Background - In Feb, 2008 ,when I was working at TCS,Mumbai , I had visited Ralegan Siddhi , the village of Anna Hazare. Anna was not so much in lime light those days and was known for his contribution towards upgrading the ecology and economy of his village of Ralegan Siddhi which
is located in the drought prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.
My journey
The purpose behind my visit to the village Ralegan Siddhi and meet Anna Hazare was to learn the lessons for life from village folks and to unlearn the complex theories that we were taught in institutes of higher levels. The village evolved from a poverty-stricken place to an epitome of rural prosperity. I wanted to see the village where no one takes alcohol, smokes bidi, cigarette etc.
After finishing my office work in morning shift, I started my journey from Thane, Mumbai in the afternoon of 19th Feb 2010. I reached Pune by around 8 pm and stayed at a friend's house. We chatted till late night as we were meeting after a gap of around two and half years. The next day morning, I came to Shivaji Nagar bus stop and caught a bus to Sirur.The journey time was around two hours. From Sirur I caught another bus towards Parner.The bus halted at Ralegan Siddhi at around 10 am. The travel time was around half an hour.
While walking towards the High School, I saw students cleaning and sweeping the garden in front of the school .They got to know that I had come from Thane and few were very excited as they also were from Thane and they stayed in the hostel beside the school.
Then I went to the Training Centre. I hardly knew anyone there. I entered my name in a register. I was shown the room where I had to stay.This was a small room with two beds.The window was big enough to ensure proper ventilation and sunlight. While walking towards my room, I saw Mango and tamarind trees laden with fruits. One can read sign boards that Rs .100 fine will be imposed on those who would try to steal fruits or flowers. We see such sign boards at many places but people steal but here no one dared to touch the fruits and to break the rules.
A co-worker of the training institute was sent along with me to guide me in my tour around the village. First I went to meet Anna Hazare. I met him near the school. There were many people waiting to discuss their problems with him ,so I just had a short talk with him and then I moved ahead to see the Media Centre. Here the village development work is well described by photographs and models. We could see the watershed development structures, village festivals, school activities, farm activities etc. We could also see the awards conferred on Anna, the CD and Book stall.
I went to the temple where Anna stayed. I did not see his room but I was told that Anna lived a very simple living. Anna chose to live in the village temple, so no one could blame him that he was doing all this for his selfish desire to support his family. He has not only remained unmarried but hardly met his own family members, so busy is he with the community.Anna has a much larger family than any other married person .All the villagers were his very own children.
I had lunch at the training centre. The food was simple and healthy. One had to serve himself and wash his own dishes, which were stainless steel thalis. I visited the watershed development structures with the guide. I walked around the village in the scorching sun but was hardly tired to stop moving ahead. Whenever I needed water, I stopped at any doorstep as seen in the photograph. Many houses were situated far way from each other as people had made there houses close to their fields. After walking for few kms, I had to climb a small hill. From here I could clearly see, that soil is dug on the hill at few meters interval so that rain water gets retained there instead of flowing down and washing away the soil. The motive behind all structures was to prevent the soil from getting washed away. As water is retained in those pits, trees are planted in those areas to further restore the soil. Water flowing from top of hills is checked by small check dams at different levels to reduce the speed of flowing water so that soil is not washed away and the water percolates into the soil.
In the evening, while returning to the training center, I visited few families. All most all the families have jersey cows. This small village of around 2000 population produces around 5000 lts of milk daily. It is collected at a co-operative society in the village itself. I was talking to a girl Pramila, studying in class 10th. She wanted to accompany me to the training centre as I was coming alone. Her father did not permit her to come with me. I was surprised not to see any lady within the age of twenty to twenty-five. I was told that ladies are married off as soon as they complete 18 years. People were surprised to know that I had come alone all the way from Mumbai. To be very frank, many were surprised knowing about my trip and me.
I came back to the training centre. Here I talked with the coworkers. Vinod Thumbre told me that, in the early days, when Anna started cleaning up the village with a broomstick, people used to think he was mad. I met few Agricultural diploma students. They were being trained here for watershed management. I met few students from National Institute of Rural Development. They had come here for one month field work.
