The
Foreign Study Tour is the most pertinent and perhaps the most exciting opportunity
for the I.A.S. Officer Trainees to explore the world outside, appreciate the
cultures beyond the physical geographical boundaries, live the
thought-provoking realities, whet their perspectives to diversities and
understand the often-read nuances of general and practical administration through
lived experiences.
The tour
will remain a fond memory for there were many firsts I’ve experienced being
part of the Foreign Study Tour for IAS Officer Trainees – 2011. I got an
opportunity to visit two diverse nations – Singapore and Indonesia, the first
time I’ve flown to a foreign country, the first I saw the wonders of the
physical world with bare eyes – had a bird’s eye view of an archipelago while
aboard on the flight, a volcano namely Tangkuban Perahu (which erupted as
recently as February 21st this
year), the first time I was in a different time zone (and the unease with jetlags
after travels to and fro), the first experience of using a different currency
(certainly an opportunity to refresh one’s math abilities), authentic tastes of
South-East Asian cuisines, exposure to the peoples and their cultures in
foreign land, of course, many firsts for a student of social geography,
undoubtedly!
To be
contemplative when on a tour is a biggest asset, to enjoy the tour impeccably.
Melting one’s nurtured prejudices with regard to cultures, underplaying
preconceived notions about places and having a reflective mind throughout the
tour is truly a source of strength all along the arduous journey. In
hindsight, I now realize that though unquantifiable, this is the biggest
learning one can experience when on a Foreign Study Tour and this attitude is
of a great help to exact the maximum from every place we visit, from every
experience we go through and to live every moment to the fullest.
It has to
be mentioned that the visit to the third largest city of Indonesia – Bandung has
significant moments for the group as we happened to visit and be there where
the Heads of Nations of the Non-Aligned Movement met and discussed the idea of
Asia-Africa Solidarity in 2005. The
visit to Bandung has been a revisit to the evident legacy of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
undoubtedly a glance into the future too, for its promotion of South Peoples
Solidarity and Social Development of the Asian-African nations.
Visiting different places and
interacting with new people is in itself a tremendous learning experience. As
we traversed across from Jakarta to Bandung, we had the firsthand opportunity
to see lifestyles of different peoples and the different cultures that
constitute this nation. We went to the old sectors of the country in Jakarta,
treaded the highways of this island and became part of a beautiful country
called Indonesia. There is ample probability to connect one’s self with this
territory and consider it as a continuity of social cultural context of the Indian
sub-continent owing to the path of development adopted by the Indonesian
people. There is increasing impetus for fostering bilateral relations and
promoting exchange of the best of both the nation-states.
The first
day in Jakarta was an interesting one. We visited the National Museum (Museum Nasional)
near the Merdeka Square. Popular as the Elephant Building, the museum is a
treasure house of rich culture and history certainly defines the heritage of
the Indonesian territory. Most impressive was the huge metal-cast Wheel of Life
and Death in the front elevation of the Museum building describing the various
cycles of human being in this life and impressing that the cycle of life and
death is a continuum and it goes on (perhaps a huge influence of Hindu-Buddhist
philosophies). Lines from the school history textbooks were literally standing as
architectural monuments and world heritage sites in front of our eyes. We also
visited the National Monument and past by the Arjuna Chariot while we traversed
the many roads of the city on a Sunday.
To begin with
the sessions at the Centre for Education and Training, initially we were
briefed on the different aspects of the island administration, the scope and
prospects of tourism as an industry, the reserve forests and the need to
protect them, the indigenous tribes, their primitive lifestyles, life and the
idea of BALI, and so on. The idea that Tourism is promotion of perception and
the light manner of presentation by the speaker reflected the cool of the
general populace in many ways. Yet, owing to a tight schedule and sessions
lined up till late afternoon, the stay in Indonesia seemed to have happened in
a fast-forward mode with hardly any time for our group to adventure into many
other things that define Indonesia (the perils of traffic jams added misery to
our wishes).
Yet, the
island attachment was filled with fun and frolic mainly because of the striking
similarity between our country and Indonesia. There is visible prosperity and
its reflection in the numerous SUVs on road, the skyscrapers all along the main
roads, and the infrastructural progress in the capital city. And there were beggars
near the traffic signals, market places like the S.N.Market in Delhi (Taman
Mini in Indonesia), similarity of the Jakarta airport to the one in Kochi in
our God’s Own Country (in architecture, as pointed out by a fellow Officer
Trainee) and huge malls signifying consumerism creeping into the lifestyles of
the people, monkeys on the streets and so on. The currency (Rupiah) is
definitely a Feel Good Factor for visitors to this island economy.
Food and
clothing define cultures and geographies distinctly. This is revealed in the
numerous varieties in food preparations (availability of spices and large
diversity of tropical vegetation) and native Batik prints (very similar to
block prints and kalamkaris of our
country) which is a characteristic of fashion in Indonesia. I feel that one
cannot be cold to the warmth of these countrymen or impassive to their idea of
fashion. To admit, captured by the prettiness of the place, I did the cutest
thing possible to pamper myself on the tour while at Bandung – I quietly
purchased a Chiffon frock for myself, after being totally bowled over by the culture
in Singapore and Indonesia where women seemed free to wear the clothes that
suit them and are most comfortable to the climates there.
