Dirk Janczewski

"I caught you smiling at me - that's the way it should be

Like a leaf is to a tree
So fine" - Led Zeppelin

Yesterday evening I went into Hall 4.1 to set up our stand at the worlds largest travel show. This place is so special for me because it’s in this one hall in Messe Berlin where I have met several wonderful innovators and people whom I thought could change the world we live in with a smile.

One such person was Dirk. We met Dirk Janczewski last year during the ITB-Berlin. An energetic, wheel-chair-bound, Dirk had a twinkle in his eyes every time he shared his vision with us about a barrier free world. Sunil, my colleague from Spiti Ecosphere and I spent hours listening to the man and decided to work together to explore the possibilities of setting up a ‘barrier-free-tourism’ business in India. We introduced him to many people including Andreas Heinecke of Dialogue Social Enterprise and fixed up an appointment between the two. Andreas is an innovator who has dedicated his life and work to make a difference to differently-abled people and we saw tremendous synergy in each others work.

Two weeks later, we were supposed to meet up again in Hamburg and he didn’t return the call. After all the discussions in Berlin and after finalizing dates for Derek’s visit to India, we were quite surprised that Derek never stayed in touch with us there after. On another call to Andreas, we came to know that he hadn’t met him either.

Before I left Germany, I made attempts to reach him several times. All messages went to his voice mail. Since emails weren’t bouncing back I was even more frustrated not to see a response from him. By then I had talked to several people and were already exploring opportunities to bring in Dirk as a consultant on some of the projects we were planning to start in India. He never responded.

Yesterday I went looking for Dirk as one of his friends had written to me asking for an appointment telling that he got my coordinates from Dirk’s business partner and would like to catch up. ‘Didn’t you know that he died two weeks after last ITB”, was the question I heard from a friend working at the fair ground. Dirk apparently fell sick immediately after ITB Berlin and passed away before achieving his dreams.

Hope one day, we will able to give colours to the dream of this man who inspired us so much.

Inspiring stories: Potters of Aruvakode in Nilambur

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'Kathakali depicted on terracotta. Designed by artisans and potters trained by social entreprenuer Jinan

My journey into the world of the rural artisan communities was not with the intention of ‘developing’ them or educating them. I went to them to regain that which I had lost in the process of getting educated; to learn from them. Having escaped ‘education’ and ‘development’ they were still original and authentic and were holding on to the culture and world-view, which sustained them for centuries. I perceived the rural / tribal communities as being wise and evolved; and recognised that only by learning from them could we lead sustainable lives.”

This is the story of Jinan, a rebel, activist, designer and a wonderful human being. More over this is the story of all those people’s life that he touched and changed positively for ever. Read more here