Posts from — May 2008

A great cartoon on Sharada’s trip by Anil Achar, Bangalore. Thanks very much Anil !!! He has captured Sharada’s look very nicely

Leh to Khardung La and Back [Read more →]

Leh [Read more →]

Gandhigram Trust in Tamil Nadu has sent us the first quilt !

It depicts rainwater harvesting, watersheds, open defacation vs. sanitary latrine and more.

Below : closeup of one of the panels

Today 20th May is Sharada’s birthday. You may be able to reach him at 99805 40111 to wish him ! He is travelling in the heights of the Himalayas, around Ladakh

If you know Kannada, you can read Shree Padre’s article on the journey

K2K trip of Sharada Prashad brought lots of hope and enthusiasm among the people and civil societies of Bhuj and Kutch.  Yesterday evening (6th May), we had a interactive session at Hamirsar Talav ” the 400 year old water point which is still the heart of the Bhuj city”. We were grateful to The Collector, Mr. R R Varsani, who specifically came to meet Mr. Sharda Prashad and conveyed his good wishes to the cause of the trip. Again, The Mayor of Bhuj city, who took the charge on yeasterday only, announced that not single pond / talav will be allocated for any types of construction work. In this meeting several dignetories like Kantisen Shroff, Senior Citizens of Bhuj, Hamirsar Sneha Samiti members, youth, members from civil societies participated. Press was also enthusiastic about K2K trip, they coverd a lot in the local news papers. (I will try to send you some of the news paper coverage to you). After the interactive session, Sharada visited Ramkundh ( a historic stepwell near Hamirsar Talav). Then today morning, Sharada headed for Dhamnka village (55 km from Bhuj towards Rapar) with 14 youth (men and women) accompanied him in Motor Bike and droped him at Dhamanka. There Setu (Setu programme of Abhiyan), organized a meeting with community. Community brought out the water issues, industries taking away water from the same aquifer and why people are migrating from the villages particularly the Traditional Block Printers.  from Dhamanka another 10 youth accompanied Sharada (Motor Bike riders from Bhuj returned from Dhamanka) to Pipriwandh at Samakhaili (Bhachau block of Kutch). There will be another meeting with community. Then some youth from Adesar and Rapar will join Sharada and take him to Gagodar. Balwantbhai of Samerth Trust imformed me that Samerth is arranging a meeting with community at Gagodar in the evening.    Sharada’s trip has motivated us a lot to work on water issues with more conviction and committment….== Sabyasachi Das

Kargil to Leh [Read more →]

Srinagar to Kargil [Read more →]

Batote to Srinagar [Read more →]