It's been a long ride even before we're starting our journey to map the social conditions of rural India and I thought, I'd tell you how all of this came about.
I've only been to 'Incredible India' twice. But this country with the most warm and hospitable people - rich and poor, young and old - has made a remarkable impression on me during what I thought was the biggest crisis in my life. It's these people who are the cause of renewed energy and a deep fire. Yes, not rarely was I shocked by the extreme poverty. But the optimism and entrepreneurial drive with which they move themselves out of the poverty trap once given access to the resources necessary, has moved me deeply. Shock and helplessness soon transformed into pure awe and the question, what we, what I, really need for a life in dignity and peace.
After meeting Kalyan Akkipeddi, founder of InteGreater, it quickly became clear that my questions were not only my questions alone. A project, which we called Folks on Spokes initially, was co-created with a mix of action research, learning journey, activism and hopefully inspiration for a small flood of social businesses, which can and shall result from this.
Together with Kalyan we will travel through rural India to map its social conditions along 12 dimensions, which we believe could be the basis to a life in dignity - the basis for a state of adequacy as we chose to call it.
50 Village Clusters
27 states
12,000km on cycles, buses, trains, camels and horsebacks
220 days
intense ‘traveliving’through rural India
mapping its Social Landscape!
We look forward to you following us, participating and discussing what you believe is needed to co-create a world of adequacy, a life in dignity for us all!
