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SHODHYATRA 29 |
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A road that walks! 29thShodhYatra, May 23-30, 2012 – Part II |
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Continued from HB23(3)...
Walking through the forest, the shodhyatris noticed labourers drying and bundling tendu leaves used for making beedis.The contractor would buy a bundle of fifty leaves and pay Rs 75 for hundred bundles. A person could make a maximum of 60 bundles a day. The leaves had to be dried for two to three days before being bundled. The whole process had to be carried out in about eight to ten days in a year.
On the way from Sunkota to Bhadakoi, villagers told about a popular soyabean variety viz., Patel 85. Nobody knew the original source of the variety. There were two other varieties that farmers grew here viz., Atal and Sonia. The first one produced pink flowers while the latter had dark greyish flowers. After hearing beautiful songs from Shantilalji, the yatris learnt that Nayapura was a village free of liquor. The community shared various practices on health, food, and clothes. For instance, the extract of seeds of palash [Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub.] with neem [Azadirachta Indica] was reported to be effective against skin diseases like eczema. The seeds of lotus flower can help controlling diarrhoea. Several indicators of rain and other climatic factors were shared. One such insight was that when a chameleon’s neck turned black, rain was expected after two-three days. The number of times it moved its neck up and down per minute seemed to indicate the days after which rains might come.
In Lodadhi village, communities shared much knowledge involving use of clipped human nails, leaves of Vincarosia, basil, etc. In Gularpura, a recipe competition was organised in which several interesting recipes of local plants were shared. In the biodiversity competition, Vivek and Puja brought 30 and 18 plants respectively with their uses. In Panchor, we gave a small quiz to the children asking them to modify the design of a matchstick to make it last more. Quickly came the responses. Ajay suggested putting the powder on both sides of the stick and Jitendra suggested having a liquid phosphorous in a pot to soak the stick and dry it as many times as necessary. The response from the children was very encouraging. Ajay also suggested why we couldn’t have a moving road instead of the conventional means of transport. Ankit thought of a machine, which floats on water and clean it. He also suggested a remote controlled tractor. Notwithstanding their low economic conditions, the aspirations and imaginations of the children were not constrained.
After giving a knowledge register to the sarpanch, the yatris moved towards Bejala village. An unusual spectre was a dance by horses trained for the purpose. A farmer had purchased the horses and trained them to dance at various ceremonies. Some of the shodhyatris were discomforted with the idea of animals being made to perform in this manner. In Chanakaran, we met Prahalad Sharma who had developed a machine to separate husk and other impurities and clean the grains. In Sotia, a knowledge register was shared with a local teacher.
In the feedback session on the last day, yatris shared their reflections. Kantibhai used an interesting metaphor and said that many people were like Sahdev, who knew many things but shared only when asked. Some of the shodhyatris were overwhelmed by the fruits and other things they got from local communities with no expectation of reciprocity. The yatris noted instances where villagers acknowledged learning from their daughters-in-law, who brought new knowledge with them.
Dharamveer Kamboj was very popular, not only because of his machine, but also for his saga of struggle which touched many. Beginning his life as a rickshaw driver, how he moved ahead as the developer of the multi-purpose food processing machine inspired everybody. Many felt that the shodhyatra should be longer so as to spend more time with the people. Some volunteered for follow up and some offered to help in the organisation of a future shodhyatra.
On the way back, a colourful house reminded us that what we learnt was much less than what remained to be done. If many more shodhyatras are not organised in different parts of the country regularly, a lot of knowledge would get lost. The erosion of knowledge was never more rapid than in the current times. Time will tell if the shodhyatra stemmed some erosion, made a few embankments of empathetic boulders. Through the hard soil, hard times, soft hearts and timeless memories, the shodhyatra continues.
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| Volume No. |
Honey bee 23(4) & 24(1) 31-32, 2013 |
