52 Parindey Fellowship is now Routes to Roots.
The design of the programme has now evolved.
Travel is still at the heart of the journey, learning by moving, immersing, and engaging directly with practitioners on the ground. We are deepening our focus on translating insights into action; on the field, in real contexts, with real people. Beyond the travel-learning, participants will now step into an Action Project, working on live, real-time projects that emerge from the grassroots spaces they engage with.
Routes represent the journey outward; travelling far across geographies, immersing in diverse contexts, learning from grassroots practitioners and communities navigating the Metacrisis. It is about pollinating across ecosystems; gathering insights, stories, and practices from multiple Alivelihood areas, and weaving together varied strands of wisdom.
Roots signify the journey inward; returning to a place of one's own choosing, and rooting deeply. It is about moving from dispersion to depth; embedding oneself in a community, a domain, or an Alivelihood pathway. Roots also evoke inner exploration: turning the gaze inwards to examine motivations, values, and fears, while simultaneously growing deep expertise in a chosen field.
While staying connected to the wider world and its diverse realities, participants learn to situate themselves, commit deeply, and work with integrity over the long term.
Routes to Roots is an 8-month youth leadership journey designed to support young people in building the knowledge, skills, and mindset needed for sustained engagement in changemaking. Rooted in travel as pedagogy, the programme is built on learning from lived realities, grassroots wisdom, and diverse communities and Alivelihood practitioners responding to complex social and ecological challenges.
Through immersive grassroots exposure, reflective travel, mentorship, and self-directed learning, participants develop systemic awareness, personal clarity, and emotional resilience. Travel enables them to step outside familiar contexts, encounter multiple worldviews, and cultivate empathy and adaptability.
Collaborative learning spaces and community engagement anchor the journey, allowing participants to integrate their experiences into action. Over time, they grow into long-term pathways of changemaking, stepping into roles of sustained responsibility and contributing meaningfully across initiatives, organisations, and communities.
KnowMad blends the words ‘knowledge’ and ‘nomad.’
KnowMads are seekers who travel in search of deeper understanding, learning from people, places, and lived realities. And yes, it takes a little madness to travel thousands of kilometres in a matter of months.
They don’t just pass through places; they engage, listen, and reflect. And over time, they turn what they learn into action in the worlds they return to.
Navami Mohanan
Navami Mohanan loves being close to nature. Born and brought up in Idukki, Kerala, she completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry but soon realised that it was not the field she wanted to pursue. She understood that she didn’t want to choose a career just for a job; instead, she wanted to understand the world through different perspectives and experiences. This led her to pursue a Master’s in Social Work, a decision that became a turning point in her life. It gave her the opportunity to meet inspiring people, work with various organisations, and engage with children, which further strengthened her passion for working with them. She worked in a childcare institution for a year, where she gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by children. One of the major issues she observed was the pressure created by the current education system.
As part of the Routes to Roots programme by Travellers University, she is exploring alternative education, particularly the use of art as a pedagogy for learning. She believes she learns best through travelling, meeting new people, observing different cultures, and embracing new experiences. These experiences help her not only understand the world better but also discover herself. Navami’s dream is to create spaces where every child feels respected, valued, and free to express themselves, discover their passions, and grow with kindness towards the world.
Rudhresh Kumar
​Rudhresh is an aspiring learning designer and facilitator who strongly believes in constructivist learning. His "Dead Poets Society" moment as a child came when he moved to an IB school, where there was a vibrant culture of self-directed learning projects. This led him to study Creative Education Design at Srishti College, Bangalore, after which he volunteered in multiple alternative learning spaces, such as Teacher's Center (Auroville), Aavishkaar (Palampur), Madman's Farm (Jabalpur), The School KFI, and others. During this journey, he visited Swaraj University in Udaipur, where he was inspired to undertake a money-less "yatra" to experience abundance in villages. Through this, he realised the importance of community living, local economies, and hands-on work. He is currently attempting to integrate experiences from his various journeys and collaborate widely through design processes to build robust learning projects. In his free time, he enjoys singing, illustrating, visual journaling, and playing with mathematics.
While volunteering at an earthen construction site, Rudhresh kept thinking, "I wish I had done this when I was a teenager." As an adolescent, his schooling was stressful, lonely, and disconnected from real life. Building with earth revealed a different kind of education, one where people come together as a community, work constructively with an awareness of local systems, and develop embodied cognition, especially hands-on learning, in connection with math, science, and other subjects. Rudhresh's vision is a design-and-build initiative where teenagers design and construct spaces in their community using vernacular architecture. He feels it is important that such a project be run long-term so that it becomes truly adolescent-led. He has tried building a couple of mud benches with teenagers, which revealed that they are deeply concerned with larger causes and that their sense of idealism can contribute greatly to imagining a non-cement future.
Satyajeet Patil
Satyajeet is an orophile from Satara, Maharashtra, who finds deep meaning in the beauty of the natural world. He holds a Master's in Geography and a degree in Law, and has worked as a legal researcher. His journey took a pivotal turn during his tenure as an International Peace Fellow at Sevagram, where he embraced a meaningful way of living. His extensive documentation of the Konkan region deepened his bond with nature and established travel as his primary mode of learning and storytelling. An avid photographer, he uses his lens to capture raw human emotions and natural landscapes. Guided by a bottom-up philosophy learned from grassroots workers, Satyajeet advocates for an eco-centric approach to life, where living, learning, working, and connecting are fully aligned with the environment.
Through the Routes to Roots programme, Satyajeet is exploring Education as an Alivelihood by designing travel-based learning experiences that connect learners directly with local communities, landscapes, and indigenous knowledge systems. His aim is to create immersive educational spaces where participants learn from nature and people rather than from traditional classrooms. He intends to work primarily with school and college students who are curious about nature, culture, and sustainability. Satyajeet combines field immersion, storytelling, and reflective learning to nurture empathy, critical thinking, and a deeper connection to India's social and ecological landscapes.
Sherin Farsana C H
Sherin is someone who truly loves to be on the move: traveling to see new places, meet new people, and get excited about new experiences. She was born and brought up in Kerala, and holds a law degree as well as a Master's in Social Work. She has worked with various organisations since the 2018 floods in Kerala, and her journey continues. She also loves to preserve memories through resin art. She hopes to build an inclusive community and looks forward to writing a book of her travel stories. Her love for the ocean and mountains helps her move forward in a world of chaos. She believes that a curiosity-driven mind can lead to wonders.
As part of the Routes to Roots programme, her Alivelihood area of pursuit is Alternative Education. She looks forward to creating an experiential learning experience for youth, using travel, art, and emotional wellbeing as its core pedagogical instruments, while building her own facilitation skills along the way. She is trying to create immersive, reflective, and creative travel experiences that connect youth to themselves, their communities, and the rest of nature. She also aims to cultivate a slow, conscious way of living for herself and for the youth, whom she believes have great potential to make a change in the world.