My journey to began with a 20 hour journey from secunderbad to Satna in MP . Journey from Satna to Chitrakoot took around 2.5 hrs travelling through many villages and scrub forests in a typical rural bus signiying local culture.
The onset of chitrakoot itself comes with change with an organised village system and aweome infrastaructure developed by the institue over a span of 2 decades.I was directly placed in Arogyadham and was allocated a room where monkeys greeted me outside my window.With forest to north and west of room,I think am going to have some exciting and chilling days.
17-Dec-2010
Visit to Rasshala
Ayurvedic production center where the manufacturing,packing and marketing of diversified products ranging from diabetes to facial care takes place.The equipment used was purely indegenous and simple unlike sophisticated and complex used in factories.The hygine conditions were significant which shows the concern and professionalism of even unskilled persons taking part in the production.
The activities takes place at various levels in the manufacturing of the medicines.Primarily the villagers with local and ancient knowledge of herbs available in the surrounding forest areas will collect them and handover to the people who dry them and then pass onto the manufacturing unit where the whole process starts.Visit was very cordial will get back soon with some photographs and videos.
Thats all for now.Care to visit tommorrow for more info.
18-Dec-2010
Today the day started a bit late, around 11.45 a.m. If there is any day till now for me in which I have learned maximum in such a short period, then it is this day.
Visit to Ayurvedic Laboratory
Visited the laboratory at around 12.00 noon and went through different medicine testing and other equipments. Many people including students and staff were working together trying out different things. They were mostly working on indigenous plants and herbs and thus directly help the local people to scientifically develop their traditional knowledge. They were also developing the database of Ayurvedic medicines coordinating with other government agencies. Though they have not claimed any patents yet, they said they were ready now to take their research on to the next level and claim the patents.
Next I visited Herbal garden in the backyard of the laboratory where they have collected almost all the available herbal plants in the nearby forest area to serve as a live catalogue. There are about 250 varieties. There is no large scale production though.
I thought this would be the most important visit of the day, but by the end it became only a formality to mention it in my blog.
Visit to Siyaram Kutir
Vineet ji had then took me to Siyaram Kutir where I met Mr.Bharat Pathak (Dadaji), General Secretary of DRI . Super personality with confidence and pride for the work he has undertaken over a span of 2 decades. Getting 500 villages under self reliance and changing many hectares of barren land near mountains in to cultivable land is no small task. Had a brief talk with him for about 20 minutes and then retired for lunch.
Visit to Udhyamitha Vidyapeeth
After lunch, I visited Udhyamitha Vidyapeeth, an entrepreneur workshop where work shops vary from food processing to handicrafts. Though my detailed visit to this place is planned at a later stage , I visited it for meeting Mrs.Nandita Pathak (Didiji).She was also a Hyderabadi and enquired about my stay. Pleasure meeting her.
Travel with Dadaji
From Udhyamitha Vidyapeeth , I got an opportunity to travel with Dadaji to Tribal girls hostel in Majghawon.The residential school which takes care of tribal girls at free of cost from all the surrounding villages. The important aspect of the school is teaching the self reliability to all the students from the very childhood. The school children cultivate their own vegetables in their backyard & cook their own food.I tasted a sweet made by children themselves.Hmmmm tasty.
From there we visited a tribal village which had a get together function.had some food sitting along with them in a typical village fashion.Two tribal guys , Tripathy brothers, took me around the area, once barren, now flourishing with Amla and other fields by the water shed project and contour bounding project undertaken by DRI.
The most important part of travel is thought sharing with Dadaji . He explained that anything that is done for free or without the participation of the villagers will not stand long . So in order to develop villages any individual or organisation should identify the needs of the villagers and devise ways so that villagers themselves can solve their problem.We can only provide the technical know how and show a path to travel to solve the problems of the villagers.They have to repair the path and bear the fruits of travelling on it. Noble idea, isn't it?For all the people and politicians in general who think that this cannot be done,please visit Chitrakoot and 500 surrounding villages.Every project including construction of checkdams,contour bunding,watersheds, converting barren land to agricultural lands were mostly undertaken by villagers themselves with very little help from Govt.
Dadaji was of the view that construction of efficient checkdams and watershed projects can simultaneously bring lakhs of hectares under cultivation as well increase the seepage level in the surrounding areas.Totally implemented in Chitrakoot.So the doubts that if that is workable will not stand as it is implemented effectively in mountaneous terrain.So the success implementability in plains and Plateaus should not be doubtful.Immediately the Polavaram project in AP stuck my mind.12000 crores were already pumped in and still the project was not even 10% completed.Thousands of tribals were displaced and beautiful Papikondalu hills were on the verge of extinction due to this project.If at all this simple solution would have been undertaken,it would have been something different.
Well, this was my day 2 experience and will come back tomorrow with more exciting things as I will touring in and around Chitrakoot. Take Care.
19-Dec-2010
The programs for today were preplanned.Since,it is a Sunday,the staff were off.So,Vineetji planned a tour for me with Gautam ji. So started my day on a bike towards Kamad giri, the holy abode of Lord Rama in his exile.The parikrama was a total of 5 Kms. But me and Gautam ji up on my insistence took the hard route. We trekked the holy mountain, though not to the peak but I can almost say around 80%. Since it is a holy mountain for the locals, we have decided to trek with bare foot. Amazing experience . Slopes were steep and ground was harsh to us.Yet it is awesome.We got some photographs which even locals might not have had.By the time we finished this tour it was time for lunch.
