For updates on the jeep-yatra (pilgrimage) see http://www.jansatyagraha-2012/
facebook link
(Sebastien a publie un nouveau texte sur le blog en francais
http://www.marchedoucementsurlaterre.blogspot.com/
ici c'est kate qui ecrit:)
Seeds
Just before leaving Auroville, we discovered Pebble Garden on its very
outskirts... a small agricultural project (just down the road from
Sadhana Forest) where Deepika and Bernard (he is originally from
Belgium) settled i think about 20 yrs ago, and where they have
reforested a few acres of former desert. I am impressed as Bernard
shows us how planting australian acacias and working in symbiosis with
termites has allowed the land to come back to life in only a few
years... i am so happy to hear such redeeming news for these little
creatures so often hated by man.
In the garden area Bernard & Deepika produce seeds, which Deepika
takes to farm fairs distributing them freely to those who want - they
live very simply, expenditures being defined by donations received.
We are very touched by the quality of their work, the love and beauty
emanating from their garden and their presence - the simplicity of
their gift to the world at large feels so true to me - working in
harmony with the creation through deep listening and observation,
sharing its gifts with others.
Kommedu, Tamil Nadu
On the 12th November we finally reach the family home of our friends
from Nantes, Richard & Marienbaz. The village of Kommedu is only a
few hours bus ride from Auroville, how refreshing to find ourselves in
the open countryside again. Richard's dad, Diviaraj, is a farmer - he
has enough english for us to be able to understand as he shows us his
crops, talking to us about farming and the increading pressures being
faced. He is well aware that these are world-wide problems and is
actively seeking ways forward with the people from his village.
Richard's mum, Nambikai, feeds us generously with her beautifully
cooked food and the language of the heart allows us to enjoy each
other's company. We speak on the 'phone to Richard's brother George
who is a priest working in a very poor village 6 or 7 hrs bus ride to
the south... he would very much like us to visit and we feel torn
between this possibility and our intention to rejoin Ekta Parishad -
now 6 or 7 hrs bus ride to the north.
The next day is Sunday and prayers can be heard over the loud speakers
throughout the village from early in the morning. We attend the mass
in the village church - so light, airy and colourful, simple frescos
reflect for me the warmth and richness of life here. A smooth white
floor with the men standing or sitting on the left side, and the women
in a glorious array of saris on the right. All is in tamil, but i can
recognise the form of the mass and the sign of peace to each other is
in the usual indian form of hands folded in salutation. i imagine a
past day when Richard and Marienbaz' wedding was celebrated here and
feel happy to have this little share in our friends' lives. I feel
the warmth and love in peoples eyes when they speak of the connection,
and a kind of fierceness in my heart at the awesome distances in so
many families coming with modernism.
Everywhere i see the incursion of modern lifestyle into traditional
culture - sometimes brutally: people forced off their land for
profit-making by the already rich; sometimes insidiously: throughout
Tamil Nadu free televisions have been distributed to all. i find the
programmes starkly contrasting with India's ancient culture based on
spiritual values - Will people withstand this dripfeed in their homes
of rank consumerist 'values': creation of desires, promotion of
violence and speed, the whole with ruthless use of sexuality and flash
publicity?
A woman collects water from the irrigation outlet and Diviaraj
explains to me that she will take it to Chennai to sell as drinking
water... i am troubled to think that individuals are reduced to
selling each other freely received basic life resources in order to
survive. A week later on a train journey we buy water and find it is
produced by the Coca-cola company - an important actor in the
depletion of water resources available to farmers. In the context of
such a vicious cycle, i would have preferred to buy the village
woman's water...
Diviaraj tells us that there is no spirit of competition between
villagers, yet neither of co-operation. People are kindly and
neighbourly to one another, with each one expecting to stand on his
own two feet. He takes us to meet farmers in the next village and i
am touched by the sweetness, the gentleness of these men as they show
us their crops and share their methods of cultivation. Even as i
write this 3 weeks later i feel tears arising as i think of the
dangers facing such true culture...
On the road back to Nambikai & Diviaraj's house we meet 2 young
village men one a sports teacher, the other, a farmer's son, doing a
masters degree in maths at Chennai. With the delightful kind of
candour i have found commonplace in India he tells us that though he
would ultimately want to live here in the countryside, where all is
peace and beauty and the food so good, he is choosing to study in
Chennai for the prestige it will bring him, and because he wants
things and experiences of his own. We share about our own choices to
return to the land and he expresses his pleasure on hearing for the
first time about a love of nature thus lived.
A village child Jaya Chandran (age 10ish) comes to the house, and i
love the way i have seen children in villages respectfully integrated
into common activities, whether it be work or conversation. Jaya
Chandran is keen at school at uses the opportunity to practise his few
english words and sentences with us. He takes us to see a temple to
Shiva & Parvati hewn out of the rocky hillside nearby. We make the
most of the resonnance and sing a few songs before enjoying the quiet
1/2 hr walk back to the village.
The next day, Monday 14th November, we are still unsure whether to go
south or north and have experienced problems in trying to connect with
Ekta - finally we get through to Rajagopal and decide with him to go
to Bangalore and redefine with him there when the yatra arrives on
Friday.
Bangalore, Karnattaka
A six hour bus journey to Bangalore, with a 'run & jump on' change at
Thirvannamalai. The buses are crowded but we have seats and i am next
to a young muslim couple - Chandabasha & Bashira who is 8 months
pregnant and feeling ill. I am touched by the young husband's tender
care towards his wife... we manage to communicate with his few words
of english and mostly signs, exchanges of food. I worry about Bashira
as the journey sometimes takes on a fairground ride quality, when the
potholes throw us from our seats she stands to lessen the shock.
After the 15 minute lunch-pause most of the fit & able men get off the
bus to push for a bump-start... i am amused to think of the reactions
one might get in France or Jersey if passengers were requested to help
get the bus back on the move! My present understanding is that we
have a tendency in Europe to set up systems and then feel we must
conform to them, whereas here the human being reigns supreme in regard
to systems but feels he must conform to social codes.
It is dark when we arrive around 6pm & find a small hotel, and
internet nearby. It is my daughter Vivianne's birthday and i make a
further (unsuccessful) attempt to use skype... a few days later i
manage to use this method to 'phone her on her mobile in Egypt.
Perhaps i will learn how to connect skype to skype, but the
technological challenges are still there for me... not helped by
frequent power cuts & varied availability of functioning equipment.
The weather in Bangalore is significantly fresher, much less humid -
no mosquitoes!
The next day we are pleased to discover that the Gandhi Bhavan ashram
is within easy walking distance... there is a kind of orphanage (most
of the children have only one parent), some organic gardening, a
book-shop/publisher, library, reading room and centre for meetings,
with various rooms also made freely available to related projects such
as yoga practise, naturopathy... As we are leaving the centre we meet
the naturopathist, Lakshmi 83 years old, she greets us with the most
beautiful, clear gaze i have ever seen. She has just enough english
to explain to us that she met Gandhi, showing us her rooms, her
artwork and a photo of her husband with Gandhi. Each morning at 5am
she offers a yoga class - and rising from the floor without using her
hands, demonstrates to us her suppleness... i feel so moved by the
purity of her lifestyle radiating a joyful devotion.
