One day trip to Nandi Hills
(Sunday, 17th Sept 2006)Nandi Hill: It is a hill situated 60 kms north of Bangalore.Also known as Nandidurga, it was one of the summer retreats of Tipu Sultan. The 1478-m high Nandi Hills is the originating point of many rivers. Around the Nandi Hills are several smaller hills, which can be visited on foot.
Since last 2 month we were planning for such an event, which can gather people of Orissa in Bangalore, where we can discuss regarding some measures that can be taken by us towards the well-being of our own mother land. It is just an initiative. We have a long way to go. On this occasion, we had two great personalities from Orissa. Sj. Mohini Mohan Mishra, (Akhil Bharatiya saha-sanjojak, Bharatiya Kisan Sangha) and Sj. Simanchal Khatua ( Prachar Pramukh, Utkal Pranta). All of us started at around 9am in a BMTC bus. The most intresting thing was the breakfast. We had it on the way in a field. Some of us had prepared it in the morning and carried it with us. In the journey, we played antakshyari with Oriya songs.
After reaching there we went for Mandir darshan and the started our program. To divide the total strength in to different group we had a unique plan. Each of us was given chit of paper where some thing was written. After reading that, we had to act like that.( I mean if 'Aeroplane' is written, then we had to behave like an aeroplane) .With out talking to any one we had to form our group. Finally those who are from same category had to form a group. Here I would like to narrate an incident during the group division. One of my friends who cannot read Oriya was thinking what to do , where to go. At that time he came to me and i told him what is written there then he could find his mates by looking at their actions. Then we played some game so that we get to know each other well. It was followed by 'Vande Utkala Janani' song, well sang by Pravas bhai and the quiz show, 'Orissa Darpana', co-hosted by Debasis bhai and Bhabani Bhai. The questions were regarding history of Orissa, science and technologies, prominent personalities of Orissa, and historical monuments. Even though we all are from Orissa, there were a lot of simple question which we could not answer. After a good lunch, we came to the main motto of the trip now. Three decided topics were declared for the discussion like - What would be the picture of Orissa after 10 yr ... What u can do for Orisssa... In different groups we discussed in different topics. After half an hour, finally it was the time for summarizing our views.
In his thought-sharing session, Mohini bhai reminded us of the historical glories of Orissa. I think almost every thing he told was unknown to us. The past glory helps us to go forward with 'josh'. Finally, the event was concluded with 'Vande Mataram'; in a way celebrated the centenary year of our National song. We sang the full song there and many of us could not sing the full song. But after finishing the program many of them asked me to give the full song so that they can learn the song. While on our way back, we had 'Anubhuti kathana' - to share our experience - with 'mudhi' and mixture. Return journey with Bhajan.
-- Atmaram Thakur (atmaram_thakur@yahoo.com)
