1. We left Delhi on June 12th early morning for a pilgrimage to Central India Jain art gallery starting with Mathura (Jambu Swamy liberation temple, Kankali Tila memoirs in the museum and Krisna janmabhoomi) proceeding to Gwalior’s monolithic Jain idols in vast numbers engraved at Goapachal and the Golden Jain temple there, Sonagir, the golden hill with more than 130 Jain temples and renowned place of liberation of Jain monks, Deogarh the heart and having largest collection of Jain idols, art objects etc. The three days pilgrimage was greatly enjoyed by one and all having deep insight in Jain iconography and history of this forgotten concentration of Jain inhabitants and pilgrim places (area popularly known as Bundelkand and Gwalior). The pilgrimage ended with a stop at famous Taj before returning to Jaipur for major study camp. In the end we did have some anxious moments due to the ongoing Gujjar agitations and had to make detours for security purposes.
2. On arrival at Jaipur we had a very lively press conference which was followed with a vast coverage in both printed and electronic media. Our students became a celebrity and were stopped on the road to be greeted and welcomed to Jaipur and school.
3. At Jaipur we had excellent residential quarters for all scholars. The academic sessions were separated or undergraduates at University of Rajasthan for a week while the graduates had their entire program at Nasia. Eminent scholars like Prof Kusum Jain, Prof K. C. Sogani, Prof M. R. Galera, Prof . D. N. Bhargava , Prof Sushma Singhvi and notable scholars like Dr Pratibha Jain, Justice N. K. Jain, Sh D. R. Mehta etc made the faculty to provide very lively discussions. During our stay at Jaipur we visited a number of social organizations like the one run by women for destitute and to provide facilities to Jains visiting Jaipur and sick, Cancer hospital, Mahavir Vikalank and a number of temples like Dadabari, Chulgiri, Sanganer and Padmpura. Unfortunately we had to cancel our pilgrimage to Ranakpura and Dilwara due to very tight schedule of one month program scholars returning and general law and order situation in the state.
4. The one month program ended on June 30th when 20 students left for their homes. Some of them chose to stay back and go around the country on their on before rerunning home. We now have 14 scholars completing the two months program .