Sebastien goes to the mosque and meets muslims nearby in a small shop
selling lassi (fermented milk). Zafirullah speaks english. Another
day Sebastien takes me there and my presence (not conforming to
expectations of a muslim wife) generates intense talk around me/Islam,
later moving on to european economics. Zafirullah ever remains gentle
and courteous, yet I feel how complicated life gets when we move away
from the soil, the earth... our life as creatures all issuing from the
same Life-source.
On the 16th we return to Gandhi Bhavan with information about Ekta...
and there meet Siddarth Sharma, part of the ashram & secretary of the
Gandhi Peace Foundation at Bangalore (he also manages the publishing
company based here). We are delighted to hear that he is a friend of
Rajagopal and is in close communication. Siddarth speaks fluent
english, his wife grew up at Auroville, and their lives are given to
this gandhian work. This time spent sharing and later looking on
Siddarth's blog* is a real oasis-time for me.
In these few days of waiting in Bangalore we visit the Gandhi centre
each day, study some books we have obtained there, begin to learn
hindi (though here Kannada is spoken), make the most of easy internet
access to catch up on Ekta and Quaker** affairs via the websites. A
time of nourishment and refreshment in the midst of the noisy city. I
have been surprised to discover that i find indian cities much more
bearable than european ones... perhaps because i feel here that the
vibrant human energy dominates that of the concrete, tar & machines.
Neverthless, i am very glad to be spending most of the time in the
country and still avoid the cities & towns as much as possible!!
Meeting with Ekta again
Friday 18th November 5pm we await the arrival of the jeep-yatra at
Gandhi Bhavan, and get in conversation with a couple - he is a lawyer
in conveyancing (my job in a former life!). They have visited Europe
as tourists and were deeply impressed by the green beauty of our
lands. I find these people so sweet and humble, yet i am sad to feel
this kind of gap as they express admiration and gratitude for the
simplicity of our lives whilst saying that they cannot envisage such
for themselves... sometimes i wonder if it is better to avoid saying
more than is absolutely required about ourselves (?)
About 50 people come to listen to Rajagopal and other speakers on land
reform. All speak in english as Rajiji does not speak Kannada
fluently, and locals don't sufficiently understand hindi. I am sad
for Lakshmi, and wonder how many others will have missed so much of
what is said. Rajagopal is introduced as 'working for a lost cause'
and this without negativity... and i understand that there is great
clarity in the trueness of the action, without attachment to results.
Rajagopal speaks to us of agriculture as the backbone of the country,
that there are forces at work to break the backbone. What they are
seeing 'on the ground' is very troubling - he gives the example of a
woman being fined 200 rupees (day's wage of a skilled worker) for
using a field near her home for toilet needs; the designated field
being further away and she having tummy problems. Many villages have
no place for the dalit people to bury their dead. The Land reform
council (agreed after the 2007 action as seen in the film 'March of
the Despised') has not found time to meet, Rajagopal has sent a
request for a meeting to the government each month since 2007, yet
they are finding time to fast-track laws facilitating land sales to
multinationals and for profit-led government projects. He asks 'What
is happening to Gandhi's talisman?' (to ask ourselves before any
undertaking 'how is this going to benefit the poorest person?') - and
challenges those of us within gandhian groups to be asking ourselves
this question.
A politics of displacement is at work (called 'development' by the
government). First the adivasis (tribal people), then the farmers.
92,000 villages have already been eliminated from the indian
landscape. 200,000 were displaced for the Commonwealth Games.
Rajagopal is proposing 3 points of action:
1. Undo the mistakes: revisit the Acts which have taken away the land,
undermining any possibility of land reform.
2. Implementation of laws/structures already in place for land rights.
3. Development of policy & framework for land reform.
He ended by speaking of his belief in the power of the poor as they
mobilise; the power of young people; the power of active non-violence
and the power of solidarity - inviting us not to debate ideologies,
rather to join hands to act together.
Another speaker said he believed that no person should be without
land, it is the basic means of livelihood. (Even in India there is
enough land for everyone to have a liveable area if it was shared out
more fairly). Yet another speaker, an elderly man, told of the
degradation of agriculture as cows disappear from the countryside to
be replaced by tractors which begin to devalue as soon as they are
bought, create dependance on oil and poison the air... whilst cows
enrich the land feeding both farmer and land. He warned against the
direction for agriculture of ever greater dependence on industry:
seeds, chemical fertilizers & remedies, machinery.
He spoke with clarity and feeling and his words resonnated for me with
what i had read earlier on the quaker website: we rely on pollution to
create wealth.
Another phrase which struck me on the website was 'escaping the trap
of conformity to culture' - i am feeling quite strongly the trap of
western culture which i see strongly associating individualism with
freedom; and noticing the trap here in India of a culture which i see
placing a particularly high value on prestige (associated with
worthiness?).
After the meeting we meet briefly with Rajiji, as always so warm,
affectionate and full of care for others. I feel some concern for
him, not so young, giving every last drop... this evening after a long
day,his attention is for us as he suggests we consider going for a
longish period to a school in Odisha where they would like to
implement Gandhi's 'new education'. We are to think it over & let him
know tomorrow when we meet at the main rally. He also offers us the
possibility of spending 1 or 2 days with the yatra, but they will be
going in the opposite direction, whereas we can get a direct train
from Bangalore to Odisha...
Rally at Bangalore
Next morning we gather at Freedom Park - the site of a former prison
built under british rule, now celebrating freedom and offering an
officially approved place outside the front gates for
demonstrations/public meetings. There is and entry fee for those
wanting to go inside the park and the list of 'forbiddens' even for
the outer grassy area is impressive: including forbidden to play, eat
food or to sit on the grass.
About 300 people, mostly women from the local land-rights movement,
gather and after a while we set off in 2 rows of 'indian file' walking
for about an hour in the administrative heart of Bangalore, ending up
in a big meeting under a colourful canopy where we listen to an number
of speakers - all bar Rajiji speaking in Kannada so we don't
understand much but pick up a lot from the atmosphere. There are more
women than men speakers, and once again i am impressed by the natural
authority displayed by the women here.
After the meeting the Ekta people gather in a circle to which we are
invited with a few others. Rajagopal and others especially the
National Convenor for slum-dwellers (one of the women speakers)
discuss the political situation and we are impressed with the depth
and detail of their knowledge.
Going east.. to Odisha
We have decided to take up Rajagopal's suggestion to go to Mother
Theresa Seva Pratisthan (MTSP) in Odisha. I am hoping to have
opportunities to learn more about education from the heart... but know
it will be challenging for me to be in school environment.
Rajiji has organised everything with people in Odisha to meet us and
make everything so smooth and welcoming for us. As he describes the
project in a little more detail i feel quite emotional making
connections in my mind with the teaching sisters in our home village,
and the desires for alternative education amongst neighbouring
families - two of which are now home-educating.
We hear also that Rajiji lived in the area where we will be for a year
about 20 years ago when he was working with tribal people. And that
we can be useful in the school at MTSP where the people are
well-meaning but lacking know-how. I feel somewhat overcome by the
trust he is placing in us.
