It is strange how we take many things for granted in our lives. We never know the situation when one has to walk 2 hours to get drinking water from a muddy lake, watch your kids drink that and then those kids walk 4 kms one way to the village school where there has always been 1 teacher for all 7 standards and everyone squished in 2 rooms.. All this and the main occupation in the area is baval (wild shrubs and weds) cutting. Average daily wage Rs. 20 ($ 0.5) Well, that is life as usual for Okhamandal area in gujarat.
Inspite of all this, they would offer you tea when you go and insist on that. Will get chairs form their neighbours for you to sit and talk about their life in the village.
But not even for a second think that people are dull. This is a place where women of the village form Self Help Groups (SHGs) to make daily savings even of Rs 10 or so, continue to do that over a year and then give loans to those who require it and earn interest on that. Beat that!
Living life in total isolation is also therapeutic. Away from all friends (though had wonder ful company there), away from the usual haunts in cafes...But pure life in outdoors, by the seaside, a lot of think to mull things over and just be by yourself
That is probably what reminds you of vast English country sides, Sir Arthur conan Doyle's words or J R R Tolkien's imagery..
P.S. Next stop: London
Rural files
Mithapur
Location: Mithapur, Gujarat.
Work: Plan to make nearby villages self reliant in 5 years.
Duration: 7 weeks.
A day before leaving for mithapur, i travelled 5 hours in a flight for Mumbai-Lucknow-mumbai, sat at the amausi Lucknow airport eating fried peanuts waiting for a delayed flight, listened to a bemused flight captain letting his heart out on the in-flight announcement for 20 minutes (no kidding), wrote an appreciative letter to the flight captain on a tissue paper (no kidding again) to which he conveyed his thanks for 10 minutes again on the in-flight announcement system....returned home at 2:30 AM to unfinished packing and left again for Jamnagar the next day at 9AM. In short arrived in the 70 year old Tata Chemicals, Mithapur quite frustrated with life and quite unsure of what to expect.
Me and a friend start walking around the township and see a sign saying 'Seashore'. On walking for 10 minutes we come upon this huge white sand green water beach. Well, life does throw some pleasant surprises!
I am here for 7 weeks to work for Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development which works for nearby villages. Gotta prepare a business plan to make them self-reliant within 5 years. Big talk for a just-out-of-college MBA grad but lets see.
P.S: the white in the sands are actual sea shells and not the plastic bags that i am used to in bombay.
Chariots of Fire again!
So there i was in the huge crowd of about 7000 people mostly from the 40 plus age category on a chilly morning in Azad maidan Mumbai. It is a sublime experience running with such a huge mass of people, its inspiring in a way that is not expressible sufficiently. Now the thing with running at marathons is that the first 25 minutes are a breeze but then every gasp of breath, every stride, every second is an effort. And amid this, if you see a 65 year old man (not kidding at all) panting for his life but running past you with ease, it makes you feel like a cute little girl with pony tails.
Slowly time stops, every metre is an eternity and you know that you are running on some store of energy that was hitherto unknown. You are on auto pilot and unable to stop. You also realise that all this is possible because you are running only for the sheer pleasure of it.
It is not for a prize, any position or even for a social cause. You also realise that how futile is our race for most things in life. The absolute rat race for marks, ranks, right jobs, climbing up the corporate ladder, more money. You shudder to think at things you so easily sacrifice to attain these. The price of which you will realise only much later in life.
Also, how simple it is to find out the things that you really love and do them. It only takes a little courage to go away from well laid ruts and try to explore!
In the spirit of new exploring, a few lines from Jerusalem!
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!!