The next day morning, I got up at 5am by the music that is played every morning. After getting ready, I moved towards another end of the village which I had not seen the previous day. It was early morning around 6.30 am. I stopped at a house to see how they stored onion by tying them to the roof. I was offered milk by an old lady.I had milk in her house. Strangers are welcomed so warmly. Each and every house where I stopped, welcomed me with a smile. We hardly see such kind attitude in cities. I met a small boy who was in class 6th. I asked him to accompany me to the fields. He agreed happily. We saw maize, bajra, green gram onion and garlic fields. We even ate berries and tamarinds and green gram. While returning from the field, the mother of the boy gave him a big bundle of maize plant to take home and feed it to the cows. The bundle was so heavy that I was not able to lift it with both hands but this small boy could bring it home so easily. I realized that the village folk are physically very strong from childhood.
I went towards the School hostel. The Criteria of selection here was interesting to me: the more number of times a student has failed in a class, greater are the chances that he will be selected. This so because Annasaheb Hazare believes all kids have potential but do not get good teachers. Interestingly most of these failed students pass in 1st division later. Not only academically they excel , they grow into a rounded person. I saw students were engaged in many sports activities as it was a holiday. I learned from the teachers that sports was given due priority here. Some students were representing at national level. Debate and essay competitions were also routinely held. Students get up at 4.30 am and go around the village for jogging. Hundreds of students would be running in files but one could not hear anyone making noise. Most of the students from the village join the Army.
I had lunch along with the teachers and students of the hostel squatting on the floor. It was a very clean floor, spick and span. I saw the dome shaped houses which are made of very low cost. In the nursery, grafted plants of mango ,orange etc were planted and were sold later.
In the evening, I spoke with Dinesh Patil who is the Head Trainer. Hundreds of farmers and other people from different villages and other parts of India come here to learn about village development and watershed management. Dinesh Sir is highly intellectual and though he was not in good health, he spent sometime with me. We talked about RTI act, Anna's life and struggle.
The next day morning, I left Ralegan Siddhi for Mumbai. I reached Thane at around 3 pm and rushed to my office to work for afternoon shift. From this visit, I was pretty convinced that ordinary villagers could improve the social and economic condition of their villages. They needed inspiration and a little guidance to work together. If we could find one person in each village who was ready to sacrifice some time and effort to educate villagers about their rights, then I could clearly see India progressing ahead not only in terms of GDP but in terms of real growth in the living condition of the poorest.
To know more about Anna Hazare.Visit the sites -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hazare
http://www.annahazare.org/
My journey
The purpose behind my visit to the village Ralegan Siddhi and meet Anna Hazare was to learn the lessons for life from village folks and to unlearn the complex theories that we were taught in institutes of higher levels. The village evolved from a poverty-stricken place to an epitome of rural prosperity. I wanted to see the village where no one takes alcohol, smokes bidi, cigarette etc.
After finishing my office work in morning shift, I started my journey from Thane, Mumbai in the afternoon of 19th Feb 2010. I reached Pune by around 8 pm and stayed at a friend's house. We chatted till late night as we were meeting after a gap of around two and half years. The next day morning, I came to Shivaji Nagar bus stop and caught a bus to Sirur.The journey time was around two hours. From Sirur I caught another bus towards Parner.The bus halted at Ralegan Siddhi at around 10 am. The travel time was around half an hour.
While walking towards the High School, I saw students cleaning and sweeping the garden in front of the school .They got to know that I had come from Thane and few were very excited as they also were from Thane and they stayed in the hostel beside the school.
Then I went to the Training Centre. I hardly knew anyone there. I entered my name in a register. I was shown the room where I had to stay.This was a small room with two beds.The window was big enough to ensure proper ventilation and sunlight. While walking towards my room, I saw Mango and tamarind trees laden with fruits. One can read sign boards that Rs .100 fine will be imposed on those who would try to steal fruits or flowers. We see such sign boards at many places but people steal but here no one dared to touch the fruits and to break the rules.
A co-worker of the training institute was sent along with me to guide me in my tour around the village. First I went to meet Anna Hazare. I met him near the school. There were many people waiting to discuss their problems with him ,so I just had a short talk with him and then I moved ahead to see the Media Centre. Here the village development work is well described by photographs and models. We could see the watershed development structures, village festivals, school activities, farm activities etc. We could also see the awards conferred on Anna, the CD and Book stall.
I went to the temple where Anna stayed. I did not see his room but I was told that Anna lived a very simple living. Anna chose to live in the village temple, so no one could blame him that he was doing all this for his selfish desire to support his family. He has not only remained unmarried but hardly met his own family members, so busy is he with the community.Anna has a much larger family than any other married person .All the villagers were his very own children.