We take a sleeper for the 31 hr journey and are met at the train by
Bijoy, Ekta activist responsible for the work in this state. He is
evidently very busy yet gives us a good deal of his time to make sure
we are o.k. and to plan our overall stay. We meet other activists
passing through including one who works with the fisher-folk of
Chilika Lake, a world heritage site now damaged by government
intervention disrupting the ecosystem and causing massive
unemployment/displacement to traditional fisher-folk, i am aghast as i
hear this story of greed once again blinding the 'powers that be' to
the beauty and balance of the creation...
The 2nd man is working 300km away in the jungle with tribal people...
I find his way of speaking about the issues powerful, intelligent,
practical and courteous ...he invites us to visit, mentioning organic
farm produce marketed and eco-tourism which mean that the people are
used to managing contact with civilisation.
Mother Theresa Seva Pratisthan, Banpur
Monday 21st November. The bus to Banpur takes 3+ hrs, packed like
sardines. Fortunately the potholes are less dramatic than in Tamil
Nadu! The atmosphere is warm, friendly as we communicate with eye
contact, signs, smiles, and swap seats from time to time to
accommodate women with small children/an elderly man... the language
here is ooriya with people often knowing some hindi, but rarely
english.
Manoj meets us off the bus - he is the director of the school project
which also runs educational, social & health development work in
surrounding villages. Manoj leads the way with his scooter and we
follow in the auto-rickshaw which usually does the school runs.
Within a few minutes we are at the school, Manoj shows us a room newly
prepared for us with all modern facilities. The school is built on
about one acre of land with papaya and banana trees some vebetable
garden a lovely banyan at one end and at the other, covering about a
third of the area the school buildings in cement-rendered bricks -
square classrooms with bars across the windows, blackboard paint all
around the lower part of the walls on 3 sides and covering most of the
wall where the teacher stands (or sits at a small 'gandhi table').
Night has fallen and in the darkness we meet Luttu and Kobita two
activists based here and working in local villages (Kobita also does
the vegetable gardening here). Manoj speaks to us of the activity and
vocational basis of the school, including environmental studies and
health education. The school is attended by about 75 children aged 3
-7 years. It is hoped to accompany these children through to their
secondary education. Manoj , who also teaches political science in a
local secondary school, works here on a purely voluntary basis but has
6 paid teachers working at the school as well as 2 assistants and a
clerk, with different people coming in to offer particular skills...
music, yoga.
The following day we are shocked to experience the reality... At 7 am
the children arrive in their green & white gym slip or shorts & shirts
reminiscent of 1950's british school uniforms complete with ties for
everyone and white socks with often ill-fitting plastic shoes. They
form 4 lines during the 1/2 hr of assembly in the yard. The biggest
classes are in the younger age groups and the teachers are vigilant in
keeping everyone in line throughout. 3 or 4 children stand in front
leading the assembly, including calling for standing at ease, then to
attention at the beginning and again at the end (before orderly filing
into each classroom). Nearly all the activity we have seen so far is
very classroom-centred, formal, teacher directed, using blackboard and
copying/repetition methods. These young children are learning to read
and write in 3 languages (ooriya, english & hindi) with significant
amounts of sanskrit learned by heart.
The teachers clearly have a very motherly attitude towards the
children and i can feel their loving intentions... yet sticks are used
to keep discipline and i feel anguish for everyone caught in this
impossibility (it seems to me) of reconciling an ideal of non-violence
with a form designed to promote obedience and conformity through
emulation, rather than autonomy and creativity.
That morning we speak to Rajiji on the 'phone and i am able to say
that i have taken some measure of the situation he had so briefly
described... he mentions the very dangerous current trends of
education in India, and the possibility of going towards life-centred
education such as that put forward by Rudolf Steiner.
Over the following week we oscillate between despair, wondering if we
will be able to continue in this environment, and a desire to answer
to the enthusiastic welcome of any input we'd like to offer. Manoj is
very supportive, spending large amounts of time with us each day,
checking in with how we are feeling and generously offering help with
even our smallest needs. I feel that he has many personal qualities
so helpful in managing a school - being open, generous, loving,
attentive - yet in the society at large i am feeling such a strong
cultural enjoyment of hierarchy and prestige creating resistance
(non-comprehension?) of forms based on equality in relationship. How
to reconcile this with Gandhi who taught that all are equal -
including children? In a Gandhian school what is the place of a young
woman who is mainly occupied with cleaning up after others? Gandhi
suggested that the children should take care of their own environment
and even produce things to sell for self-funding of the school.
On the 6th day, Sunday, at our request a staff meeting was held -
everyone apart from the accounts clerk came - we began by requesting
removal of the desks behind which the 'important people' - including
us, should sit, and proposed a circle dance to get us in the mood...
then we sat and using a coconut as a 'talking stick' shared around the
3 questions what i like about being part of this school, what is
challenging, and what i would like to see happen/develop. Manoj
translates throughout. After some initial hesitation things get going
and some challenging issues and questions are raised, especially
asking for alternatives to force... Strong beliefs are expressed - in
the need to control children; in the role of the teacher to fill the
'empty slate' of a child's mind, to mould & make him or her. Fears
also, especially of parents disapproval.
Being in the circle helps me not to react to what i hear, and when my
turn comes i am able to express myself and feel heard.
After the meeting i feel there is more space and light all around and
relationships clearer, though i did notice that one person looked
bored or fed-up towards the end.
In the afternoon we decide to go for 'a quiet walk' but only get a few
hundred yards to the next small village where we are immediately drawn
in to be welcomed, offered juice and RadhaKrishna, an english-speaking
person is called... he is also a secondary school teacher and is very
keen to improve sanitary conditions in the village. We are delighted
to share the possibilities of compost toilets with him as a completely
viable and economic way forward to which he is very open (although
Manoj had felt that this was culturally impossible). He asks
Sebastien to draw plans and hopes to get his students to make models
for a science fair. This encounter is a breath of fresh air for me,
always troubled by the incoherence i see in talk of 'development,
environmental & health awareness' allied to flush toilets - which seem
to me to be one of the most stupefyingly harmful of modern inventions.
(I use the word 'stupefying' consciously, thinking of the 'out of
sight, out of mind' effect which seems to prevent us from being able
to think responsibly).
Night has fallen and RadhaKrishna brings us back on his motor-bike, my
first go at riding side-saddle behind the 2 men - rather pleasant!
Monday, 5th December: Although we have danced with some of the
children in the morning, by the evening we are asking ourselves how we
can live in this context of 'training' children in a kind of
'blockhaus' environment. We are relieved to hear that the
head-teacher, Namita-Mali, whose manner with the children is generally
gentle, open and loving, has decided to give up using the stick, apart
from for pointing at the blackboard... and think/hope that the others
will follow her lead.
Self-help groups/farmers' clubs
That afternoon we cycle through open countryside to a village about 6
km away where Kobita works with the women's self-help groups and a
farmers' club. The rice harvest is in full swing and the men are all
very busy in the fields. In front of a number of houses there is rice
drying in the sun. Along the roadsides neatly moulded lumps of cow
dung are set out in perfect checker-board squares to dry for cooking
fuel. How good to feel the calm, orderly pace of real village life,
to see the brightness in people's faces. To sense their deep
appreciation of their peaceful and beautiful surroundings.
