Yatra diaries

"It's never about who you are, it's always about who you can be"

Well, the Shodh Yatra experience was just that! You could be a partner in an IT firm, you could be an engineer from a prestigious institute, you could be a school student or you could just be trying something new -- it was our choice to see things as they are. At least we made that choice, took that chance. While I kept dreaming about how brave I was to be staring into the eyes of rural India, little did I realize, the people who actually make rural India, India are the real heroes. 

    Day 1: As 20 of us walked into the villages of Karimnagar, unlearning was priority one. And being in harmony with people around(fellow yatri's and village folks) and nature a close second. Each individual’s agenda was automatically pre-set, only to be changed soon. As we walked one village after another, talking to old farmers about far-forgotten practices, each one of them very enthusiastically opened their hearts and minds to us. Now where in the city would you have a conversation with a complete stranger, that too on the street? One village lady very candidly said, "We treat you so well when you people come here, you refuse to even give us directions when we are in the city." Made me think… Where is it that we are always running to? We talk about technology saving so much time for us, but where are we using that time? 

    Day 2: Thankfully, technology changes but nature doesn't. It's always been the same, beautiful when it wants to and violent when it ought to. People today say, lets protect our nature, let's not misuse it or deplete it. But nature is thinking, "Poor suckers, you'll just take care of yourselves, or else i'll have to "take care" of you'll." No matter who you are, you have no other choice but to surrender to her. We walked at days into the lush green rice/cotton fields, strolled at nights with nothing but the moon above us, passing trees lit by beautiful fire-flies. We stomped through the thick, clay fields. We slept beneath a tree. We bathed in a river. We spoke about our dreams, about what we could be, about our country, about love, about life… No technology or money can buy this experience; maybe they could only destroy it. 

    Day 3: The village folks joked and laughed with us. Kids just kissed us. They loved us outright, they loved us for us. They shared with us their joys and fears, the plight the nature has brought upon them (read, the recent cyclone), their helplessness -- looking at us with hope, for answers. They are in the riskiest business of agriculture, where their fate is left to the mercy of nature. They play their risks everyday, they play with the elements of nature, their survival depending on them. 

    

    Mani amma is one such example. Mani amma is in her early forty's. She is from Parlapalli, a village in Karimnagar district, AP. A single mother, her only livelihood being selling produce she gets from her one and a half acre land. Both her sons go to school. Her crop has been destroyed due to the latest cyclone and she has a debt to pay off (which she took @ Rs 2 for Rs100) How is she going to fill her stomach, send her kids to school or repay the debt hanging up her throat? Do you have an answer? I don't… There are hundreds of cases such as these all over rural India. Millions are dieing. Today, it's just a number in a newspaper or on daily television. Try putting a face to it, and try meeting one of them. Maybe then we’ll realize the heart they symbolize, the courage they epitomize... and maybe then, we'll be shaken. Or maybe not!

(Pics by fellow yatri Rajeshwar Rao)

4:00 AM, Thursday, Nov 8.

Chinna Shodh Yatra 5