By Pawan Khera and Manish Khanduri
For Sarabjeet Dhody Natesan and her daughter Avi the last few days have been memorable. The Associate Professor of Economics at KREA University had come from Chennai on the 31st to joint the #BharatJodoYatra. Yesterday she and Avi, an entrepreneur, had walked alongside us. Natesan was not just excited to be there, she also told us that “If people like us (intellectuals, academicians) don’t join the Yatra now, then when?” Yesterday she met with Congressman Kanhaiya Kumar and MP Jairam Ramesh.
Sarabjeet Natesan and her daughter Avi walked with the Yatris yesterday and with Rahul Gandhi today
And today she got to walk alongside Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.
“He’s very zen like,” she had observed yesterday when she saw Gandhi from a distance. And today, after she spoke to him, she was much taken by his ability to analyse and focus on complex subjects such as MNREGA and give feedback.
For Avi, whose slime (yes that’s the right word, we also learned something new today) business has 18,000 followers on Instagram, it was a hugely exciting moment. “He questioned about my entrepreneurial venture and was very interested in the product.”
We regret to report that today former Maharashtra Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut was injured reportedly after a Telangana police officer pushed him while he was walking. Raut narrowly avoided grievous injury, but it was serious enough for him to be admitted to a hospital.
Meanwhile the Yatris commenced their morning journey at Balanagar Main Road to arrive for their midday break at Hafeezpet, Madinaguda.
Currently in the state of Telangana, the Bharat Jodo Yatra is a five month, 3500 kilometre long Padyatra from Kanyakumari in the South of India to Kashmir up in the North. It is part of the party’s national mass outreach program aimed at highlighting social polarisation, economic inequalities and political centralisation.
Ground research: Aparna Ashwarya (INC Communications Department research team)
Midday Travel Facts
1. Current City Name: Hyderabad City
2. The capital of Telangana, Hyderabad is the largest city of Telangana. It is the fourth most populous city in India
3. Hyderabad was once known for the pearl industry and was nicknamed the City of Pearls; and was the world’s only trading centre for Golconda diamonds.
4. Since the 1990s, the city has emerged as a hub for Pharma and Biotech.