We started preparations for the 1st visit to the village on a quite skeptical note when we woke up. But suddenly, all our doubts were vanquished as Rajesh (our guide from Central University of Himachal Pradesh) called us and offered to come along with us to the village on the first day.
We entered the Khanyara area through Patols - where Pradhan of Khanyara Pnachayat resides. It was a delight to find that they have a woman Panch. We went to her house and started taking in the surroundings. It was a little odd to find everything so obvious yet so typical of that place. The houses were 'pucca' and all of them were roofed with 'slate' tiles. Khanyara has a special 'slate' rock in the surroundings and the sheets of slate are prepared out of the sliding crumbs of the rock from atop. Even Pradhan's house and surrounding homes had this characteristic.
She bought us water herself in a steel tray and four steel glasses. It was again odd to see that Pradhan would be 'working' in her home with no helper around.
Even as we had entered, she could be found knitting a woollen piece for her seven month old child. She was thin and dressed up well. She wore a few customary ornaments like bangles and mangal-sutra. She also had conspicuous sindur on her head.
She was very co-operative and was willing to help us with our project requirements. She gave us some information about employment schemes and a little about traditions and culture of the place.
When we first entered the typical residential areas of the village, we were trying deliberately to keep smiling because we didn't want to appear as unfriendly or indifferent to the villagers. During our way to and back from the Pradhan's house we noticed a few landmarks, like a ground in the open on which a yearly 'Mela' is organised and all the people from Khanyara attend the same.
Pradhan, Anjani Kumar, advised us to cover the Primary and Senior Secondary School and he adjacent Primary Health Centre today as Panchayat workers were absent and would be available only the next day. She said that she had taken a leave to take care of her kid and would meet us in Panchayat Office only next day.
Thus, one by one, we covered those three institutions. Wherever we went, people offered us water and tea and at the Primary School they even said they would have given us lunch had we come during the 'mid day meal'. The teachers at Primary School attended to us and talked to us with seriousness. They wanted to let us know of the difficulties faced by them there, from having to do the clerical work as well.
At the Senior Secondary School, the children who were enjoying the 'lunch' break and playing in the open ground in front of the building, surrounded us and wanted us to keep clicking their pics. They posed and posed in groups and asked us our names and shook hands on their own. They were all curious as well as cheerful from their expressions.
When the Principal called us in to wait for a while, we could hear her scolding them and that made us feel guilty for encouraging them into interacting as we had entered. However the Principal talked to s at length and answered our queries. She gave a few statistics on the students. To our delight, during the conversation, we found that Rajesh, our guide who was there with us that day all through, was actually class-mates with the Principal's daughter and our hotel's receptionist was the Principal's sister-in-law. Thus we were put at ease and could get her talking easily.
We next visited the Primary Health Centre. It was clean in a very sparse way and looked almost deserted from the aisles. But we found that a sort of 'monthly meeting' was going on in the chamber of the PHC head. She was a very beautiful woman and we couldn't help noticing charisma in everything that she did. She was the sort who didn't have to to be expained or probed in too great a length. She understood our purpose and voluntarily shared a lot of details and a few statistics with us. It was sad to know that villagers were frequently hit by diarrhoea and otherwise simple to prevent diseases.
A very disturbing fact she revealed in the flow of discussion was that Khayara was a high-risk area and had instances of AIDS and Intra-veinous durg intake among those as young as 10 to 15 years old!
She told us how she had been devising some ways to stock condoms for free use by public in some locations. I suddenly identified as that to be a major communication need gap in the village. A very major one. I kept thinking about it all through the day. Just couldn't get it out of my head that such a serene place could hide so much misery inside.
After we left the PHC, we went to the Primary School. There kids there had just finished their mid-day meal and were back in their classes. The strength of the school wasn't very high. We took a few pics of the various wall paintings etc for later records. The shcool teachers were also a handful and didn't have any subject wise division of responsibilities. The group of teachers mentioned how they wanted to give their hundred percent attention to the kids but couldn't because of the burden of clerical and staff related duties. They showed us their evaluation patterns and report cards quite willingly.
After the visit to these three key places, we started on our way through the main part of the village to reach the 'Akhanjar' Mahadev mandir. On the way we noticed a lot of key establishments to which we decided to come later on for research - like parlour, bank, post office, ngo etc. We stopped midway out of hunger, when we saw a 'pakoda' stall. There we had stomach full of pakodas and they were absolutely tasty. The temple gave us some breathtaking views especially when we went near the fast water streams that had to be passed on the way to the sacred rock beneath which was the 'Mahadev' temple. I, as required, flattened out on the ground to be able to push inside the space between the rock and the ground; and witness the idol of Mahadev. It was the most 'emptying' experience of my life. Never else have I felt so absent in thoughts.
After this visit, we walked back to nearest bus-stand in order to go to Fatehpur - where we were to meet Mr Nair. But as luck would have it, Rajesh offered to show Norbulingka monastery till Mr Nair was available to meet us. Thus we went. At the monastery however, in spite of having great admiration for the Tibetan monks, I felt quite anxious that their life migh be very boring and restrictive in freedom, and what that would make of them. Our visit, if anything, was a welcome distaction in their life - at least that is what I felt.
