My Land and My Stick
A smile sprouts out from happiness and a tear from pain and the pain also sprouts out from ignorance, the ignorance of the being and the surviving. This ignorance thrashes each and every child that has sprouted out from an ignorant generation and thrashes him so long until he gets educated that he is ignorant. He then identifies the necessity that the ignorant society is deprived of. And from this identification sprouts out a need for an Invention. An Invention which is emotionally honest to the entire ignorant group; which is made to wipe the pain of the ignorant group; which is made by them but wondered by educated like us.
Once a very poor and untouchable child in a village, to a seemingly wealthy man, he said,
“On the base of the mountain, there’s a small house of mine,
Old grandpa has a backyard, where I always play under the sunshine,
But never I had a balloon to play, and if you get me at least nine,
I’ll give you two balloons, and consider you forever mine and divine.”
What do you think the man could answer, should he give him the balloon?
The next day his mother was almost dead. He dint fed a tear; he made a patient trolley all by himself and carried her all along to the hospital on a bare foot and with a naked body. Balloon wasn’t just sufficient for a generation like him. What really the generation needed is a hope. A hope that their pain will one day get metamorphosed into an idea and then; to a better life.
With such intense thoughts in my mind, I couldn’t resist myself in letting an ignorant group remain ignorant or an educated group remain ignorant of the innovations of the ignorant. But I know that I couldn’t do all this even if I started this alone on war foot. I made a pursuit to find any such program which met with my need. Very soon, I found one of which my grandfather, the brigadier was an integral part. A better and broader than the one; which I dreamt of. It had people with great experience, knowledge, wisdom. It had more supportive, encouraging people which an anticipating volunteer like me needs. It had many more things. Above all, the program had a name, Palle Srujana, means Creativity in rural people.
How a caterpillar comes out of the cocoon after about 7-14 days, the program soon brought me out of my cocoon of helplessness. Life showed me a way and gave me a stick. I just had to make grooves on the land of life and make my beliefs, hopes flow to my destination. I entered into the very first yatra which the program had organized which was named the Chinna Shodha Yatra.
The first yatra remained a new one to me and I was just able to catch the nerve of the program’s methodology. The second time I was more comfortable and I portray here the countenance of my trip. All the time, during which I was packing the goods for my trip, I had one thing stuck to my mind; to obtain the knowledge of the people in the ignorant groups and the villages that have gained during the times. I was ready with a heavy mind and was waiting for the phone call which would signal to me, my first sight of the dream, pain, hunger and anticipation that drove me till here.
Finally, I got the call and I had embroidered charms all over my heart and body. I started and reached the office, which is the starting point of our journey, very soon. Sun has just moved from the top of the head and we started to the station in a car. I was feeling myself really plentiful. I had a Rubik’s cube always with me to make myself enlighten that I would encounter many colorful people in the trip and I wouldn’t not be too late in understanding each one of them and make the similar colored come together and complement each other.
While solving that, my mind stationed me to the happy moments of the previous night for I was appreciated by the Major for successfully submitting a video made for the organization, in time. That was my first sigh of contentment. We reached the station and since the seat reserved for me wasn’t available, I adjusted myself in the Major’s bogie where we packed all required kits for the members. I shared and occupied the upper berth with one of my close friends, Mythri, there. The Rubik’s cube occupied my hands again and having got tired, I requested my fellow and the youngest traveller, Yamini, to help me out. She shared lengthy moments, which included everything; from solving the cube to listening to music. The moon popped out and everyone was already yawning. I had a beautiful night, though both of us had to sleep on the same berth.
The smell of the Indian morning woke me up and I realized that our station in Srikakulam was not very far away. Meanwhile, I chatted with Kranthi, my elder fellow traveler and simultaneously solving the Rubik’s cube. With luggage in our hands, we were ready to install ourselves from the moving train, back into the immovable base under our legs. With a huge sigh the train lowered its hotbeat and all of us were signaling each other to get down soon. We were all getting down one by one with the luggage but then everyone realized that something more was missing. It wasn’t the freshness in the mouth but it was a bag with all the stationary and aids in it. Soon, we intimated this to the administration there about the unloaded bag. They did not promise us about its safety but wished us good luck.
With the bristles of the brush in between the premolars of my teeth I kept myself in daze in between the cube and the lost bag. As soon as we bubbled ourselves to freshness, we were given our respective kits. The first Chinna Shodha Yatra (CSY) meet, which the Brigadier called 'The unlearning session' was held and then, we walked to a nearby hotel. However, I bravely managed to eat four Idlis, though I was the slowest consumer. We were also given a banana, a really delicious banana. I spent half of it in walking about a mile to the bus stop and soon we boarded the bus to “Palakonda”, the first village on our trip. We reached there, by then the other half got digested and soon we boarded a seven seater to “Palakonda”, the first village on our trip.
