|
|
Honey bee publish details |
| More
Information |
|
|
|
|
| Category |
Shodhyatra-33 |
|
|
| Title |
Courage, Creativity and Compassion |
|
|
| Abstract |
33rd Shodhyatra in Haryana Mahendragarh District 24th May to 31st May, 2014 |
|
|
| Details |
he culture of the region has emerged through an autonomous blend of traditions evolved in both Rajasthan and Haryana. One of the reasons for the fortitudinous spirit perhaps was the historical neglect this region received during the
years when it was a part of a combined Pepsu [Patiala and east Punjab state union] state. At that time, Himachal, Haryana and Punjab were part of common state.
Mahendragargh district was considered kala pani of the region. Whenever any officer had to be punished, this region was used as punishment posting. Naturally, we don’t just punish the officer or staff, but more importantly punish the people. Many areas which had big sand dunes have been completely transformed over the last four decades with the advent of sprinkler irrigation. Undoubtedly, the water table has gone down. Use of practically free electricity and sprinkler continously (even when these are not needed) has added to that problem. In the context of cultural traditions, we came across many outstanding old havelis and resting places [chhatris] either engraved in wood or painted in colour to add tremendous richness to the aesthetic landscape. Many of these old havelis were built by the baniya trading community, most of whom have left the villages. They would often visit their villages once in a year to celebrate certain festivals. Through such a landscape, we were reminded of a very warm hospitable culture which I had first experienced in the 70s. Another striking feature of the region was availability of drinking water at short distances so as to quench the thirst of people passing by in the hot summer. We have walked through at least 15 states during summer but at no place did we find so many unmanned watering points. In some of the places, people must have brought water from a long distance since they didn’t seem to be any source nearby. Memoryscapes emerge when commonly shared landscapes are endowed with memories of diverse cultures. For me, then a young researcher in the late seventies, it was a land of understanding contrasts of life. Why are people so hospitable to a stranger who can hardly reciprocate their kindness at all, may be ever? Why do people smile so often when the region suffers so many droughts and indifference from the state? I could now see that the spirit to sustain respect for elders without curbing youthful aspirations has only grown in the intervening years.
The Walk begins
The Shodhyatra began from Central University campus where the faculty and the students gave us a very warm reception. In the village of Jantpali, farmers shared their problems of the menace of blue bull which damaged their crops. Shodhyatris gave a small boooklet of practices excerpted from The Honey Bee Network database for the purpose based on the experiences of other creative communities around India. A biodiversity and recipe competition was organized among
the children. We were joined by
Hiralal Yadav at the university
who walked with us to Bhawana village. He had been cycling all around the country promoting conservation of biodiversity. The students had invited him to draw inspiration from his valiant effort.
In Bhawana village, we began our interactions through an on-the-spot idea competition among children. One of the remarkable ideas by Sachin, class seven, made us realise once again how children can be a significant source of overcoming persistent inertia in society. Many of us have observed that generally government schools have benches of uniform height. The result is that many shorter children cannot put their feet on the ground and there is no other resting rod or plate. Even while sitting on the desk, such children have to make an extra effort. Sachin suggested that we should make benches with adjustable height so that children can sit in comfort. Anjali suggested bucket with wheels and also a bag which could convert into a seat. In the biodiversity competition, 41 plants were reported with their uses by the winner among 36 kids who participated. Mangala Ram shared his knowledge about plants and their uses. Manju Devi brought raita made of hogweed leaves. She claimed that it helped in curing the anemia.
