“Remember those dusty mud roads we pass by on bus journeys?” asks handloom entrepreneur C Sivagurunathan, “The ones we yearn to take, but never actually do? We walked on similar roads every day.” The 36-year-old was among 60 participants at the recently-held Shodh Yatra from Paramakudi to Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. The yatra, held twice a year in various parts of India, is a search for traditional knowledge and grassroots innovations. It is led by scholar Anil Gupta, the founder of Honey Bee Network and is organised by SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiative for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions).
The Rameswaram edition was the 47th such walk that the team undertook, ever since the idea took shape in 1998. “Shodh Yatra tries to recognise creativity at people’s doorsteps,” says Gupta, speaking over phone from Ahmedabad, where he teaches at the Indian Institute of Management. On May 22, 60 people from various walks of life, took Gupta’s lead along a narrow mud road at Paramakudi, walking in scorching sun across 25 villages, covering 125 kilometres over six days.
