Raghu Dixit- A musician turned magician!


Raghu Dixit- A musician turned magician!

When my facebok page had an update about a tour called the “Freedom Bus Tour”, organized by Rang De and supported by Raghu Dixit on Aug 10, I saw an opportunity to meet my icon. I signed up for this tour without even probing the purpose. For me, it was just an intervention by God towards ensuring a fan-idol meeting. I signed up for this tour with a minimum expectation-MEET RAGHU. But then, the experience I had in this tour was mesmerizing. In fact, I gained much more than I expected. I gained knowledge of how poverty is gripping several people in India, even though a lot of us think about India as a ‘developing’ nation. I guess, several villages and towns of this great country are still “underdeveloped”. We boarded the “freedom Bus” on 13 Aug and reached Pusad  on 14 Aug. The locals welcomed us with roses and delicious ‘poha’ . “Pusad” is a small town in the Yavatmal district. I met a few rural women entrepreneurs operating in the food, animal husbandry and basket-broom industry, accompanying my icon. In fact, I turned out to be the only one knowing a little bit of tooti-phooti Marathi in this group. By that virtue, I became the official translator for Raghu and team ie; the “Marathi Manoos”! This team consisted of Gaurav Vaaz from the Raghu Dixit project, Smitha and Ram, who are the co-founders of Rang De and other Raghu Dixit fans.  I enjoyed the moments interviewing the rural entrepreneurs and translating for Raghu. The summary of my inferences from these interactions is: Even people with very few resources can dream big and do big, with a little bit of help and a little encouragement. Raghu Dixit is a social investor with Rang De and firmly believes in the quote, “Be the change you wish to see” and has leaded us (his fans) by example. The tour ended with a fantastic concert by Raghu Dixit for the villagers playing some amazing numbers like “Mysore Se” and “Ninna  Poojege”. I also shared the stage with Raghu Dixit to translate for him and these golden moments will be etched in my memories forever. For me, this was one of my life’s best moments.  The villagers treated us with love, respect and amazingly delicious food. The gratitude was so obvious towards the Rang De team and everyone else who accompanied them. At the end of it all, I felt deeply that the power of social investment is so humongous. It can be a medicine for so many ills that effect people and society like poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. As I headed back home towards Bangalore on the freedom bus, with new found friends and games, a deep sense of satisfaction embraced me for having celebrated this Independence Day, so meaningfully. Just before writing this blog, I invested some amount through Rang De as a token of appreciation and gratitude towards Rang De and Ragu Dixit. Dear Raghu, before this tour, you were just a musician for me. Now, you are a magician for me. I hereby commit that I will work towards this cause of eradicating poverty with all my might and dedication. By Aug 15 2013, I will ensure that at least 50 of my accomplices will invest their resources towards this cause! Thank you once again, Raghu and Rang De. For more information on Rang De please visit: www.rangde.org

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