We meet a farmer who speaks a little english and shows us his farm &
forge. He shows us the threshing floor for the rice and explains how
he works with bullocks and keeps cows. On entering his house, the
first part is occupied by 2 young bullocks. Like so many village men,
he spent some years in Iraq when he was younger... With sometimes more
than half of the men in a village having left to find work abroad, the
women's self-help groups are vital. The women co-operate for economic
survival with micro-industries such as making leaf-plates, incense
sticks, keeping poultry, goats, cooking school meals... and also to
improve social conditions by local co-operation rather than outside
authority - for example with implementation of anti-dowry laws.
During our stay here we have now visited about 6 or 7 such groups with
Kobita and I am impressed by the simplicity, intelligence and respect
with which she offers support to these groups - the practical side is
mainly in helping them to keep their minute & account books in order.
Most recently we visited 3 villages just on the edge of the jungle
about 5 km from here. In the first village we are welcomed by the
president of the women's self-help group who rushes to greet us with
flowers for our hair and a mark for our foreheads, she radiates joy
and goodwill. We are enjoying gradually feeling an easy sense of
togetherness as the women gradually arrive from preparing the midday
food for the men in the field, a man retired from the army arrives to
interpret for us. The president of the farmers' club is also there to
exchange with us. The interpreter is clearly pro-development yet i
feel he is doing his best to translate faithfully... for instance i
want to ask the women how they feel about television and at first he
replies on their behalf saying it is useful for education though there
are some bad things also, but when i insist he ask them for their own
replies a number of women immediately reply & he tells us that they
feel it is bad. This day Manoj arrived in the midst of this meeting -
he has been instrumental in setting up these groups over the past 15
years and is well-appreciated everywhere we go... yet we felt how the
energy changed from this moment, the group dynamic becoming more
directed/dependant and less spontaneous. How to ally a strong natural
charisma with group empowerment?
Whilst lunch is being prepared for us in the first village, Manoj
takes us to visit another nearby village where to my great discomfort
i hear that they have been waiting for us for 3 hours... there are
about 15 women and 5 or 6 men - farmers who have left their rice
harvesting to exchange with us, i am distressed at this abuse of their
time, and touched by their dignity and humility in receiving us. The
exchange with the groups is less fluid and open than in previous
experiences - the presidents of each group replying on behalf of all,
except when i ask repeatedly for others' views. To the question of
what they hope for the future the answer is unanimous and
enthusiastic: to stay in the village. The farmers express the benefits
of solidarity for asking for correct prices for their produce and for
dealing with bureaucracy, they emphasise that the village is fully
supplied from local produce and surplus is sold. On asking the
farmers what they hope for their children, the president replies
'education' but i feel a kind of weight in this reply, as if it 'must
be the right answer'... i ask him how he feels this will benefit the
children, in view of the fact of wanting to stay in the village? He
mentions agricultural training... and i ask if he has yet met an
educated agricultural expert who knew how to farm? There is some
understanding laughter...
The farmers take us to see their village pond where collectively they
produce fish to supply the village and have some to sell. As we
return i feel the man's emotion as he indicates the beauty of the
jungle and mountains rising just the other side of the pond. He tells
us there are elephants and 'lions' (tigers? jaguars?) in the forest.
We felt richly blessed by the encounters of that day.
Yet my heart is increasingly heavy at the contradiction in the
insistence on academic education and the money-dependent systems &
beliefs brought in by 'development-missionary activity'. i hear
people using Gandhi's name & the names of his key concepts whilst
promoting (unawares?) the very rat-race values which are destroying
the farmers and emptying the villages.
Day to day life
That night as we were preparing for bed we heard Kobita's anxious
voice calling to us and looked out to find that she was warning us of
the presence in the courtyard of a small but highly poisonous snake.
Sebastien found a stick to encourage the snake to return to the small
hole by which we thought it had entered, but Kobita had called someone
on the 'phone and he took the stick and beat the creature to death...
sick at heart (though understanding the very natural fear behind this
act) we returned to our room and sang a little to ease our hearts
before finding sleep.
Another day as Kobita and i leave to go on a village visit, i am
closing the gate when i see a similar kind of snake coiling around the
wrought iron of the gate... i would like to get it to move away from
us dangerous humans, Kobita is afraid and calls to the men standing in
the yard, i am inwardly praying and asking the snake to move to cover,
i move my bike and as the men arrive with a huge stick, it slides away
just in the nick of time - i think and hope as we cycle away.
Manoj introduces us to the Brahma Kumaris centre, where he is a
faithful attender - the centre has an important presence in Banpur.
The resident devotees exude a simple and radiant kindness and we find
the centre is a haven of peace in the heart of this small town teeming
with life. We are invited to attend the day-long celebrations on the
75th anniversary of the death of the founder of the movement... during
which they provide a cooked meal to about 1,500 people. It touches me
to see so many different people from all walks of life sitting
together under leafy trees in the the courtyard sharing a delicious
meal cooked and served by the devotees.
Bicycles have been provided for us and i think we are gradually
becoming a familiar sight as we wend our way among the people, cattle,
vehicles (mostly 2 wheelers)... i no longer hear the word 'foreigner'
peppering the flow of ooriya as we pass. As in other places, any time
we look as if we are needing help someone will often step forward and
offer assistance. Quite often people express the desire to talk to us
but the language barriers allow only exchanges of smiles and kindly
looks.
Last Sunday we were invited to Manoj's family home where his wife
Sunita prepared a beautifully cooked meal for us, delicately set out
on a fresh banana leaf. The custom here is to not to eat with but to
watch over and serve the guests... i think my ineptitude in eating
with my fingers causes some amusement at times, certainly i feel like
a little child just learning to eat!
I love the way people here always ask 'How are you feeling?..' and
never "What do you think about...?"
Chilika Lake
The next day Manoj takes us on his scooter to visit Chilika Lake about
5 km away - we have been reading the official reports which give a
very different account of this eco-system and its management from the
one we had received earlier (see above). I look on internet and find
that the Chilika Development Authority version hugely dominates -
including on Wikipedia... but on p.14 of the search results i find an
article by Conservation & Society*** which gives a very full story
corresponding to what the Ekta Parishad activist had told us from his
connections with local fisher-folk.
With Manoj we see the fishing harbour nearest to Banpur with the
traditional wooden fishing boats, increasingly obliged to have an
outboard motor as the ecological disturbances mean that they have to
go far out to begin fishing. All along one shore there is a
Bangladeshi refugee village with beautiful traditionally built houses
in mud with thatched roofs, reminding us rather of our own home...
friendly smiles and waves as we pass.
With love to all,
kate
11th December, 2011
Today in accordance with tradition most people are fasting due to the eclipse of the moon, which i am looking forward to watching tonight.