I had lunch at the training centre. The food was simple and healthy. One had to serve himself and wash his own dishes, which were stainless steel thalis. I visited the watershed development structures with the guide. I walked around the village in the scorching sun but was hardly tired to stop moving ahead. Whenever I needed water, I stopped at any doorstep as seen in the photograph. Many houses were situated far way from each other as people had made there houses close to their fields. After walking for few kms, I had to climb a small hill. From here I could clearly see, that soil is dug on the hill at few meters interval so that rain water gets retained there instead of flowing down and washing away the soil. The motive behind all structures was to prevent the soil from getting washed away. As water is retained in those pits, trees are planted in those areas to further restore the soil. Water flowing from top of hills is checked by small check dams at different levels to reduce the speed of flowing water so that soil is not washed away and the water percolates into the soil.
In the evening, while returning to the training center, I visited few families. All most all the families have jersey cows. This small village of around 2000 population produces around 5000 lts of milk daily. It is collected at a co-operative society in the village itself. I was talking to a girl Pramila, studying in class 10th. She wanted to accompany me to the training centre as I was coming alone. Her father did not permit her to come with me. I was surprised not to see any lady within the age of twenty to twenty-five. I was told that ladies are married off as soon as they complete 18 years. People were surprised to know that I had come alone all the way from Mumbai. To be very frank, many were surprised knowing about my trip and me.
I came back to the training centre. Here I talked with the coworkers. Vinod Thumbre told me that, in the early days, when Anna started cleaning up the village with a broomstick, people used to think he was mad. I met few Agricultural diploma students. They were being trained here for watershed management. I met few students from National Institute of Rural Development. They had come here for one month field work.
The next day morning, I got up at 5am by the music that is played every morning. After getting ready, I moved towards another end of the village which I had not seen the previous day. It was early morning around 6.30 am. I stopped at a house to see how they stored onion by tying them to the roof. I was offered milk by an old lady.I had milk in her house. Strangers are welcomed so warmly. Each and every house where I stopped, welcomed me with a smile. We hardly see such kind attitude in cities. I met a small boy who was in class 6th. I asked him to accompany me to the fields. He agreed happily. We saw maize, bajra, green gram onion and garlic fields. We even ate berries and tamarinds and green gram. While returning from the field, the mother of the boy gave him a big bundle of maize plant to take home and feed it to the cows. The bundle was so heavy that I was not able to lift it with both hands but this small boy could bring it home so easily. I realized that the village folk are physically very strong from childhood.
I went towards the School hostel. The Criteria of selection here was interesting to me: the more number of times a student has failed in a class, greater are the chances that he will be selected. This so because Annasaheb Hazare believes all kids have potential but do not get good teachers. Interestingly most of these failed students pass in 1st division later. Not only academically they excel , they grow into a rounded person. I saw students were engaged in many sports activities as it was a holiday. I learned from the teachers that sports was given due priority here. Some students were representing at national level. Debate and essay competitions were also routinely held. Students get up at 4.30 am and go around the village for jogging. Hundreds of students would be running in files but one could not hear anyone making noise. Most of the students from the village join the Army.
I had lunch along with the teachers and students of the hostel squatting on the floor. It was a very clean floor, spick and span. I saw the dome shaped houses which are made of very low cost. In the nursery, grafted plants of mango ,orange etc were planted and were sold later.
In the evening, I spoke with Dinesh Patil who is the Head Trainer. Hundreds of farmers and other people from different villages and other parts of India come here to learn about village development and watershed management. Dinesh Sir is highly intellectual and though he was not in good health, he spent sometime with me. We talked about RTI act, Anna's life and struggle.
The next day morning, I left Ralegan Siddhi for Mumbai. I reached Thane at around 3 pm and rushed to my office to work for afternoon shift. From this visit, I was pretty convinced that ordinary villagers could improve the social and economic condition of their villages. They needed inspiration and a little guidance to work together. If we could find one person in each village who was ready to sacrifice some time and effort to educate villagers about their rights, then I could clearly see India progressing ahead not only in terms of GDP but in terms of real growth in the living condition of the poorest.
To know more about Anna Hazare.Visit the sites -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hazare
http://www.annahazare.org/
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