We, few of the NITW students,
started early from our college
to Hyderabad. Upon reaching
there, we took a bus to Achampet.
On the way I could not help but
notice the dry landscape and
scanty amount of trees. During
the yatra period I came to know
this region of one hit hard with
scarcity of water due to lack of
rainfall. We assembled at RDT
office. Having had our lunch, we
introduced ourselves and started
our yatra. On the way we noticed
the inefficiencies of bore
wells, drainage systems and lack
of water supply from
municipality to toilets in
government schools. I have
learnt that leaves of drum stick
can reduce iron deficiency and
is in fact eaten as curry in
parts.
We reached choutupally. There we
met a school kid named Mahesh.
It was a pleasure to read his
diary and smile at his deeds.
Then we met Sainayya, a 75 year
pleasant, observant, patient old
man. We chatted with him for a
while. He spoke about how
rainfall condition was fairly
good, food mainly consisted of
jonnalu, boddalu etc, medicine
being practiced by dayis 30
years back. He mentioned that a
goat would give birth only
during sunset or sunrise time
(mild sun hours). He underlined
the statement of “no supply
demand wanes off” by saying that
if drink is provided people
would stop drinking. He
mentioned a peculiar word
“alpam” meaning frustrated anger
and disobedience and was
mentioning of rise of it in
younger generation. A lot to
learn from people like him who
tell us how things change over
time and who teach us that in
order to learn and live
peacefully one has to be
observant, patient and adapt but
still stick to your basic
values. Then we observed one
groundnut thresher. In the next
village we met a couple. Ganiyya
is older than 100 years. I
wondered how. Some one said he
is so plain hearted that he gave
away his land for jonna rotti
for his family. This might be
the reason that he learnt to
live each day.
Then we reached a banala where
we met lot of tribal people.
There was a warm welcome
initially. Situation of some
people was pathetic as some of
them related that their
woes-some of them being
destitute. There was a minor
fight in that village which
seemed based on personal
rivalry. We met the oldest
couple – Narayana reddy and Rama
chandramma. They followed their
staple food- jonna roti and good
amounts of curd and milk. The
calm on their faces kept me
thinking. Then we walked under
the stars till we reached a
girls residential school,
Chenchugudem. All of us shared
your experiences at the end of
the day which gave me an insight
of what each one was observing.
Next day morning we had a idea
competition and several of the
ideas showed their potential.
All of us were moved by a song
sung by a girl and it kept us
thinking for a while. We all
helped pluck out groundnut crop
at a farm. I could not help
notice the famer hospitable
manners even when his crop is at
loss and wondered how I would
reacted if I were him. At one
of the villages we were
confronted by a villager begging
us to do something about the
water problem. The same happened
several times with people
mistaking us someone from the
government. That day I noted the
severe scarcity of water in
these regions with no rainfall
and ground water levels falling
fast. By the afternoon we
reached Ambagiri. We had a
discussion with the elders of
the village. It was a pleasure
to meet so many of them of that
age- above 60’s and take in
their wisdom. The people were
open hearted and receiving.
Semmed like all of them had
their staple food for long. They
related their problems of
deforestation, water scarcity
and nuisance of pigs to the
fields. All of us interacted
with the villagers gathered. I
came to know their marriage
ritual and how to identify a
married woman to a unmarried one
in their community- married ones
would have bangles above their
elbows too and wore certain kind
of ear jewelry. Then we had our
lunch and moved on.
By evening we reached a school
where we met a school teacher
who was seemingly motivated but
which seemed to have beneficial
effects of having 100%
attendance by forming groups of
children from same neighborhood
with a team leader. By the night
we reached a boy’s hostel at
Lingala. Some of the NIF videos
were shown to the students,
ideas were collected. The boys
lacked proper guidance about
further studies.
Next day they we met some school
children and yatris had some fun
time playing with kids at the
schools. Near jelugupally we met
a girl who just reached her
womanhood. What was shocking
were the unhygienic situation
she is in and the way in which
of the women of that village
handle themselves during their
monthlies. We met few villagers
at Dattram and I couldn’t help
but notice how the village has
no more its identity with most
younger generations migrating ,
unavailability of their staple
facilities and very severe
problem of basic medical
facilities. We concluded our
yatra with discussions and took
a bus to Achampet. Having had
our lunch, each of us headed
back to our places.
Observations:
1.Water scarcity is severe in
most of the places.
2.Milder attitude of some people
is surprising given their
changing and adverse conditions.
3.Lack of immediate medical help
in most places
4.Fall in general morale levels
of the region – for me some of
them seemed to live in past and
there was underlying dissent
about their conditions.
5.Unavailability of their staple
food which means no
sustainability
Each time I come to CSY I learn
a lot – from myself, others and
people I meet along. This yatra
helped me identify my large
tendency to be an introvert and
my loss of ability to judge
objectively.
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