* http://www.3kone.blogspot.com/ mostly in Hindi but some in english re
education, politics (also go through all the sites to the very
beginning to find one called 'New Path')
** http://www.saltandlight2012/ (so far i have just looked at the booklet in
'study materials')
*** The Deepest Cut: Political Ecology in the ... - Conservation and
Society by E Dujovny - 2009 (i find in this paper much that is
allegorical of what i am experiencing here at the school, and more
generally of the problems of our times)
facebook link
(Sebastien a publie un nouveau texte sur le blog en francais
http://www.marchedoucementsurlaterre.blogspot.com/
ici c'est kate qui ecrit:)
Seeds
Just before leaving Auroville, we discovered Pebble Garden on its very
outskirts... a small agricultural project (just down the road from
Sadhana Forest) where Deepika and Bernard (he is originally from
Belgium) settled i think about 20 yrs ago, and where they have
reforested a few acres of former desert. I am impressed as Bernard
shows us how planting australian acacias and working in symbiosis with
termites has allowed the land to come back to life in only a few
years... i am so happy to hear such redeeming news for these little
creatures so often hated by man.
In the garden area Bernard & Deepika produce seeds, which Deepika
takes to farm fairs distributing them freely to those who want - they
live very simply, expenditures being defined by donations received.
We are very touched by the quality of their work, the love and beauty
emanating from their garden and their presence - the simplicity of
their gift to the world at large feels so true to me - working in
harmony with the creation through deep listening and observation,
sharing its gifts with others.
Kommedu, Tamil Nadu
On the 12th November we finally reach the family home of our friends
from Nantes, Richard & Marienbaz. The village of Kommedu is only a
few hours bus ride from Auroville, how refreshing to find ourselves in
the open countryside again. Richard's dad, Diviaraj, is a farmer - he
has enough english for us to be able to understand as he shows us his
crops, talking to us about farming and the increading pressures being
faced. He is well aware that these are world-wide problems and is
actively seeking ways forward with the people from his village.
Richard's mum, Nambikai, feeds us generously with her beautifully
cooked food and the language of the heart allows us to enjoy each
other's company. We speak on the 'phone to Richard's brother George
who is a priest working in a very poor village 6 or 7 hrs bus ride to
the south... he would very much like us to visit and we feel torn
between this possibility and our intention to rejoin Ekta Parishad -
now 6 or 7 hrs bus ride to the north.
The next day is Sunday and prayers can be heard over the loud speakers
throughout the village from early in the morning. We attend the mass
in the village church - so light, airy and colourful, simple frescos
reflect for me the warmth and richness of life here. A smooth white
floor with the men standing or sitting on the left side, and the women
in a glorious array of saris on the right. All is in tamil, but i can
recognise the form of the mass and the sign of peace to each other is
in the usual indian form of hands folded in salutation. i imagine a
past day when Richard and Marienbaz' wedding was celebrated here and
feel happy to have this little share in our friends' lives. I feel
the warmth and love in peoples eyes when they speak of the connection,
and a kind of fierceness in my heart at the awesome distances in so
many families coming with modernism.
Everywhere i see the incursion of modern lifestyle into traditional
culture - sometimes brutally: people forced off their land for
profit-making by the already rich; sometimes insidiously: throughout
Tamil Nadu free televisions have been distributed to all. i find the
programmes starkly contrasting with India's ancient culture based on
spiritual values - Will people withstand this dripfeed in their homes
of rank consumerist 'values': creation of desires, promotion of
violence and speed, the whole with ruthless use of sexuality and flash
publicity?
A woman collects water from the irrigation outlet and Diviaraj
explains to me that she will take it to Chennai to sell as drinking
water... i am troubled to think that individuals are reduced to
selling each other freely received basic life resources in order to
survive. A week later on a train journey we buy water and find it is
produced by the Coca-cola company - an important actor in the
depletion of water resources available to farmers. In the context of
such a vicious cycle, i would have preferred to buy the village
woman's water...
Diviaraj tells us that there is no spirit of competition between
villagers, yet neither of co-operation. People are kindly and
neighbourly to one another, with each one expecting to stand on his
own two feet. He takes us to meet farmers in the next village and i
am touched by the sweetness, the gentleness of these men as they show
us their crops and share their methods of cultivation. Even as i
write this 3 weeks later i feel tears arising as i think of the
dangers facing such true culture...
On the road back to Nambikai & Diviaraj's house we meet 2 young
village men one a sports teacher, the other, a farmer's son, doing a
masters degree in maths at Chennai. With the delightful kind of
candour i have found commonplace in India he tells us that though he
would ultimately want to live here in the countryside, where all is
peace and beauty and the food so good, he is choosing to study in
Chennai for the prestige it will bring him, and because he wants
things and experiences of his own. We share about our own choices to
return to the land and he expresses his pleasure on hearing for the
first time about a love of nature thus lived.
A village child Jaya Chandran (age 10ish) comes to the house, and i
love the way i have seen children in villages respectfully integrated
into common activities, whether it be work or conversation. Jaya
Chandran is keen at school at uses the opportunity to practise his few
english words and sentences with us. He takes us to see a temple to
Shiva & Parvati hewn out of the rocky hillside nearby. We make the
most of the resonnance and sing a few songs before enjoying the quiet
1/2 hr walk back to the village.
The next day, Monday 14th November, we are still unsure whether to go
south or north and have experienced problems in trying to connect with
Ekta - finally we get through to Rajagopal and decide with him to go
to Bangalore and redefine with him there when the yatra arrives on
Friday.
Bangalore, Karnattaka
A six hour bus journey to Bangalore, with a 'run & jump on' change at
Thirvannamalai. The buses are crowded but we have seats and i am next
to a young muslim couple - Chandabasha & Bashira who is 8 months
pregnant and feeling ill. I am touched by the young husband's tender
care towards his wife... we manage to communicate with his few words
of english and mostly signs, exchanges of food. I worry about Bashira
as the journey sometimes takes on a fairground ride quality, when the
potholes throw us from our seats she stands to lessen the shock.
After the 15 minute lunch-pause most of the fit & able men get off the
bus to push for a bump-start... i am amused to think of the reactions
one might get in France or Jersey if passengers were requested to help
get the bus back on the move! My present understanding is that we
have a tendency in Europe to set up systems and then feel we must
conform to them, whereas here the human being reigns supreme in regard
to systems but feels he must conform to social codes.
It is dark when we arrive around 6pm & find a small hotel, and
internet nearby. It is my daughter Vivianne's birthday and i make a
further (unsuccessful) attempt to use skype... a few days later i
manage to use this method to 'phone her on her mobile in Egypt.
Perhaps i will learn how to connect skype to skype, but the
technological challenges are still there for me... not helped by
frequent power cuts & varied availability of functioning equipment.
The weather in Bangalore is significantly fresher, much less humid -
no mosquitoes!
The next day we are pleased to discover that the Gandhi Bhavan ashram
is within easy walking distance... there is a kind of orphanage (most
of the children have only one parent), some organic gardening, a
book-shop/publisher, library, reading room and centre for meetings,
with various rooms also made freely available to related projects such
as yoga practise, naturopathy... As we are leaving the centre we meet
the naturopathist, Lakshmi 83 years old, she greets us with the most
beautiful, clear gaze i have ever seen. She has just enough english
to explain to us that she met Gandhi, showing us her rooms, her
artwork and a photo of her husband with Gandhi. Each morning at 5am
she offers a yoga class - and rising from the floor without using her
hands, demonstrates to us her suppleness... i feel so moved by the
purity of her lifestyle radiating a joyful devotion.