On the way to Talvana, some of the farmers accompanied us and showed us various fields. Kedarnath had practised organic agriculture for the last few years. Decanted water after soaking limestone in it was sprayed on the cotton crop to control the pests. The interactions with the farmers revealed that not many of them had really heard about Kedarnath’s experiences. After passing through Khedi village, we reached Agiar. Sudhir showed a mechanism on a two wheeler, which, if the stand is not lifted, the vehicle will not start and so avoids accidents. He had actually come from Riwari to showcase his improvement. Anita shared a problem which most of us have faced in our homes. When we have to clean the fans, we have to put a chair on the top of a table to be able to reach the ceiling fan. Even then it is not easy to clean the back side of the blades of fan. Anita suggested that fan should be so designed that one can bring them down when one has to clean them and raise them afterwards. Pawan Nath had listed many plants for their uses for animals, crops and human purposes. He didn’t want to share the list though he wouldn’t mind if we photographed it. On the way to Patheda village, we saw a lot of sprinklers being used even when there didn’t seem to be much need for water in the field. Almost free electricity had led to excessive use of water and of course, decline in the ground water.
Madhav Singh wanted to develop a weeder for cotton. He contacted Parmindar Singh, a local fabricator in Patheda village to design a mechanical solution. On our request, the fabricator brought the newly designed three wheel weeder which many other villagers hadn’t seen till then. This was the first local innovation that got our attention. In Gudha, among various ideas that were contributed by the children, one was about vehicles not starting till the driver puts the seat belt on. Another idea appreciated by the yatris was having a ticket checking sensor at the bus entrance to know who has bought a ticket and who hasn’t. Villagers recited folk songs in the night to help us appreciate the local culture better. We visited a government school in the morning where a lot of interesting ideas were shared. On the way to Chelabas, several people stopped us on the way and asked us about the purpose of about our walk. We saw many memorials for war heroes and also came across bird feeding platforms. Navratna Choudhary had never put chemical pesticides or fertiliser in his field. When he shared the way he made herbal pesticide, we asked the villagers as to whether they had ever used it. They hadn’t because they had not heard about it. And the reason seemed to be that there never was any discussion about it. We recalled how in the Gujarat to Rajasthan shodhyatra more than decade and a half ago, a similar situation had arisen. While talking to a teacher in a school we had asked if he knew about any local solution which actually worked very well. The teacher recalled how he met a person at a bus stand many years earlier. During the conversation he learned that for preventing termite attack, one could put ash of dried leaves of sagwan tree along with dried leaves in the pit while planting tree seedlings. He was trying to grow mango trees and they were dying soon after. He recalled his five year old casual conversation at bus stand. He contacted that old acquaintance, learned the practice, applied and saved his mango trees. But when asked, why had he not shared this with his class ever. He said, “a context for such a conversation never emerged so far till that day”.
Shodhyatris have also to reflect on the absence of such a context for local experiments and knowledge emerging in day to day life. After learning about his practice, many villagers showed interest in trying out his formulations. Jokingly many did say that they considered Navratna as a crazy person. After walking a few kilometres, we came across a house with a large courtyard amd some old ropes hanging on the wall. The look of the wall was like a modern art installation. Out of curiosity, we enetred that house and met two sisters married to two brothers. The quality of milk and other milk product improved when cattle was fed with unopened bolls of BT cotton, said Monika and her sister. This was contrary to the popular perception among many social activists opposing GM crops. Shodhyatris from Gujarat had a smile on their face, as if implying, did we not say that!
In Rambas, yatris met Jagat Singh a well-known herbal healer who is visited daily by 150-200 patients suffering from spinal cord problems. He treats them free of cost. Patients come from other states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, etc. Jagat Singh makes arrangements for their stay and food on his farm free of cost, until the treatment is completed. He is well known in the region for curing patients who could not be treated even by the well-known hospitals, despite patients having gone through various operations.
Why do we miss so many local solution providers all around us in our daily life? Why does our policy making system not draw upon insights of such creative people and communities more than it does at present? When will antipathies against local wisdom, insights and experimental ethics be overpowered in our bureaucracy? We will reflect on these questions in the second part of the shodhyatra report in the next issue, till then we hope to hear from the readers.
|
|
|
| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 25(2) 4-6 & 16, 2014 |
|
 
|
|
