From Rajgir to Rajagiri

India by Road

The Indian subcontinent in the pangea days was far down south and even Madagascar was attached to it in fact very close to Kerala validated by the kind of similarities in species across Kerala and madagascar. The subcontinent was pushed up north over millenia and collided with the Eurasian plate and gave rise to the Himalayas the highest of the mountain ranges any where. The Himalayas are still growing and the whole sub Himalayan foothills is a potential disaster area with its earthquake proneness.

My days in Bihar, in the Gangetic plains came to an end in 1999 when I decided to quit the monotonous mundane Corporate existence to the more adventurous intellectual teaching job. An older cousin of mine who made it to Bombay in the early seventies once boasted that he was adventurous to make it there. However, I said I am having adventure every minute as in when I develop a new insight, develop a fledgling theory and piece together all of them in a new awareness much like Columbus or any of the travellers did when they braved the seas and discovered new continents and changed their own world view.

For instance though I had a limited exposure to Environmental issues, I developed it into a full course at Rajagiri and taught also in Goa University MBA programme for two years. I ventured into Ethics with little in my hands and was able to produce an article on HRM in an ethical perspective. I ventured into strategy and Strategic HRM and is doing fairly well. I was teaching the course in Trivandrum LOYOLA for over three years.

My point is that adventures need not be visible or published in front pages. They can be intellectual as well. Unfortunately by the sheer nature of such it becomes necessary to have to voice, to have a promoter, a godfather and worst still to have the backing of organised endeavours where it becomes a matter of benefit. An adventure by definition need not be for benefit and is undertaken sheerly for the sake of it. To a question like why scale the Himalayas, the most apt answer I have read is 'because it is there'.

To the question as to 'why do you do, think, feel and write', the answer is 'because I am there'. ' I think and I write, therefore I am' . Every problem conceived and solved is an adventure. Every insight put in proper words is an adventure and so forth..

Nevertheless if one still needs something out in the open to qualify as an adventure here I am with my journey from Bihar to Kerala on a Maruti 800 DX car in 1999.

From Rajgir to Rajagiri

Rajgir is a place about a 130 km south of Barauni which was a Buddhist and Jainist centre and Buddha's Magadh royal contemporaries Bimbisara, the father and Ajthasatru, the son made their capital. Ajathasatru later moved the capital to Pataliputra present day Patna.

To me Rajgir qualifies as everything good about Bihar. Bihar itself derives its name from Vihara, Budhist shrines, indicating Budhist centres aplenty those days.

Rajagiri is the most successful of the CMI endeavours after the founding of the community by Blessed Chavara. The CMIs have established plenty of educational institutions mostly in Kerala but also in the rest of the country and elsewhere in the world. If there is an epithet to describe the CMIs and their activities I would prefer 'World Class in God's own Country'.

The journey from Rajgir to Rajagiri is therefore quite reminiscent of the best of Bihar with its divine presence captured in the Buddhist Viharas dotting the landscape and the best of Kerala, the ascetic CMIs continuing to dot the landscape with centres of excellence such as Rajagiri.

More on the journey in the next blog.....