From 2-Nov-12 to 4-Nov-12
Shodh Yatra is a pilgrimage to the forgotten temples
of Knowledge. We believe that the villages and villagers are highly
knowledgeable and to understand their expertise in living in harmony with the
ever changing nature is the mission of Shodh Yatra. We walk for 2-3 days and
interact with the nature and the people live in the VILLAGES. Palle Srujana
organizes Chinna Shodh Yatra in Andhra Pradesh. The inspiration for Chinna
Shodh Yatra came from National Innovation Foundation (NIF). Please visit www.nifindia.org, www.sristi.org for
details on Shodh Yatra.
The timing of the Shodha Yatra could not have been any better. Major
parts of Tamil Nadu (TN) and Andhra Pradesh (AP) were battling the Neelam
Cyclone. Karimnagar Dist, AP also had effects of the Neelam Cyclone and it was raining heavily by the time we
commenced the Yatra. In a way Neelam helped the Shodha Yatris to get a first
hand view of how nature plays and how man has to abide by its rules to survive.
The CSY commenced from Kataram Village of Karimnagar Dist. The Orientation
session with Brig Ganesh Pogula (Uncle) set the tone of the Yatra. Key points of the Orientation session are as
below
-
The objectives of the Yatra are to
:
o
Know and Learn the traditional
knowledge, sustainable ideas practiced in the villages and if possibly adaptable
share the practicing knowledge of other villages to their village so that it
benefits them for a better farm produce or improvised lifestyle or minimize human efforts
o
Encourage villagers to adopt
organic way of farming and revive old traditions from their tacit knowledge to
improvise farming methods and lifestyle.
o
Encourage documentation (Gnana
Register) and sharing of tacit knowledge with other villages/villagers
-
Identification of four Gurus during
the Yatra and learn from them. The four Gurus
are 1) Nature 2) Villagers 3) Co Yatris 4) Self
-
Attempt to transform oneself to
listen and learn instead of Preach on Perceptions
Presenting my views in a chronology of the events would rob the
essence of learning during the Yatra and so I would present them based on my
learning from each Guru
Nature:
All though I had opportunities to live in villages earlier, I was
in the confines of luxuries and so never really experienced the various
terrains that nature had to offer in its raw form. To put it simply I was humbled,
all my experience in the last 28 years aided me nothing. I had to unlearn everything,
relearn and adapt quickly. Nature has its own way of bringing everyone down to
their knees and makes them adopt discipline and drives the message that you are
one amongst everything.
Walking bare footed on loose and slippery soil for 30+ km,
negotiating the jungles in the dark of the night, bathing in pristine waters of
Godavari River, experiencing rain on the face, drinking water from wells, streams,
boring pumps, playing with the sands beside streams were some of the unique
experiences that taught me how we can adopt natural way of living and experience
the bliss. Nature opens its lap to every being under its fold and looks after
it caringly.
Villagers
Probably the most humble and down to earth people on the face of
this earth. They have no arrogance of regular urban people. Every villager had received us so warmly and
without a hint of any kind of suspicion which was very astonishing to me as a
so called urbanite who views everyone/everything with some kind of suspicion. They
are the most knowledgeable people when it comes to nature and keep adapting
themselves in the changing face of nature every day. They have/had natural and
sustainable solutions to every problem they would come across and implement them
effectively.
The emphasis of the Yatra was to encourage villagers to revive
their old hygienic and efficient traditions/techniques for a better world. Some
of the instances of using traditional ways as described by village elders are
as below.
-
A Village elder mentioned the
techniques used to safeguard their seeds for the next crop season and the
traditional ways to maintain them from damage (moisture, pests etc.) E.g.: Sprinkling Wood Ash, Exposing seeds to Neem
Leaf Smoke etc would keep pests away
-
Another Village elder mentioned about
an old tradition of women consuming a diet of specific 21 types of roots immediately
after conceiving a child and procedure of nursing back to health
-
Another village elder mentioned how
mouth ulcers were cured by burning them with splinters ( a special skill practiced
by a specific caste)
-
A village elder’s advised drinking
juice made of guava leaves to prevent Jaundice
Many Villagers had taken to so called modern ways of farming,
lifestyle which are having drastic side effects. Some of the instances are as below
-
In a bid to increase crop
production, the barren lands of the village were also utilized, thus creating a
food crisis for farm cattle. Hence there is simply not enough space for animals
to graze and so many villagers had to sell off their cattle or limit the cattle
to one or two and thus leading to shortage of milk in the village and unwanted dependency
on milk packets.
-
A village elder mentioned that the
water sources such as streams, small ponds etc in the village were good enough
to sustain water, however introduction of central water storage tank for a
village served only a few thus leading to internal crisis and damaging the
unity of the village. Another interesting view was presented by a School
Headmaster mentioning that the minimum mineral content in water should be below
220ppml as per WHO norms, however due to rapidly depleting ground water
resources the mineral content observed was more than 500ppml thus forcing
people to adopt drinking mineral water manufactured by corporate companies.