Sebastien goes to the mosque and meets muslims nearby in a small shop
selling lassi (fermented milk). Zafirullah speaks english. Another
day Sebastien takes me there and my presence (not conforming to
expectations of a muslim wife) generates intense talk around me/Islam,
later moving on to european economics. Zafirullah ever remains gentle
and courteous, yet I feel how complicated life gets when we move away
from the soil, the earth... our life as creatures all issuing from the
same Life-source.
On the 16th we return to Gandhi Bhavan with information about Ekta...
and there meet Siddarth Sharma, part of the ashram & secretary of the
Gandhi Peace Foundation at Bangalore (he also manages the publishing
company based here). We are delighted to hear that he is a friend of
Rajagopal and is in close communication. Siddarth speaks fluent
english, his wife grew up at Auroville, and their lives are given to
this gandhian work. This time spent sharing and later looking on
Siddarth's blog* is a real oasis-time for me.
In these few days of waiting in Bangalore we visit the Gandhi centre
each day, study some books we have obtained there, begin to learn
hindi (though here Kannada is spoken), make the most of easy internet
access to catch up on Ekta and Quaker** affairs via the websites. A
time of nourishment and refreshment in the midst of the noisy city. I
have been surprised to discover that i find indian cities much more
bearable than european ones... perhaps because i feel here that the
vibrant human energy dominates that of the concrete, tar & machines.
Neverthless, i am very glad to be spending most of the time in the
country and still avoid the cities & towns as much as possible!!
Meeting with Ekta again
Friday 18th November 5pm we await the arrival of the jeep-yatra at
Gandhi Bhavan, and get in conversation with a couple - he is a lawyer
in conveyancing (my job in a former life!). They have visited Europe
as tourists and were deeply impressed by the green beauty of our
lands. I find these people so sweet and humble, yet i am sad to feel
this kind of gap as they express admiration and gratitude for the
simplicity of our lives whilst saying that they cannot envisage such
for themselves... sometimes i wonder if it is better to avoid saying
more than is absolutely required about ourselves (?)
About 50 people come to listen to Rajagopal and other speakers on land
reform. All speak in english as Rajiji does not speak Kannada
fluently, and locals don't sufficiently understand hindi. I am sad
for Lakshmi, and wonder how many others will have missed so much of
what is said. Rajagopal is introduced as 'working for a lost cause'
and this without negativity... and i understand that there is great
clarity in the trueness of the action, without attachment to results.
Rajagopal speaks to us of agriculture as the backbone of the country,
that there are forces at work to break the backbone. What they are
seeing 'on the ground' is very troubling - he gives the example of a
woman being fined 200 rupees (day's wage of a skilled worker) for
using a field near her home for toilet needs; the designated field
being further away and she having tummy problems. Many villages have
no place for the dalit people to bury their dead. The Land reform
council (agreed after the 2007 action as seen in the film 'March of
the Despised') has not found time to meet, Rajagopal has sent a
request for a meeting to the government each month since 2007, yet
they are finding time to fast-track laws facilitating land sales to
multinationals and for profit-led government projects. He asks 'What
is happening to Gandhi's talisman?' (to ask ourselves before any
undertaking 'how is this going to benefit the poorest person?') - and
challenges those of us within gandhian groups to be asking ourselves
this question.
A politics of displacement is at work (called 'development' by the
government). First the adivasis (tribal people), then the farmers.
92,000 villages have already been eliminated from the indian
landscape. 200,000 were displaced for the Commonwealth Games.
Rajagopal is proposing 3 points of action:
1. Undo the mistakes: revisit the Acts which have taken away the land,
undermining any possibility of land reform.
2. Implementation of laws/structures already in place for land rights.
3. Development of policy & framework for land reform.
He ended by speaking of his belief in the power of the poor as they
mobilise; the power of young people; the power of active non-violence
and the power of solidarity - inviting us not to debate ideologies,
rather to join hands to act together.
Another speaker said he believed that no person should be without
land, it is the basic means of livelihood. (Even in India there is
enough land for everyone to have a liveable area if it was shared out
more fairly). Yet another speaker, an elderly man, told of the
degradation of agriculture as cows disappear from the countryside to
be replaced by tractors which begin to devalue as soon as they are
bought, create dependance on oil and poison the air... whilst cows
enrich the land feeding both farmer and land. He warned against the
direction for agriculture of ever greater dependence on industry:
seeds, chemical fertilizers & remedies, machinery.
He spoke with clarity and feeling and his words resonnated for me with
what i had read earlier on the quaker website: we rely on pollution to
create wealth.
Another phrase which struck me on the website was 'escaping the trap
of conformity to culture' - i am feeling quite strongly the trap of
western culture which i see strongly associating individualism with
freedom; and noticing the trap here in India of a culture which i see
placing a particularly high value on prestige (associated with
worthiness?).
After the meeting we meet briefly with Rajiji, as always so warm,
affectionate and full of care for others. I feel some concern for
him, not so young, giving every last drop... this evening after a long
day,his attention is for us as he suggests we consider going for a
longish period to a school in Odisha where they would like to
implement Gandhi's 'new education'. We are to think it over & let him
know tomorrow when we meet at the main rally. He also offers us the
possibility of spending 1 or 2 days with the yatra, but they will be
going in the opposite direction, whereas we can get a direct train
from Bangalore to Odisha...
Rally at Bangalore
Next morning we gather at Freedom Park - the site of a former prison
built under british rule, now celebrating freedom and offering an
officially approved place outside the front gates for
demonstrations/public meetings. There is and entry fee for those
wanting to go inside the park and the list of 'forbiddens' even for
the outer grassy area is impressive: including forbidden to play, eat
food or to sit on the grass.
About 300 people, mostly women from the local land-rights movement,
gather and after a while we set off in 2 rows of 'indian file' walking
for about an hour in the administrative heart of Bangalore, ending up
in a big meeting under a colourful canopy where we listen to an number
of speakers - all bar Rajiji speaking in Kannada so we don't
understand much but pick up a lot from the atmosphere. There are more
women than men speakers, and once again i am impressed by the natural
authority displayed by the women here.
After the meeting the Ekta people gather in a circle to which we are
invited with a few others. Rajagopal and others especially the
National Convenor for slum-dwellers (one of the women speakers)
discuss the political situation and we are impressed with the depth
and detail of their knowledge.
Going east.. to Odisha
We have decided to take up Rajagopal's suggestion to go to Mother
Theresa Seva Pratisthan (MTSP) in Odisha. I am hoping to have
opportunities to learn more about education from the heart... but know
it will be challenging for me to be in school environment.
Rajiji has organised everything with people in Odisha to meet us and
make everything so smooth and welcoming for us. As he describes the
project in a little more detail i feel quite emotional making
connections in my mind with the teaching sisters in our home village,
and the desires for alternative education amongst neighbouring
families - two of which are now home-educating.
We hear also that Rajiji lived in the area where we will be for a year
about 20 years ago when he was working with tribal people. And that
we can be useful in the school at MTSP where the people are
well-meaning but lacking know-how. I feel somewhat overcome by the
trust he is placing in us.