Keeping the deliciousness of the banana aside, I focused on the words of the Brigadier. In other sense, he asked us to keep our minds fresh and open like a peeled off banana and that’s reason, I felt, he distributed us those. My land was before me and I was staring at the infinite ground with my eyes closed. I could feel the stick in my hands and my zeal and determination was filled to the brim of my consciousness. I opened my eyes and, though the sunny air was hitting us backward we put our first step towards the villagers and towards the purpose, with a hope to explore.
With the perfect gear, we moved forward. The way the villagers there reacted to our sign of interaction was very amazing and the way the fellow explorers complimented and complemented my ideas, interest and intimation was something unaligned to my expectation. At every next step we learned something new and informative. Weeds named Parthenium, called “Vayari Bhaama”, were all along enclosing the path. We were told that it causes asthma and even kills trees. The next was Thangedu, which could melt the fat under the skin and is generally used to dissolve the fat of sheep before peeling out its skin for commercial purposes.
Eventually, we entered another small village, “Velagavada.” We went to the school there and very soon we entered the classes and told them about our arrival. We played the video that I submitted, to make the children imbibe the visual message more precisely. Having shown the video, the Major asked the children to put their ideas and innovations on a paper. With some help, they completed the thing in about fifteen minutes. We collected the papers and I wondered disdainfully what eight and nine year old can possibly think and then put on the paper! As soon as I read one of those, I kept it aside. I closed my eyes; I unrolled the tape of my thinking brain, who just before uttered the senseless dialogue, I killed the previous notion and just marked the ‘Everything is possible in Velgavada’ sentence true.
At an instance, we found one girl writing that if we supply the admixture of water and paint to the plants the plant would change to that particular color. That’s possibly something obvious to us, but not to someone that young whose mother gets her bath every day. The children were very tender and the theory which I mentioned at the very beginning seemed very much true. All of us helped Brigadier in selecting some of their ideas which seemed unusual and brilliant to us. We appreciated them by offering sketches and other stationary stuff.
During the break time, we had our lunch, the children approached us and asked us to play along with them. We girls had our own games and the boys even joined the children. They were extremely adept in those games and soon I realized that it’s impossible to play and win with them. Time after time we realized that the every kid was extremely skillful in part of work they do. The children were happy for us, they were smiling and winking. They were of free mind, happy, clear in their thought process. These may possibly be the reasons that make them unique and that is why they make organizations like ours to travel all along from the city of aerodromes to villages like these. Everyone wore their bags and waved hands to the children there. In our goodbyes we delivered strength, happiness, hope and belief within us for them. I hope they received them retaining their charm and innocence.
We kept walking and discussing about the experience and everyone was subtle and impeccable in their observation. A little later we reached another village named Rudrapeta. Like the notes on a piano, every village had its own music and rhythm. Here they paint wedding cards on the wall to be obviously economical and shockingly everyone was invited to the wedding. The Brigadier was received well by the people there and all of us interacted well with them. Men, particularly, came forward smoothly and joined the discussions. Since my childhood I’ve watched many movies where a guy rubs a leaf upon the wounds and it heals immediately. It was like a small dream come surprisingly true for me when one of them told me that it was the leaf of the plant ‘Kampurodda’. Those people delivered babies at home and only if possible they would go to the doctors.
They eat natural food and lots of it, they work more than what their lands demand though they sweat in summer, get wet in the rains or shiver in winter. All throughout their lives knowingly or unknowingly they train their bodies but more particularly they work for their livelihood and that vision of theirs makes them live longer. That was one side of the Indian coin; in the meeting we discussed and told them about the other side, smart working. We gave examples of children living in villages who with smart work pulled so many of us towards them.
After the meeting we were all bound towards a cashew nut factory where the women were breaking the seed coats of the cashews to get them out. When I asked them if I could try but they restricted me saying it is tough. Still I tried and was amazed when I broke it and found the tender cashew in the heart of the seed. That was another amazing scene I’ve never seen. The time for goodbyes arrived again and we started our journey to Addakulaguda.
At dusk, we reached there. The dusk soon vanished leaving the moon and the stars behind. We got freshened and revitalized ourselves for what the beautiful night could bring. Time was moving fast and while all this was going on, we met an old couple. The sight of the couple made everything very slow. The woman was more than ninety years old and the man already hit the hundred barrier and assured us that they would still live for two more decades. Hundred years! Moreover, his confident assurance! That was like a spine-tingling experience for me and so must be for others too.