Later we went to meet Nair Sir and his wife and kid at a specific location. They said we must come home some day. We clicked a few photos together and started back on our way to the hotel 'Kunal'.
We entered the Khanyara area through Patols - where Pradhan of Khanyara Pnachayat resides. It was a delight to find that they have a woman Panch. We went to her house and started taking in the surroundings. It was a little odd to find everything so obvious yet so typical of that place. The houses were 'pucca' and all of them were roofed with 'slate' tiles. Khanyara has a special 'slate' rock in the surroundings and the sheets of slate are prepared out of the sliding crumbs of the rock from atop. Even Pradhan's house and surrounding homes had this characteristic.
She bought us water herself in a steel tray and four steel glasses. It was again odd to see that Pradhan would be 'working' in her home with no helper around.
Even as we had entered, she could be found knitting a woollen piece for her seven month old child. She was thin and dressed up well. She wore a few customary ornaments like bangles and mangal-sutra. She also had conspicuous sindur on her head.
She was very co-operative and was willing to help us with our project requirements. She gave us some information about employment schemes and a little about traditions and culture of the place.
When we first entered the typical residential areas of the village, we were trying deliberately to keep smiling because we didn't want to appear as unfriendly or indifferent to the villagers. During our way to and back from the Pradhan's house we noticed a few landmarks, like a ground in the open on which a yearly 'Mela' is organised and all the people from Khanyara attend the same.
Pradhan, Anjani Kumar, advised us to cover the Primary and Senior Secondary School and he adjacent Primary Health Centre today as Panchayat workers were absent and would be available only the next day. She said that she had taken a leave to take care of her kid and would meet us in Panchayat Office only next day.
Thus, one by one, we covered those three institutions. Wherever we went, people offered us water and tea and at the Primary School they even said they would have given us lunch had we come during the 'mid day meal'. The teachers at Primary School attended to us and talked to us with seriousness. They wanted to let us know of the difficulties faced by them there, from having to do the clerical work as well.
At the Senior Secondary School, the children who were enjoying the 'lunch' break and playing in the open ground in front of the building, surrounded us and wanted us to keep clicking their pics. They posed and posed in groups and asked us our names and shook hands on their own. They were all curious as well as cheerful from their expressions.
When the Principal called us in to wait for a while, we could hear her scolding them and that made us feel guilty for encouraging them into interacting as we had entered. However the Principal talked to s at length and answered our queries. She gave a few statistics on the students. To our delight, during the conversation, we found that Rajesh, our guide who was there with us that day all through, was actually class-mates with the Principal's daughter and our hotel's receptionist was the Principal's sister-in-law. Thus we were put at ease and could get her talking easily.
We next visited the Primary Health Centre. It was clean in a very sparse way and looked almost deserted from the aisles. But we found that a sort of 'monthly meeting' was going on in the chamber of the PHC head. She was a very beautiful woman and we couldn't help noticing charisma in everything that she did. She was the sort who didn't have to to be expained or probed in too great a length. She understood our purpose and voluntarily shared a lot of details and a few statistics with us. It was sad to know that villagers were frequently hit by diarrhoea and otherwise simple to prevent diseases.
A very disturbing fact she revealed in the flow of discussion was that Khayara was a high-risk area and had instances of AIDS and Intra-veinous durg intake among those as young as 10 to 15 years old!
She told us how she had been devising some ways to stock condoms for free use by public in some locations. I suddenly identified as that to be a major communication need gap in the village. A very major one. I kept thinking about it all through the day. Just couldn't get it out of my head that such a serene place could hide so much misery inside.
After we left the PHC, we went to the Primary School. There kids there had just finished their mid-day meal and were back in their classes. The strength of the school wasn't very high. We took a few pics of the various wall paintings etc for later records. The shcool teachers were also a handful and didn't have any subject wise division of responsibilities. The group of teachers mentioned how they wanted to give their hundred percent attention to the kids but couldn't because of the burden of clerical and staff related duties. They showed us their evaluation patterns and report cards quite willingly.
After the visit to these three key places, we started on our way through the main part of the village to reach the 'Akhanjar' Mahadev mandir. On the way we noticed a lot of key establishments to which we decided to come later on for research - like parlour, bank, post office, ngo etc. We stopped midway out of hunger, when we saw a 'pakoda' stall. There we had stomach full of pakodas and they were absolutely tasty. The temple gave us some breathtaking views especially when we went near the fast water streams that had to be passed on the way to the sacred rock beneath which was the 'Mahadev' temple. I, as required, flattened out on the ground to be able to push inside the space between the rock and the ground; and witness the idol of Mahadev. It was the most 'emptying' experience of my life. Never else have I felt so absent in thoughts.
After this visit, we walked back to nearest bus-stand in order to go to Fatehpur - where we were to meet Mr Nair. But as luck would have it, Rajesh offered to show Norbulingka monastery till Mr Nair was available to meet us. Thus we went. At the monastery however, in spite of having great admiration for the Tibetan monks, I felt quite anxious that their life migh be very boring and restrictive in freedom, and what that would make of them. Our visit, if anything, was a welcome distaction in their life - at least that is what I felt.
Later we went to meet Nair Sir and his wife and kid at a specific location. They said we must come home some day. We clicked a few photos together and started back on our way to the hotel 'Kunal'.
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