Visit to Haritha- In the land of tribals

I took a visit to Haritha ecological centre with mom. Haritha is a society started by Sudhakar uncle (my mom's colleague in IIT-D). Haritha takes the responsibility of providing education to the tribal children in that area. It is located at a village called Paloancha, near the town of Bhadrachalam in Khammam district of southern state of Andhrapradesh. It was my first trip into rural southern India, and I was excited to move away from the civilization into the real civilized society.

Haritha is at its top has three people. Sudhakar ji, who is a proffessor in IIT-D, his wife Usha aunty, a retired bank employee now fulltime at haritha and swamy ji. I don't know the name of swamy ji, but like everyone I addressed him like that. He is another of those people whom I thought I had met earlier somewhere. He happened to do his graduation from a gurukul in Hissar, in the northern state of Haryana, and knew Acharya Devrat. Acharya Devrat was a good friend of my father, and so I assumed I met swamy ji sometime through him. His face looked very familiar to me. Then there are local teachers and kids who together run the school. Sudhakar ji was a permanent faculty in department of CARE (center for applied research in electronics), when about 10 years ago he quit his job and started Haritha with Usha aunty. I'm not sure at what stage swamy ji joined them. The fact that an IIT prof had the courage to quit and start something like this, has forced me to give another chance to these IITians. I simply love him for his effort. A couple of years back he re-joined IIT to work with mom in bamboo technology. Over the period he developed some technology with bamboo, which would prove to be an alternative for the concrete structures. Our visit to Haritha was to see his work on bamboo. Along with us, were Sivanandan Uncle and his wife Sulochana aunty, who own a non-profit organisation in Kerela and our interested in the bamboo technology. They see with it a scope of not only having more eco-friendly houses but also empowering the tribal community. Of course they have also been our family friend, and so it was great to see them again after sometime. With them were Jaisingh ji, who has retired from CBRI (central building research institute), Roorkie. I reminded Jaisingh ji that this was our second meeting. The first time I met him when we (Sivanandan uncle, Sulochana aunty and me) visited their place in Roorkie on our return from Badrinath. With them was also one George, who happened to be a mechanical engineer cum farmer cum owner of construction company cum working with a non-profit organisation. Then there was Srinivas ji, the local contact along with Sudhakar ji. He was the representative from the Andhra government. There was Suprotic Gupta, a civil engg faculty from IIT-D, who was here to see the strength of the bamboo structures. And lastly there was Sapna, a student of M.tech in civil engg from IIT-Roorkie and also a close friend.

So all of us took this trip from Hyderabad. We not only explored the structures at Haritha, but also went to a village Chatti, deep in the forests on the border of Andhra and Chattisgarh. This was a tribal village, deep in the naxal territory. To my happiness, we were deep in the jungles, where the roads were as good as they can get. The traffic on them was minimal. People still walked barefoot. And we saw real bow and arrows. The bow and its string we both made from bamboo. There were two kinds of arrows. One with a metal sharp head. This one is used for hunting, primarily wild boars. The other had a blunt wooden head. It was used to pluck fruits from tree tops. A local tribal also showed us the use of it.

At village Chatti, we met Chandrasekharan ji, who had offered a part of his land for the growth of desired bamboos for the project. He had only one concern with the entire thing. He hoped, that when bamboo technology would be recognised by the country, its benefit should reach to the common man. He hoped this project would not meet the fate of all those solar energy projects. Research on solar enegry was done in the name of providing electricity to the remotest corner of the country, but in practicality now its only used in the fancy drawing rooms of the rich or in lobbies of five star hotels. The poor are nowhere near it. He hoped, the bamboo he will grow in his fields will not end as some artifact in some showroom, but would be used as real beams in real structures inhabited by common people. Sudhakar ji tried to answer his question to the best of his capability, but I'm not sure if he was convinced. We all knew, that despite Sudhakar uncle's assurance, and Srinivas ji's plan we stand no chance if the government or some corporate decides to hijack this technology. Something similar happened a decade ago to the work my mom was doing on organic farming. The fertilizer industry simply hijacked the project, and as a result her research was limited to test fields and never reached the actual farmers.

Mom,Sapna and I returned back to Hyderabad while the rest continued their trip to Vijaywada where there were some more structures. Our stay at Haritha was like visiting my village. The concept of eating with hand, eating on pattals (plates made of leaves), all that brought sweet memories. Sudhakar ji gave an open invitation for us to visit Haritha again. I would want to go back again soon.

In a conversation with Swamyji the concept of Satvik and Tamsik also became clear. I had an idea of them earlier, but Swamiji's explanation gave new clarity. In hope to meet him again and learn many more things.

The need to talk......it's not about money this time!

It happened to me again. It happened just now, a few minutes ago. I had gone to Indranagar market to recharge the currency in my phone. Since it's not too far I decided to walk. On my way back, a man standing on the road asked me if I could give him two minutes. I said sure. I knew what to expect. This man will tell some sad story about his life and in return ask for some monetary help. Such instances has happened to me before, where each time I've ended up giving some money. As my friend Tincy says, I have a public service board hanging on me. This would have been fourth such occasion with me, I thought.