Their expenditure for a month is just two hundred rupees! I want you to go back and confirm that it’s a ‘month’. They cooked food with the wooden logs that the man would get every day from the forest! The experience with them was full of exclamations and tingles. Yet, both of them were happy and loved their lives. I am just sixteen and this is truly a lesson to be learnt. With more interaction, we found that he was a fan of the village natural food, its taste, its smell and that’s the reason he reached the milestone in his age. All his lamentation was for the hybrid varieties and the polluted farm lands these days, so he worries for his next generation. Keeping this apart, the most shocking thing was that he would drink and smoke every night along with his wife! Well I had no comments for that. We honored them with shawls and with their blessings we moved forward towards “Peddaraama.”
It was some miles away. We took breaks in between but the Major did not take any. His indefatigable struggle and vision reminded me of mine. We tied our laces tight and moved. We all while walking, shared our knowledge and ideas, put philosophical questions to each other, discussed about career and talked about many interesting topics and that enlivened the journey more. In between, we came across Seethampeta, which had quite more infrastructure than the other ones. We moved and continued our discussions and finally reached “Pedaraama” where we stayed that night. As soon as we reached there we arranged a meeting and women were more likely to participate in the meet.
They were all convinced by the Brigadier’s talks. They said nobody till then visited their place and asked about them. We were the first ones and they were all happy for us. It was already getting late and the Brigadier told he'll continue the meet tomorrow but villagers were so much involved that they told they were ready to stay for some more time and asked us to continue. Our Major was surprised and was happy looking at their interest. We showed them few other videos of the grass root innovators and soon I realized it is only a misconception we have that villagers cannot adapt the technology well. They proved the statement wrong. They could grasp very easily about the machines and their working. They were discussing among themselves with excitement like we do in the class rooms when we feel the topic to be interesting. The women were really amazing and great and I’m not being a panegyric.
Though I’ve seemed like an abstemious all through the journey, I couldn’t stop myself from eating the heavenly dinner there. We freshened ourselves up and went to bed. I broke my previous record and woke up early at 5.30 am but everyone in the village was already a champion, so, embarrassingly I withdrew myself from the competition for being an ugly participator.
We showered and shampooed ourselves; we ended with a plate of idli which successfully accomplished the hat trick for being the same dish. However, I loved those. With three cups of tea in my belly, I, along with the Brigadier and Kranthi, went into the village to observe and enjoy the surroundings. A villager named Varahala Naidu helped us understanding the village and its content.
Kranthi, and I went on to the other side of the village to observe the trees and found flowing water there which was so clear that moving fishes could be seen from a height. To the right side we found few Touch-me-not plants and I spent some time there touching all the leaves till I closed all of them! They all took quite some time to re-open and that wasn’t funny at all. To the left side we found rows of Opuntias, Mango trees, Custard Apples and most commonly Parthoneums, the weeds, everywhere. Nearby, a found queue of ants walking opposite to each other and it was like the India and the Pakistan team shaking hands after the victory of India!
We were back at our place soon and the breakfast’s legacy followed. We loaded our bags and resumed our yatra. There is definitely some unknown aura in the village; the soothing air, the cloudy climate, the vibrations when I fold my hands to get rid of the cold, the moisturized brown land and the feeling is just so pleasant. I felt I was just like any other packet of air that was hitting my body and persuading me to flow along with it over the green leaves, into the flowing water and enjoy the song of the nature’s soul. I was so much moved by the inertia of the feeling that I stopped the overflowing tear saying myself that I’m still young and I’ve to carry this stick and work in my land for a lot in the future.
We walked for miles till the three dumplings of idli got digested. We then stayed at a place and had our lunch, while it rained a little. Holding the neck of a shortcut, we walked through it into the fields. Back in Hyderabad, I loved mangoes and a lot of them. But whenever I go to my village and eat the mangoes of our farm, I find a subtle difference and so might’ve you. It’s the rawness, the content of a healthy and unabridged piece of flawless taste. So is the case with people in the villages, they have the rawness of a human; with no deceitful, pretentious or exploitative attitude. They have an untiring, laborious and unpolluted nature in them. We may find people who are cruel, bad-intentioned or foolish, but even all those qualities in them are raw like the mango. I should say, go to a village and enjoy the rawness; the rawness of the cruelty, the foolishness, the freshness, the cleanliness, the goodness and the uncleanliness. It’s because everything out there is unmanufactured and just is a gift of nature.
The Brigadier with plans in his mind, Kranthi with a book in his hand, Santosh with camera hung over his neck and I, with the shoes in my hand, walked some hundreds of meters with other fellow yatris. We all slowed at the sight of a flowing river, we tasted it, and it was unexpectedly more than what we’ve expected it to be: We expected it to be pleasant but it was outstanding. On the way we also had number of luscious pineapples and mangoes.
