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Honey bee publish details |
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19th Shodhyatra |
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Creativity Unconstrained: Walking through Chinars in Kashmir (Part-I) |
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Witnessing the blending of local knowledge and formal science
There were many Shodhyatris who were not sure as to what was in store for them in a region known for its maximum disturbances. Some had dropped out because of such an anxiety. But there were more than fifty farmers, artisans, professionals, students and others whose skepticism immediately vanished seeing the response of the people. A day before the actual start of the yatra, some of the Shodhyatris went to visit the Department of Applied Electronics, Srinagar University. Dr Bhatt, Head of the Department is assisting Mushtaq Ahmed Dar to improve the design of his innovation of a low cost tree climber and a walnut cracker.
The yatra began from Government Boys High School, Quazigund situated along side a river. A team of young students, farmers, professionals from Kreri village, mobilized by Zahoor and Mushtaq had organized the Shodhyatra. Yatris were reminded of the two journeys they were going to embark upon. In one, it was known where would everybody be on 27th June, when the yatra would end. But in the other, the inner yatra/journey, every fellow learner had to determine for him/herself as to where has he/she reached. The journey was important for every body given the anxiety in the rest of the country about the conditions in the region. But the trust Honey Bee Network, NIF and SRISTI had gained in the last few years and particularly in the last few months of preparatory work convinced the fellow walkers that the journey must go on, regardless of any other consideration.
Focussing on the ‘haves’ rather than “have nots”
The inaugural function at the Government Boys High School, Quazigund began with students expressing their concerns about the local region, its declining wild life, loss of forests and biodiversity, increasing pollution of water bodies and the indifference of new entrepreneurs towards the environment. While informally discussing with the local partners, Mr Hilal made a very interesting point about how to explore developmental opportunities in the region. He asked, “Why do we look at what Kashmir does not have? Why do we not focus on what we have in abundance, such as snow, stones, water, biodiversity etc”? He also had many queer ideas. “Can water be used for carrying communication waves, instead of relying on air interfered by mountains? Can snow be used to generate energy?” and so on…
On the way to the Gani Khan Memorial High School, Check, the yatris found a huge power line being laid out. It was said that 11,000 trees were cut for erecting the towers but compensatory afforestation was reportedly not made in the regions where the towers were being erected. Gully erosion was most rampant in the entire region. The yatris walked through these gullies, which stand witness to the tremendous soil erosion going on in this region. No watershed program seems to have been undertaken ever here.
The drought for several years in the region had drained the energy. The Agriculture Department had started rebuilding the infrastructure. A newly recruited team of Agricultural Department, Achhabal were the only field functionaries who welcomed the yatris and cared to meet them and share mutual learning. The Education Department had been very helpful in informing all the schools on the way and advising them to provide accommodation for the yatris in the schools. The missing panes from the schools windows seemed a rule rather than an exception. If this is the way we care for our children in a region so badly wounded and fractured by the events in the last two decades, nothing else remains to be said.
On the way from Shangas to Utrusoo, the only water driven mill for grinding wheat flour was seen. All along the way, there were a large number of streams and canals but in none could be seen a hydram or any other water based turbine or energy generating unit.
It was ironic that unlike the medical shops in plains where one could find at least 20-30 per cent Ayurvedic or Yunani medicines, the shops in Kashmir lacked the presence of any local or traditional medicines. In Doru, there was only one such shop. In the rest of the way, one did not find any.
Many young people regretted that the lack of knowledge of Hindi prevented them from exploring as many business or livelihood options in the rest of the country as would perhaps have been possible with the knowledge of this language. The feeling of disconnect from the rest of the country was very deep. Media impression about the situation in Anantnag seemed completely at variance from what the yatris experienced.
Honouring the citadel of wisdom at her doorstep
Since Mariam Begum, a centenarian could not come to Majmooh village school, yatris decided to go to her house, about three kilometers away in the mountains to felicitate her. Her house was locked when they reached there. The Bakarwal community maintains at least two houses, one in the higher mountains and another near the valley where young children live with their parents to pursue their education. The eighty five year old Mariam Begum was in the other house. But within fifteen minutes she walked down the distance to come to the house where the yatris waited for her. She was felicitated and asked to share her experiences. She explained that many plants were no more found, not only in the valleys, but also in the higher ranges. The yatris also learnt that all the regions beyond Jammu were parts of Punjab to her. Her language was also far more akin to Punjabi than Urdu or Kashmiri. They preferred goat milk for health because it was said that a goat will graze upon more than a hundred species in a day. The hand sickle they used had an interesting design, with a wooden base below the hand grip, so that one would not hurt his hand while cutting grass very close to ground. The yatris sought her blessings for the success of the mission of Honey Bee Network and continued their journey.
Innovative ideas from young minds
In Majmooh, sitting under the walnut tree, the students were asked to explain how one could crack walnuts more efficiently than was the practice? Shakeel, a young student of 8th class came up with the idea of using two wooden strips to press walnut from one side. When challenged that it would help in breaking only one walnut at a time, Shameema came up with a suggestion of extending the wooden strips, and attaching a spring to one side. It is not important whether this design will work better than what Mushtaq has developed. But before the yatris shared the innovation by Mushtaq, they had triggered the virus of innovations.
At Hiller, everybody sat again under a walnut tree in the Government Middle School. Children were very impressed with the demonstration of the tree climber Mushtaq had designed. What was most interesting was that a girl Ruby came forward to test the climber herself. Teachers encouraged girls to face the challenges at par with the boys. Time and again, it was found that the teachers were quite keen to encourage students to explore, be free and unrestrained in asking questions. Motivation levels of the teachers in both government and private schools seemed very high.
In the Government Boys High School, Sagam, when asked to design a walnut cracking machine, Jasser mentioned that one could use two screw-like drums to break the nuts. This seemed a distinct improvement over what the Srinagar University engineers had designed so far. May be not. But the idea merited a detailed discussion between him, Mushtaq and Dr Bhatt of Srinagar University. Jasser had many more ideas in mind, like an idea about designing a vehicle, which could work on the principle of using compressed air to propel it. A meeting between him and the faculty of the Srinagar University was suggested through Dr Bhatt, who was already mentoring Mushtaq.
Among other things, what impressed the yatris most was the enthusiastic response of the students, particularly girl students in sharing their knowledge with them. Shodhyatris had been asked about the remedy for frost bite in many villages. But they had no answer. At the Government Higher Secondary School, Mattan, a student, Dansihta Faroq shared a practice she had learnt from her mother about solving this problem. After making a turnip into a bowl by scooping out the center portion, one had to boil mustard oil in it. This oil apparently provided relief in frost bites. It was not a difficult thing to prove. But, this information had not reached other villages.
The plan of two hundred years of journey was mentioned in every school the yatris went to. The knowledge of great grand parents had been brought forward with whatever limitations to present generation, spanning a hundred years that have passed by. The challenge was to create a process by which relevant and functional knowledge will be transferred to coming generations, the grandchildren of the children today for the next hundred years. The need for building Village Knowledge Registers (VKRs) was stressed so that these registers could be linked with the National Register of Grassroots Innovation and Traditional Knowledge maintained by the National Innovation Foundation. The idea of pooling the best practices dealing with herbal knowledge so as to develop new products was shared as a basis for generating new jobs as well as enterprises.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 18(2):5-8, 2006 |
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