We take a sleeper for the 31 hr journey and are met at the train by
Bijoy, Ekta activist responsible for the work in this state. He is
evidently very busy yet gives us a good deal of his time to make sure
we are o.k. and to plan our overall stay. We meet other activists
passing through including one who works with the fisher-folk of
Chilika Lake, a world heritage site now damaged by government
intervention disrupting the ecosystem and causing massive
unemployment/displacement to traditional fisher-folk, i am aghast as i
hear this story of greed once again blinding the 'powers that be' to
the beauty and balance of the creation...
The 2nd man is working 300km away in the jungle with tribal people...
I find his way of speaking about the issues powerful, intelligent,
practical and courteous ...he invites us to visit, mentioning organic
farm produce marketed and eco-tourism which mean that the people are
used to managing contact with civilisation.
Mother Theresa Seva Pratisthan, Banpur
Monday 21st November. The bus to Banpur takes 3+ hrs, packed like
sardines. Fortunately the potholes are less dramatic than in Tamil
Nadu! The atmosphere is warm, friendly as we communicate with eye
contact, signs, smiles, and swap seats from time to time to
accommodate women with small children/an elderly man... the language
here is ooriya with people often knowing some hindi, but rarely
english.
Manoj meets us off the bus - he is the director of the school project
which also runs educational, social & health development work in
surrounding villages. Manoj leads the way with his scooter and we
follow in the auto-rickshaw which usually does the school runs.
Within a few minutes we are at the school, Manoj shows us a room newly
prepared for us with all modern facilities. The school is built on
about one acre of land with papaya and banana trees some vebetable
garden a lovely banyan at one end and at the other, covering about a
third of the area the school buildings in cement-rendered bricks -
square classrooms with bars across the windows, blackboard paint all
around the lower part of the walls on 3 sides and covering most of the
wall where the teacher stands (or sits at a small 'gandhi table').
Night has fallen and in the darkness we meet Luttu and Kobita two
activists based here and working in local villages (Kobita also does
the vegetable gardening here). Manoj speaks to us of the activity and
vocational basis of the school, including environmental studies and
health education. The school is attended by about 75 children aged 3
-7 years. It is hoped to accompany these children through to their
secondary education. Manoj , who also teaches political science in a
local secondary school, works here on a purely voluntary basis but has
6 paid teachers working at the school as well as 2 assistants and a
clerk, with different people coming in to offer particular skills...
music, yoga.
The following day we are shocked to experience the reality... At 7 am
the children arrive in their green & white gym slip or shorts & shirts
reminiscent of 1950's british school uniforms complete with ties for
everyone and white socks with often ill-fitting plastic shoes. They
form 4 lines during the 1/2 hr of assembly in the yard. The biggest
classes are in the younger age groups and the teachers are vigilant in
keeping everyone in line throughout. 3 or 4 children stand in front
leading the assembly, including calling for standing at ease, then to
attention at the beginning and again at the end (before orderly filing
into each classroom). Nearly all the activity we have seen so far is
very classroom-centred, formal, teacher directed, using blackboard and
copying/repetition methods. These young children are learning to read
and write in 3 languages (ooriya, english & hindi) with significant
amounts of sanskrit learned by heart.
The teachers clearly have a very motherly attitude towards the
children and i can feel their loving intentions... yet sticks are used
to keep discipline and i feel anguish for everyone caught in this
impossibility (it seems to me) of reconciling an ideal of non-violence
with a form designed to promote obedience and conformity through
emulation, rather than autonomy and creativity.
That morning we speak to Rajiji on the 'phone and i am able to say
that i have taken some measure of the situation he had so briefly
described... he mentions the very dangerous current trends of
education in India, and the possibility of going towards life-centred
education such as that put forward by Rudolf Steiner.
Over the following week we oscillate between despair, wondering if we
will be able to continue in this environment, and a desire to answer
to the enthusiastic welcome of any input we'd like to offer. Manoj is
very supportive, spending large amounts of time with us each day,
checking in with how we are feeling and generously offering help with
even our smallest needs. I feel that he has many personal qualities
so helpful in managing a school - being open, generous, loving,
attentive - yet in the society at large i am feeling such a strong
cultural enjoyment of hierarchy and prestige creating resistance
(non-comprehension?) of forms based on equality in relationship. How
to reconcile this with Gandhi who taught that all are equal -
including children? In a Gandhian school what is the place of a young
woman who is mainly occupied with cleaning up after others? Gandhi
suggested that the children should take care of their own environment
and even produce things to sell for self-funding of the school.
On the 6th day, Sunday, at our request a staff meeting was held -
everyone apart from the accounts clerk came - we began by requesting
removal of the desks behind which the 'important people' - including
us, should sit, and proposed a circle dance to get us in the mood...
then we sat and using a coconut as a 'talking stick' shared around the
3 questions what i like about being part of this school, what is
challenging, and what i would like to see happen/develop. Manoj
translates throughout. After some initial hesitation things get going
and some challenging issues and questions are raised, especially
asking for alternatives to force... Strong beliefs are expressed - in
the need to control children; in the role of the teacher to fill the
'empty slate' of a child's mind, to mould & make him or her. Fears
also, especially of parents disapproval.
Being in the circle helps me not to react to what i hear, and when my
turn comes i am able to express myself and feel heard.
After the meeting i feel there is more space and light all around and
relationships clearer, though i did notice that one person looked
bored or fed-up towards the end.
In the afternoon we decide to go for 'a quiet walk' but only get a few
hundred yards to the next small village where we are immediately drawn
in to be welcomed, offered juice and RadhaKrishna, an english-speaking
person is called... he is also a secondary school teacher and is very
keen to improve sanitary conditions in the village. We are delighted
to share the possibilities of compost toilets with him as a completely
viable and economic way forward to which he is very open (although
Manoj had felt that this was culturally impossible). He asks
Sebastien to draw plans and hopes to get his students to make models
for a science fair. This encounter is a breath of fresh air for me,
always troubled by the incoherence i see in talk of 'development,
environmental & health awareness' allied to flush toilets - which seem
to me to be one of the most stupefyingly harmful of modern inventions.
(I use the word 'stupefying' consciously, thinking of the 'out of
sight, out of mind' effect which seems to prevent us from being able
to think responsibly).
Night has fallen and RadhaKrishna brings us back on his motor-bike, my
first go at riding side-saddle behind the 2 men - rather pleasant!
Monday, 5th December: Although we have danced with some of the
children in the morning, by the evening we are asking ourselves how we
can live in this context of 'training' children in a kind of
'blockhaus' environment. We are relieved to hear that the
head-teacher, Namita-Mali, whose manner with the children is generally
gentle, open and loving, has decided to give up using the stick, apart
from for pointing at the blackboard... and think/hope that the others
will follow her lead.
Self-help groups/farmers' clubs
That afternoon we cycle through open countryside to a village about 6
km away where Kobita works with the women's self-help groups and a
farmers' club. The rice harvest is in full swing and the men are all
very busy in the fields. In front of a number of houses there is rice
drying in the sun. Along the roadsides neatly moulded lumps of cow
dung are set out in perfect checker-board squares to dry for cooking
fuel. How good to feel the calm, orderly pace of real village life,
to see the brightness in people's faces. To sense their deep
appreciation of their peaceful and beautiful surroundings.
