It was kind of like a day of surprises
in a sense today. Firstly, we set up a program for the parishioners at the
Sunday Mass at St. Aloysius Sr. Secondary School. They didn’t know that we were
coming and all of them stayed after Mass to see what we had to say. It was
kinda cool to get a positive response like this. In almost all our programs,
they were organised beforehand and all the students and all knew we were gonna
put up something and they were prepared. But here, it was completely out of the
blue for them, and it was such a pleasant feeling to be received and
appreciated. (Smile)
Today was travel for almost the whole
day too. We stopped for lunch at some roadside dhaba and there were these fields behind it and after lunch Savita
and some of the girls went and got some branchlets of the plants growing there.
They had these green peanut-sized ‘fruits’ of sorts and we didn’t know what
they were. Then Savita cracked the soft green shell to reveal channas! They were nowhere near ripe yet
but without doubt, that’s what they were.. Green and tender, they tasted so
sweet! For so many of us, this was a new experience.. It really puts into
perspective how much you know and how much you think you know..
Continuing on, we passing all these fields
of our agricultural countryside and when you keep watching that for a while,
you sort of tune out of the age you’re living in. You forget momentarily about
technology, about a fast paced life, about deadlines, about corporate offices
and concrete jungles, about a lot of how we generally live life in the city. It’s
like you’re in a different world, where life is much more simple, it’s slower
and you feel you breathe a lot easier. Or more deeply, rather. It just felt
more peaceful.. When you’re looking at this from the outside in, it doesn’t look
remotely the same as when you’re actually there. I guess because when you’re
not actually there, all you had thought about this kind of a place was still
seen through city-life coloured glasses and all the perceptions that come with
it.
We stopped for tea somewhere on the way
to Bhopal in the evening and we noticed some people across the road and just
approached a bunch of them sitting around. We spoke to them about our program
and asked them what they felt about this situation in their area and what can
be done. They were quite open and welcoming to the lot of us that stopped and
just randomly came up to them and asked them stuff about them and their issues
that surround them. They even agreed to record the message and the Village Sarpanch happened to be there and very
willingly spoke in front of the camera. He spoke about stuff like there is lot
of corruption and if anything, any action is to be taken it should be by the
youth. They have the power to make that necessary change. They need to come
together and only when they are united can they do something. That unity in the
youth is very important. And he also spoke about how there is no difference in
ability between girls and boys. Girls are just as important, hardworking and
capable as boys and they should be considered no less. If we all supported this
belief instead of considering girls to be liabilities, denying them education
and an opportunity to work, we’d be a much much more prosperous nation. He told
us how much he appreciated our efforts and then gave us his blessing and best
wishes that our mission on this journey be successful.
It was cool in have this interaction
with the Sarpanch and the villagers.
It was truly understanding a part of India of which a lot of us haven’t had
much knowledge of, interaction with or much of an inclination to learn about.
Many of us have preconceived notions of what they would be like and don’t care
to budge from there. We hadn’t expected them to be so open minded, so
pro-growth for our country and so against corruption, a feeling we also held
very strongly. It really changed our perception of them.
After this, we’re all getting back on to
the bus and everyone who was standing there suddenly starts following us. They said
that they were very inspired and they kept offering to give us tea and even to
accommodate us for the night and be their guests for a few days. They wanted to
know more about the program and how they could join. They were just so taken by
these strangers from different parts of the country who came from out of
nowhere and in the short span of 10-15 minutes that they were there spoke such
positive things about how to make changes to help make our country a better
place. They even started following us on their bikes for a while once we left,
they were so enthused.
This
encounter with these people was different from any other that we’ve had. The
program we had in the morning may have been impromptu, but this one here, also
impromptu, in the middle of the villages with the true village folk had a
completely different feel to it altogether. This audience we’ve had less of,
and we didn’t know what kind of reaction to expect. But to see the way they
took to us was so encouraging and it really gave us a renewed energy to
continue on. John, in particular, was thrilled. This was beyond what he had
imagined for the trip and it really raised the smile on his face even more.
To more surprises.. And new
experiences.. How much there is to learn. Hai
na?
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