Key Learnings
The visit
to various sites did prove to be a first-hand experience for many of us who had
very little practical knowledge of the issues in administration – value
addition to the theoretical inputs collected over the years. While many things
impressed me constantly, to mention five key learnings I am hopeful of
implementation in the district or the field in the next couple of years, I list
down the following observations:
1. Road
Traffic Management:
While on
the way from Jakarta to Bandung, what impressed me the most was the cleanliness
all along the Roads and the perfection with which there were Sign boards indicating
the distance covered, distance remaining, and speed limits very precisely in
terms of meters as units. This is definitely a huge takeaway and worth adopting
as this step will bring in a scientific approach to maintain road safety and
comfortable travel between places by means of controlling, regulating and
facilitating the movement of the traffic. In coordination with the District Police
and Regional Transport Authorities, this can be made a reality. Dustbins
all along the way are also a key aspect in the management of roads and
promotion of tourism as it reflects a sense of sanitation and has aesthetic
value as well.
To spend
away a quarter of one's day in traffic, stranded on the roads is not a pleasant
experience. Efforts should be made to regulate traffic and ensure smooth
movement of vehicles by all practical means, be it, by widening roads, increasing
awareness of commuters on road safety and traffic sense, by forming outer ring
roads or flyovers or subways or pedestrian tracks or Dedicated Bus Road Transit
system or by any other means to improve public transport. Cycling is a great
idea for local movement. To avoid huge traffic jams (which may run for a long
stretch of about 15 kms like the one we saw while we were on the way to Bandung
- the way to Jakarta was literally motionless and thousands of vehicles moving
towards the capital were caught in this jam) and bring ease in travel is a
prime task in the initial years of service delivery.
2. Improve Public Hospitals and
Public Health:
The state of public hospitals in this
developing country is of high standards and highly indicative of the concern of
the nation-state’s commitment to Social Development by building Social Capital.
Certainly a matter of reflection for us as the way in which our hospitals are run
and administered is highly appalling. The freedom from fear of going to a
hospital or many doubts that irk about the idea of recovery to good health on
going to the hospital and being free to communicable viruses when in the
hospital premises is probably the first sign of improvement in the management
of health sector.
The conditions in our hospitals can
be improved by making the management/administration more efficient, staffing
adequately and providing the basic infrastructural facilities required for
running a moderately well-managed hospitals in the district. We, as partakers
of roles and responsibilities in the government must support activities for
securing the health of our population and promote good working environments in
the hospitals and medical institutions at least in our jurisdiction. During the
visit, issues related to health, medical education, livelihood and lifestyle of
the local people, etc, were explained to us in detail.
3.
Seamless Wi-Fi Connectivity:
This is certainly the need of the hour in this virtual world to promote
fast connectivity, movement of people and facilitate the local people as well
as the tourists too. In my district assignments in the future, I shall try and
improve the institutional arrangements to achieve the same at least in the main
city or town. To travel with the GPS-on is certainly the easiest way to reach
from one destination to another.
4. Development of transport towns
While travelling from Jakarta to Bandung, I felt the need to develop
small transport towns, satellite towns in our country and decentralize the
process of urbanization owing to the large extent of our country. Consumer
goods stores and accessibility to goods and services has to be improved to the
possible extent.
5. A More
Gender-Friendly Society:
Any general observer or tourist may not disagree with me when I remark
that Women in Indonesia seemed more independent and the idea of freedom and
beauty in this part of the world seemed less hypocritical and literally more
vibrant in character. This country has moved several leaps ahead compared to
our own country in this crucial aspect. The women are way ahead of the times of
a limited Islamic world. Highly striking in colour, they preserve the roots of tradition
too. They adorn themselves in fashionable Burquas (of different styles and
patterns) and the rich diversity of this place is manifested in the sense of
dressing, style and etiquette. Hospitality and Courtesy are always at display
and personally, I believe that this aspect of Social Character is desirable in
our country too.
The following activities can be taken up to achieve results in this
direction: Effective programmes should be directed at strengthening the
advocacy skills of women, engaging women in civic life, establishment of public
relations, participation of women in public forums and neighbourhood action
committees, educating them on laws related to women, training on media
management techniques, workshops to improve negotiating skills, and so on.
Conclusion:
I would
like to place on record and express my sincere gratitude to the LBSNAA for the
extensively planned tour, and our esteemed faculty who made us realize the
essence of this phase of training through many inputs and insights when we were
at academy. Without their efforts and guidance, this tour wouldn’t have been
successful and outstanding for anyone of us. The continuous assistance and
logistical support of Training –II section throughout the tour and
round-the-clock deserves special mention here. The Air India also ended the
quandary regarding the baggage left behind (by them, deliberately) when we were
asked to collect our luggage (containing all the souvenirs and goodies) in the middle of the night at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
Making this trip has been an experience unparalleled for all of us. To end with, “if to see is to believe, to record is to re-live!” And, to write a travelogue is to re-live a journey called Experience. The beauty, grandeur, diversity, tradition, history, heritage, culture, courtesy, hospitality and the people that define this nation-state have made this Foreign Study Tour a great experience for all of us. For me, Indonesia is a place where India, Asia and the entire world find representation in the real space. Certainly, this place is a Celebration of human emotions, values and ideals in day-to-day life more than anything else.
A small verse to end this travelogue:
Everywhere I look, every time I look,
I see women.
Women walking without fear…
Yes, the head can be held high
But only
Where the mind is without fear!
