Business graduate Shristi Bakshi on padayatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir

KURNOOL: Karnool district 'hosted' two padayatras on Thursday, one by YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and other by an Indian School of Business graduate Shristi Bakshi who junked her corporate career to set out on foot in an attempt to understand the problems faced by women and ways to empower them. Jagan would be covering 3,000 kms to Itchapuram while Shristi's aim is to travel 3,800 kilometres in a span of 290 days.

Shristi's yatra that crossed the 1,000 kilometre mark in Kurnool on Thursday is unique in more than one way. First of all, the goal is women empowerment and second there is no immediate gratification at the end of the yatra in Kashmir. The yatra by Jagan Mohan can be said to have a "selfish" intent of one man's aim to become chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The yatra includes an army of people 'invading' villages with several layers of security. The Shristi Bakshi yatra, on the other hand, has just 12 people around her including her father.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Bakshi said, "I have this far led a product marketer's life. Always wondered if I can turn around brand stories and balance sheets from red to green then, when will I be able to apply this skill to a social problems." This has changed her profile and with grit she took on foot to rewrite history of "corporate long march" in the annals of India. Asked her about experiences on the long journey from Kanyakumari till Kurnool, Srishti said that "language is no barrier to connect with the people. They can understand what you want to communicate. She said that in Tamil Nadu, alcoholism is the biggest problem for women. They are unable to control their addicted husbands. This can be eradicated with financial empowerment of women" she added.

Saying that Andhra Pradesh government has several pro-women schemes to protect them from vicious cycle of scooping down in the quagmire of family, she said that a small awareness would trigger a massive social change here. Srishti has named her network of change-makers 'CrossBow'. Her goal is to take the movement forward by harnessing the power of Internet to assist women to empower themselves. The marketing professional (who has worked with companies like Red Bull and Otterbox) is confident that she is not alone in her modern day Dandi march and has described the response thus far as "fantastic".

"My aim is to help open a gateway for women to empower themselves one step at a time," she said. Srishti is neither an athlete nor a social activist but, has been walking 25 kilometres every 24 hours. She spent an entire year training for the gruelling journey. “I used to wake up at 4 every morning. I worked on my core strength as well as muscle repair and recovery. It was a lot of hard work. But ultimately, what keeps me going is the cause I have in mind which makes every little effort worth it,” she added.