As I stood there, this man started talking. For a change, this time the conversation was in english. He was quite fluent and grammatically correct in his english. He told me, he belongs to Orissa, and has been in Hyderabad for over a month now. He is working as a security guard here (pointing towards a gate in the background). He is still awaiting his first salary. While he was narrating all this, I was waiting for the moment when he would ask for money. In my mind I was preparing myself for that moment. What will I say when he would finally ask? How will I turn him down? Or should I give him money, like always? I only have a hundred rupee note in my pocket. I was suppose to go to bank today, but didn't go. If I give him this 100 rupee note, then I'll have to ask for money from Piyush or Shivangi. And if I tell them what happened, they for sure would kill me. They already hate me for giving money to Manoj at Nagpur station, or for not bargaining with the autowallas. Oh, god why did I choose to walk today. I should have taken the bus. Why did I stop? I'm such a fool.

While all this went in my head, the man continued with his story. He still hadn't asked for money.He said, he is literate and knowledgeable, and is quite frustrated with the job he is doing. He said, he has not spoken to anyone for days. His job is only to sit at the gate, open and close it each time his boss' car comes. And finally he asked.He asked, what advice I have for a person like him. "The only weapon I have is knowledge. Can I not use it to earn some money?". " Please sir, I'm not asking for money, I'm only asking for advice." I said, "maybe you should look for some other job". Like what, he asked. Hmm, a driver maybe. "Sir, I do not know driving. Is there nothing else I could do in your city?" "ah, this is not my city. I'm also a stranger here like you. I'm from Delhi."

I asked him what he used to do in Orissa. He was a salesman for 15 years, but things went bad and he lost his job. His wife doesn't want to live with him anymore. She insists on him earning some money. This job of security guard only pays enough for him to survive and not save. More over it was a very dull, no-activity job. This man was really frustrated.

I advised him. I told him to look for a job at some shopping center. After all he has 15 years of sales experience. More over a shopkeeper would love to have a sales boy who could speak good english. Such a man, would definetly attract customers. And his english was good. As good as mine.

He thanked me for my advice and my time. He asked, "do you think I'm mad? Do you think I need psychiatrist help?" I said no. I said you are like me. "I can understand what is going in your mind." He said, sometimes I feel I'm getting mad here. I understand. Sometimes you think so much, that you actually want to stop thinking. And you wonder if you are not getting mad. It happens with me so many times.

I told him, I think you should go back to your place. There atleast you will have your own people, own language, own food. He again thanked me. He did a namaste. I did a namaste. And I walked.

It wasn't about money after all. It was probably about an idea. Or maybe it was about a simple need of conversation. It must be really tough to not speak for days, I wonder.

I'm glad a chose to walk. All such things happen to you if you move at a slow speed. These things happen to you, when you have time with you. It is when you observe things around you. It is when you stop and respond to your surrounding.

The dangerous new trend

Since the last few months, i'm observing a dangerous trend in Indian society, which I believe is not something natural but man made. I'm talking about the protest over protests. When some people would take to streets to protest against some unjustifiable government policy, then they are not to be met by police barricades. The state machinery will not oppose them. Instead they will meet another set of people who fall on the greener side of the policies. And so what one would witness is two groups of people fighting on the street, while the state looking the other way. In the end of course the state can prove that their policy is for the people, and thats the reason people took to streets to protest over the protest.
Such a thing started over the Narmada dam issue, when people took to violence in state of Gujarat against the tribals of Madhyapradesh who were opposing the dam. The tribals were losing everything they had (land,homes,cattles etc), while people in Gujarat would get less of electricity.
Then more lately in Nandigram in the state of bengal, we saw people fighting people. There was one group which opposed the SEZ project, while the other which opposed the opposition of SEZ (and hence maybe was in favor of that project). It made a perfect case for the state to defend their policy on the issue. Then what happened in Guwahati was shocking. The locals in the town attacked a procession taken out by tribals demanding schedule tribe status. It is hard for me to believe that a shopkeeper would leave his shop and go about attacking others.
And lastly a similar thing happened in Orissa. Some people attacked (with bombs and guns), people opposing another SEZ project.

It becomes very hard for me to imagine that those who attacked tribals on the street of Guwahati, or those in Orissa or in Nandigram were common people like you and me. I feel, somewhere they were payed group to attack and threaten those who oppose the state, while in the media the picture is given of people fighting.

So, the next time I take to street to protest over the government taking over the next door park to convert it into a multiplex, I should not expect to meet the police force. I should expect other people who are in favor of such a project. Common people like me. I'm scared of such a thought.
It seems we are moving towards south america of 70s. It becomes so much convenient for the state to divide us further. This time not on religious lines but on developmental issues. So there are two kinds of people, one who are pro-development, while others who are anti-development. And of course its the state who defines the meaning of the word de-ve-lop-ment.

Meanwhile in all the news channel the debate is on whether will it be OSO or Saanwariya or who will captain India in the tests. We need to escape what Swami Vivekananda once described as the propensity of the Indian elite to discuss for hours whether a glass of water ought to be taken with the left hand or the right hand.