We meet a farmer who speaks a little english and shows us his farm &
forge. He shows us the threshing floor for the rice and explains how
he works with bullocks and keeps cows. On entering his house, the
first part is occupied by 2 young bullocks. Like so many village men,
he spent some years in Iraq when he was younger... With sometimes more
than half of the men in a village having left to find work abroad, the
women's self-help groups are vital. The women co-operate for economic
survival with micro-industries such as making leaf-plates, incense
sticks, keeping poultry, goats, cooking school meals... and also to
improve social conditions by local co-operation rather than outside
authority - for example with implementation of anti-dowry laws.
During our stay here we have now visited about 6 or 7 such groups with
Kobita and I am impressed by the simplicity, intelligence and respect
with which she offers support to these groups - the practical side is
mainly in helping them to keep their minute & account books in order.
Most recently we visited 3 villages just on the edge of the jungle
about 5 km from here. In the first village we are welcomed by the
president of the women's self-help group who rushes to greet us with
flowers for our hair and a mark for our foreheads, she radiates joy
and goodwill. We are enjoying gradually feeling an easy sense of
togetherness as the women gradually arrive from preparing the midday
food for the men in the field, a man retired from the army arrives to
interpret for us. The president of the farmers' club is also there to
exchange with us. The interpreter is clearly pro-development yet i
feel he is doing his best to translate faithfully... for instance i
want to ask the women how they feel about television and at first he
replies on their behalf saying it is useful for education though there
are some bad things also, but when i insist he ask them for their own
replies a number of women immediately reply & he tells us that they
feel it is bad. This day Manoj arrived in the midst of this meeting -
he has been instrumental in setting up these groups over the past 15
years and is well-appreciated everywhere we go... yet we felt how the
energy changed from this moment, the group dynamic becoming more
directed/dependant and less spontaneous. How to ally a strong natural
charisma with group empowerment?
Whilst lunch is being prepared for us in the first village, Manoj
takes us to visit another nearby village where to my great discomfort
i hear that they have been waiting for us for 3 hours... there are
about 15 women and 5 or 6 men - farmers who have left their rice
harvesting to exchange with us, i am distressed at this abuse of their
time, and touched by their dignity and humility in receiving us. The
exchange with the groups is less fluid and open than in previous
experiences - the presidents of each group replying on behalf of all,
except when i ask repeatedly for others' views. To the question of
what they hope for the future the answer is unanimous and
enthusiastic: to stay in the village. The farmers express the benefits
of solidarity for asking for correct prices for their produce and for
dealing with bureaucracy, they emphasise that the village is fully
supplied from local produce and surplus is sold. On asking the
farmers what they hope for their children, the president replies
'education' but i feel a kind of weight in this reply, as if it 'must
be the right answer'... i ask him how he feels this will benefit the
children, in view of the fact of wanting to stay in the village? He
mentions agricultural training... and i ask if he has yet met an
educated agricultural expert who knew how to farm? There is some
understanding laughter...
The farmers take us to see their village pond where collectively they
produce fish to supply the village and have some to sell. As we
return i feel the man's emotion as he indicates the beauty of the
jungle and mountains rising just the other side of the pond. He tells
us there are elephants and 'lions' (tigers? jaguars?) in the forest.
We felt richly blessed by the encounters of that day.
Yet my heart is increasingly heavy at the contradiction in the
insistence on academic education and the money-dependent systems &
beliefs brought in by 'development-missionary activity'. i hear
people using Gandhi's name & the names of his key concepts whilst
promoting (unawares?) the very rat-race values which are destroying
the farmers and emptying the villages.
Day to day life
That night as we were preparing for bed we heard Kobita's anxious
voice calling to us and looked out to find that she was warning us of
the presence in the courtyard of a small but highly poisonous snake.
Sebastien found a stick to encourage the snake to return to the small
hole by which we thought it had entered, but Kobita had called someone
on the 'phone and he took the stick and beat the creature to death...
sick at heart (though understanding the very natural fear behind this
act) we returned to our room and sang a little to ease our hearts
before finding sleep.
Another day as Kobita and i leave to go on a village visit, i am
closing the gate when i see a similar kind of snake coiling around the
wrought iron of the gate... i would like to get it to move away from
us dangerous humans, Kobita is afraid and calls to the men standing in
the yard, i am inwardly praying and asking the snake to move to cover,
i move my bike and as the men arrive with a huge stick, it slides away
just in the nick of time - i think and hope as we cycle away.
Manoj introduces us to the Brahma Kumaris centre, where he is a
faithful attender - the centre has an important presence in Banpur.
The resident devotees exude a simple and radiant kindness and we find
the centre is a haven of peace in the heart of this small town teeming
with life. We are invited to attend the day-long celebrations on the
75th anniversary of the death of the founder of the movement... during
which they provide a cooked meal to about 1,500 people. It touches me
to see so many different people from all walks of life sitting
together under leafy trees in the the courtyard sharing a delicious
meal cooked and served by the devotees.
Bicycles have been provided for us and i think we are gradually
becoming a familiar sight as we wend our way among the people, cattle,
vehicles (mostly 2 wheelers)... i no longer hear the word 'foreigner'
peppering the flow of ooriya as we pass. As in other places, any time
we look as if we are needing help someone will often step forward and
offer assistance. Quite often people express the desire to talk to us
but the language barriers allow only exchanges of smiles and kindly
looks.
Last Sunday we were invited to Manoj's family home where his wife
Sunita prepared a beautifully cooked meal for us, delicately set out
on a fresh banana leaf. The custom here is to not to eat with but to
watch over and serve the guests... i think my ineptitude in eating
with my fingers causes some amusement at times, certainly i feel like
a little child just learning to eat!
I love the way people here always ask 'How are you feeling?..' and
never "What do you think about...?"
Chilika Lake
The next day Manoj takes us on his scooter to visit Chilika Lake about
5 km away - we have been reading the official reports which give a
very different account of this eco-system and its management from the
one we had received earlier (see above). I look on internet and find
that the Chilika Development Authority version hugely dominates -
including on Wikipedia... but on p.14 of the search results i find an
article by Conservation & Society*** which gives a very full story
corresponding to what the Ekta Parishad activist had told us from his
connections with local fisher-folk.
With Manoj we see the fishing harbour nearest to Banpur with the
traditional wooden fishing boats, increasingly obliged to have an
outboard motor as the ecological disturbances mean that they have to
go far out to begin fishing. All along one shore there is a
Bangladeshi refugee village with beautiful traditionally built houses
in mud with thatched roofs, reminding us rather of our own home...
friendly smiles and waves as we pass.
With love to all,
kate
11th December, 2011
Today in accordance with tradition most people are fasting due to the eclipse of the moon, which i am looking forward to watching tonight.
* http://www.3kone.blogspot.com/ mostly in Hindi but some in english re
education, politics (also go through all the sites to the very
beginning to find one called 'New Path')
** http://www.saltandlight2012/ (so far i have just looked at the booklet in
'study materials')
*** The Deepest Cut: Political Ecology in the ... - Conservation and
Society by E Dujovny - 2009 (i find in this paper much that is
allegorical of what i am experiencing here at the school, and more
generally of the problems of our times)
