There are nearly 200 yatris in the Narmada Seva Yatra who are accompanying the Yatra since its beginning, December 11 last. Although the Yatra is about to end, there seems to be no end to their excitement.
Parsoti lal, a resident of Tikriya village of Dindori district informed that for the last five months, he has been inspiring villagers every morning to keep Maa Narmada clean and perform ‘shramdaan’ along with them. In the process, he removes polythene bags, disposable glasses, plates, dirty clothes, waste material of puja etc. Apart from this, Sukhiya Bai, Prem Bai, Bandu Bai, Kamaliya Bai, Choti Bai and Kaushalya Bai said they were greatly blessed to have got the opportunity to join the Narmada Seva Yatra.
Sukhiya Bai says that the happiness that they experienced by cleaning and rendering other services on both the banks of the Narmada at 16 districts of the state in the last five months, cannot be expressed in words. Writing ‘Ram” daily is a regular routine with nearly all the yatris during the yatra. Ramdas Baba of Chakeri village from Banda Tehsil of Sagar district spends most of his time doing jaap with his ‘mala’. He said that he has performed Guru Mantra jaap of lakhs of malas in the last five months which was next to impossible at home or even in the ashram. During a discussion Ramdas Baba informed that the decision to launch the Narmada Seva Yatra is a historic step. This Yatra has inspired crores of people of the state and the country towards river and environment conservation.
Amar Singh of Dewas district, who is accompanying the Yatra says that we stop people from going to the Narmada banks to take bath and wash clothes with soap in the morning. We also shout and drive away people who use the banks of the Narmada as toilets. Uttam Singh of Dadbichiya village of Dindori district says that such a yatra has neither been launched before nor will ever be again. He said that during the Yatra he saw a hot water ‘kund’ at Gwari village on the bank of Narmada in Mandla district which he has ever seen before.