clearly vary with time and with place. Poverty can not be merely deal with money and other resources. I think the first step is to little conscious about action and our ways of living which affect the environment and others, and how we can help reduce that impact. Like when we saw a poor guy on a road; a smile or a sly look !?  Awareness can be done in many ways, but the effective influence or awareness will be created from the way we live our life.