-
A village elder mentioned that the
traditional structure of a “ Dora” or a Land Lord guarding/ruling a village at least
held the village together and helped
them solve each other’s requirement irrespective of whatever happened, however
creating an individual through constitutional means had created a sense of
selfishness that is damaging the fabric of a united village
Many Villagers had also shared the enormous challenges that they
face while farming and how it is affecting them adversely
-
The frequent menace of stray
animals (wild boars, monkeys, rats etc.) causing damage to the crop and the
painful vigilance to safe guard their crops.
-
The mighty Godavari flows approx 10km away but
the access to that water is limited to only about 1 or 2% of the farmers
-
The provision of poor quality of
seeds by the agencies to the farmers and the huge amount of losses causing them
-
Weather Woes: There were several
farmers who had unfortunately lost their crop due to untimely rains. One such
farmer was Manemma, a widow.
-
Erratic Power supply is causing
damage to the crop as timely water supply through tube well pumps is affected.
-
The difficulties in getting loans from
banks: Unless a farmer had a “Patta” or a certificate from the Dist Collector
office the banks would not offer any loans and thus forcing them to seek loans
from unorganized sector at high rates.
Some of my observations based on interaction with Villagers are as
below
-
Majority of the farmers have access
to only traditional saving instruments such as gold or silver and to raise
money for the next crop they would either sell gold/silver for a huge loss
(sometimes up to 25%) or mortgage them at high rates.
-
The
Governance-Administration-Finance-Corporate Nexus had actually worsened the
situation of a farmer instead of helping out. The farmer has to fight a lot of
red tape to get any kind of help.
-
Though every Human is directly
dependant on Farm produce, ironically farming seems to be the riskiest business
in India. A farmer has to secure loan from a Bank/unorganized money lender after
a lot of tussle and after he manages to get a loan there is no guarantee that quality
seeds would be available, in case quality seeds are available, there is no guarantee
that there would be timely rains, in case there are timely rains and the crop
is ready there is no guarantee for a farmer to get a minimum support price.
With so many risks at every step, a farmer is enduring so much pain to produce
food and ends up most of the time incurring losses.
-
There are no incentives for a
farmer to continue farming and thus many farmers do not want their children to
continue farming and want them to take up other professions.
-
The Rural Exodus: Farmers of today
are reluctant to pass on farming to the next generation; they don’t want their
progeny to endure similar problems that they faced. As one co yatri (Leela Krishna)
rightly pointed out that today we have come to villages to listen to the
farmer, a few years later we have to come to villages to fall at their feet and
to beg them not to stop farming.
-
There is a sea change of awareness
in the villages and despite many obstacles villagers are sending their children
to schools and colleges. We happened to visit schools and the children seemed
to be very bright and enthusiastic, if only better facilities like decent class
rooms, drinking water, books are provided to these children they can do
wonders.
Co
- Yatris
The Yatra had commenced with a random set of Yatris, who are from different
backgrounds and different age groups. There were many fresh perspectives which
were brought in by the Yatris. We instantly became friends and negotiating with
unfamiliar conditions had brought us closer, probably a lesson from nature that
“together you survive”
I had an opportunity to discuss with many of the Co Yatris on many
different topics ranging from Economics, Politics, History, Agriculture, and
Philosophy etc. There were a couple of passionate innovators (Raju, Dhanunjay
(aka DJ) ) also in our group who have such
a dedication towards bringing their dream innovations into reality.
Every evening after we walked through the fields, streams and
reach our destination for the day, we used to assemble and discuss our
observations, views after interacting with villagers, nature and Co Yatris, It
was a rich experience and cannot really be put in words. I would cherish their
friendship and look forward to interact with them on various platforms.
Leading us Yatris was Ganesh Uncle who had shared with us his
enormous experience, the most memorable ones being the discussion of survival techniques
sitting in the Godavari river waters. Some more are as below:
-
Use of saplings grown in
controlled environment as against sowing seeds
-
Using of traditional and
innovative methods of using pesticides (making oil/juice of the plants that are
discarded for humans and animals consumption)
-
innovations of Guruvayya (Seed Dispensing), Mallesam
(ASU Kutumbam) and many others which added richly to our experience
Self
Although I was in a group of 20 people I had enough opportunity to
spend some time on myself.
The experiences with Samakka (A vegetable vendor who carries a
basket load of 25kgs on her head has a severe pain in her neck because of
injuries caused on her spine) and Manemma had left an indelible impression and
make me want to work for their betterment.
My trials to negotiate with nature and its elements made me rub my
nose to the ground and making me learn a lesson to stay rooted to the ground
(and also to improve my physical fitness).
There were several things to learn which can only be experienced Live
and make me want to come again and again to Shodha Yatra.
Just as we were leaving Kataram, there was a board there – “
Punaha Sandarshana Prapti Rastu”. I wish all Shodha Yatris – “ Punaha Shodha
Yatra Prapti Rastu”
Jai Hind
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