I love corn a lot and you all know that they are more available in rainy season. At the final stages of rainy season, when I realize that this maize is going to be the last one of mine, then I close my eyes, throw all my concentration into it, make my taste buds stand erect and I feel and enjoy every bite so that I remember it till next year. Similarly, while I was walking barefoot, there was the mumbling noise of my fellow travellers, the melody of flowing water at an infinite distance, the noise of our footsteps, the noise of the crickets, the noise of my breathe and noise of the glittering fire flies everywhere. I was drowning myself into trance and this melody, feeling and enjoying it with all my senses, I was unsure about my re-visit to this yatra.
We were soon to Parvathipuram, where we had our meeting regarding the constructions there, about our remaining trip and volunteerism. While all the others were listening to brigadier’s talks I engaged myself in having a glance at the surroundings and found a row of opuntias grown on one corner of the road and that appeared to be a “Natural Fencing” to me. We soon ended our discussions and started to Donabai and on the way we intersected with Gumada and Kosangi villages. At about 2.30 PM we reached Donabai. There we had a visit to a school and the Brigadier introduced all of us to the children there. We intimated to them the Ignite program and drove their attention towards the will power and the strength within them and how well they could brighten up their lives and the nation. The children were a bit hesitant, but soon they got accustomed to our presence. We asked them to put their ideas on a paper. They weren’t exposed to these kinds of tests so taking a little time, they all did a good job in putting and submitting. All of them were very practical and quick-witted ideas. As usual, we praised them, prized them, applauded them, encouraged them and instilled a great hope in those dexterous children.
We had our long awaited lunch at about 4 PM and later, we sprung to Manappuram. I had a nice time with Kranthi, Saketh and others. We put to each other many questions, riddles and enjoyed our foot-ride. We also had the experience of forming objects with the trees, clouds and everything that we could possibly see then. Time was running at a good pace, and unknowingly, very soon we reached Manappuram. After a meeting there with the villagers, we had a hearty dinner and went expecting a hearty sleep too.
I woke up early, came out of my cabin. Stretching myself and yawning I loved the cold slightly fogged weather, the chicks running all around, the wondering buffaloes, the children washing their clothes and the people looking at me while was observing. The village Sarpanch received us with hospitality and offered the girls with closed bathrooms as there weren’t anywhere in the village. We showered ourselves soon but were late to the breakfast. We then started our yatra and were to Chinagora Modalanka and Veeraghattam villages. Veeraghattam School was the last place for our meetings. Every Shodh Yatri shared his/her experiences and we loved listening to them.
From the school, after the meeting, we boarded two autos to a nearby hotel to have our lunch. As soon as we are done with it,we started to Srikakulam Railway Station. Some of them preferred the train and with millions of waves and greetings we gave them a sendoff. We reached the bus stop and boarded it. We had our dinners at some place in the mid-night.
After dinner, I was back to my place, I leaned my body over the seat and closed my eyes to stop the yellow bed light entering the eyes. I thought about the first school we visited and the girl who daringly approached the Brigadier for not choosing her idea that she’d put on the paper. Brigadier, went through it for the second time and told that he hadn’t understand her idea. She briefly said that when a bulb is cut to a half and filled with water, that can be used as a magnifying lens by poor who cannot afford to buy glasses. The Brigadier praised and applauded her.
He told everyone that presentation of one’s skills is most important in one’s life. If you don’t present it properly, it remains unrecognized. I just had one thing in my mind then and now, that I present the feedback well. Howevermight this feedback turn out, I am glad writing for it made me revisit and remind those beautiful moments in the trip.
Conclusively, assume there is person who loves English a lot. He might be very poor in it but however he has the vision to work hard. He does a lot of things to improve himself. Suppose his father is an English Professor at an international university. What do you think he should do? And what do you think he would do? The interest dies, in fact, it never arouses. It is because he feels a person who speaks such beautiful English also does the same things which he even does. He brushes, bathes, uses a bathroom frequently for natural calls and so does the professor. He finds no greatness in achieving the fluency in language. We are all in the same phase in our country. We try to achieve heights in life, which is never a faulty thing. But since the time we are born, we are been thrown into the queue of modern life and we don’t really know the rhythm of a proper life, of a proper society, of a proper world. We should be happy that somewhere miles away there are villages and a real life still exists. We should make use of them and take time visiting villages to regain the life of the first man on Earth; and there truly lies the real enlightenment of life. We shouldn’t no more be the young Siddhartha Gautama and get stuck in this mirrored world, where nothing is new but is derived thing from the basic concept. We should soon turn into the adult Gautama Buddha who is well educated about the pain, the suffering, and the ignorance, the true society is facing and try to overcome it.
None of us need to go to the forests and meditate for hours. Our meditation should be towards the realization of the world out there in the ignorant societies and our true understanding that only when we see light of ignorance in us only then we can move ourselves towards the light of necessity of improvement and invention in us. I feel with the Land of life with me, this trip has surely been my promising stick all throughout which helped me groove the land properly and let all the dreams and hopes of mine flow through them and hopefully towards my vision. Thank you, Palle Srujana. |
