The inspiration for the yatra (pilgrimage) is nothing less then the ‘Bhoodan Yatra’ of Vinoba Bhave and the train journey across the country by Mahatma Gandhi. Sheetal Vaidya has already covered a great deal of the country. Beginning her journey from Kutch in Gujarat she has travelled through Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and has entered Andhra Pradesh.
From Vijayawada she will go to Kolkata and from there she will return home to Ahmedabad. At the end of the journey she would have completed six months on the road alone.
Sharing her experiences with friends here Ms Vaidya said that she was a member of a group of like-minded people in Ahmedabad from all walks of life. The group that included persons from the media, business, academics and other fields were interested in “serving the society”. The group functions with the title ‘Moved by Love’.
Moved by love—Experiments with Radical Generosity, says the title of the monthly newsletter of the group which is actually a log of the members’ personal accounts.
A trained company secretary Ms.Vaidya decided on taking the jatra to learn about being of service to people she “does not known” and getting out of her comfort zone to put her values to practice. She is not carrying a smart phone or a laptop. “These things (gadgets) are addictive and isolate you. The primary purpose of my journey is to connect with the people. In one remote village I asked an autorikshaw driver for directions. He went out of his way to take me to the place I was looking for. He was not expecting anything.
There is no need for GPS here people are still helpful,” she said. Those who want to do service should start right away. They should not weight till they earn more money (become richer) or have more time (retire), she said. ‘Moved by Love’ members created some items which can help people do service to society. Ms Vaidya has been sharing her experiences with her group through email and can be read on blog www.movedbylove.org.
