In Beautiful Bonn

We’re in Bonn today, day 25 of this surreal journey. Or as Manzura says, “It’s so much more than words can say in all aspects—it makes you grow, it makes you break, it makes you fly, it makes you cry, it makes you humble, it makes you loving—it’s just so much and it’s hard to grasp it.” She’s overwhelmed. In a good way. Manzura is from Uzbekistan – and like all Isha volunteers, she helps with a little bit of everything. 

What does she do? Room allocation, translation, facilitating other logistics, driving, she laughs. She’s overjoyed that she got the opportunity. “I can’t believe my luck and privilege of getting to be here and doing what I am doing,” she says gratefully.

And she had her own special moment: She’s a big Sounds of Isha fan and she got to bond with them. “Maybe they don’t even know that,” she laughs “but to me, it meant a lot to meet them and get to know them.”

When Sadhguru entered Bonn, he received a warm welcome from the city officials and from reps of the UN agencies here. He is meeting with Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Mr. Thiaw and Sadhguru have interacted publicly many times in the past and it’s evident they have great respect for each other and a great friendship, too. They share similar views on soil health and what can be done to restore it. UNCCD, of course, is the global voice for land and a much respected one at that. The Movement to Save Soil is fortunate that it has the wholehearted support of UNCCD.

“Just seeing Sadhguru being completely on 100%, doing exactly what is needed in the moment shows you what is possible,” says Henry who is a part of the media coordination team for Europe. Henry is from the UK and he says the “privilege of MCing at a few of the events has been a completely lifechanging experience” for him.

Though everything seems to happen at breakneck speed and is sometimes a blur, some moments stand out for Henry. “The Soil Man has been fun to see at each of the public events,” he laughs. “In London, the Soil Man was very cheeky and playful and loved being Soil Man,” he recalls. He remembers him for playfully making a “gun hand gesture” at Sadhguru which was promptly reciprocated.

Henry loves the buzz “when events are being set up.” To see how it starts to shape up backstage and to see it all come together finally on the big day is a thrill. “There are hundreds of volunteers practicing the jig, always someone with a guitar or ukulele, the kind of buzz and excitement and energy that’s there, seeing all the months of background work come to life is amazing,” says Henry.

Remember the epicurean tug-of-war between Too Spicy and Not Spicy Enough groups? Pssst…here’s a secret: Manzura belongs to the former. But – as usual – she’s laughing about it.

“Greatest challenge was the food because it was very hot,” she says laughing. “I’m enjoying the taste,” she adds quickly. “Knowing the wonderful cooks who make it happen for us is very humbling,” she acknowledges with gratitude.

And so as the #JourneyForSoil rolls on, Manzura speaks for everyone on the journey when she says, “I certainly broke limitations facing different situations with different people because there are so many different people and some are this and that, some are tired, some are joyful—so there are lots of beautiful colors and they’re all true and you get to experience all those raw emotions of other people.”

We’ll drink to that – sukku coffee, of course.