Well, after lunch we started towards Sati Anasuya , the mountain dedicated to wife of Athreya Muni, the great pativrata, (listen all girls...lolz).Well the architecture was good.More importantly the route to Sati Anasuya was a great experience.Travelling through jungles and monkeys greeting us on either side of the roads.
From there we next headed our bike to Gupt Godavari.Wow,wow and wow. No one knows from where the water is coming from inside the mountain.Travelling through caves , centuries old with the polished stones and trekking to great heights. Experience of a life time.
Then on the way visited Ram darshan, a place dedicated to tell about life of Rama through paintings and sculptures,developed by DRI.
At night I was invited to Siyaram Kutir, to meet Dadaji and Didiji.Had dinner with them and it was a great experience.
Well, Thats all in for the day. Catch you up with more exciting things in the coming days.
20 Dec to 26 Dec
Well, long time since I updated my blog as I was unable to access net and was quite busy visiting places.Here is my summary of all the last week visits and experiences.
Visit to Udhyamitha Vidhyapeeth
Udhyamitha is a workshop training center where candidates from villages will be trained in various self help activities ranging from food processing to brick making to tailoring. Value addition to products are eye catching.Amla is processed into pickles,juice and sweet called Murraba.Similarly with lime and other things.Training varies from 1week to 3 months.Everything was highly professional with packing the products, labeling them and printing the expiry dates.Also there is a bakery training unit making people proficient in cake and biscuit making.
Next is the flour processing in a typical traditional manner where the nutrient value is not lost.They showed me the difference between normal flour making and their process.Quality differs. Similarly is oil making.Oil is extracted from seeds and then oil cake is also value added in the form of fodder.Machinery used for all the activities is very simple and was brought from neighbouring towns.
Next were the printing workshop,then cement brick making workshop, then the carpentry workshop and then tailoring workshop.Every workshop has a master trainer who in turn will be constantly upgrading his skills by undergoing training at various places across the country.
The training was provided at minimum cost as the institute believes that people will not value that comes something for free and the items produced in the workshops during training were sold in the counter at very nominal prices.Apart from this, when the strength is more trainers themselves go to villages to conduct workshops for 2 months.Also micro finance is provided for people who want to start their own ventures at practically 0 interest by forming self help groups.The magic of SHG's can be seen here as almost hundred such groups exist.
The whole idea is to make villagers self reliant and to establish home based industries so that a minimum income is guaranteed for them.The idea was a success with hundreds of people trained till now. The pay back rate for micro finance was also almost 100%.
Visit to Educational Research Centers
ERC's were divided in to three parts - Nanhi Duniya , Surendrapal secondary school and vignan kendra ( 11 and 12). Starting from Nanhi Duniya , it's a concept school. Simple, great and an awe. There were both outdoor and indoor classes and the burden of learning was made 0. Education is imparted through games and developing value system.On birthday of a particular child, they make them to plant a sapling and transfer the responsibility of bringing it up to the child who should water it daily.Should see the pics to more clearly understand the concept.Total strength of 250 students till class-I . Fee was also very nominal with 180/- p.m.
Next is Surendrapal school which operates from class-2 to 10.Ordinary school I can say.Then is Vignan kendra with classes 11 and 12.Again ,an ordinary school.
Visit to Gurukul
Developed inline with traditional Gurukul system where 1 elderly retired couple are made in charge of around 25 students of all ages.They were given separate bulidings and separate kitchen.As a group it is their responsibility to maintain it properly.Every building has a separate study hall and dining area.There around 12 such buildings.
Interaction with Students
I had 2 instances of meeting with the students of class 12. First is when I took a class for them in mathematics for around 35 students and other when I presented a career counselling for them.Well, lecturers were impressed at both the instances and invited me for taking further classes at every available opportunity during my stay.Well, Great experience as I received invitations from students themselves to take some classes for them.
Visit to Krishi Vigyan Kendra ( KVK )
Most important place of visit till date.Its in short and agricultural laboratory established with the help of ICAR ( Indian Council of Agricultural Research).Different varieties of crops are first experimented by scientists and depending up on the success rates, they will next be tested on some real fields under the care of farmers with supplying technical knowhow. Then they are prescribed for all the villages under their spectrum.
Crops under experiment were diverse ranging from wheat to mustard seeds to bajra to brinjal.Different types of irrigation system such as sprinkler and drip types were also experimented for various crops.
Visit to Ramnath Ashram Shala
A tribal Co-ed hostel.Financed by the govt. but maintained by DRI. Administration was good and transparent. Students from here represented Wrestling at state level and even won a bronze medal in inter state competitions. Classrooms were available and also students were taken classes under huge trees in a typical Gurukul style. I was shown the students registers of past few years and the pass percentage in 10 was good with around 75%. Along with education, students were given training in Agarbatti making, washing powder making , tailoring, etc.. to make them self reliant after their schooling in case they stopped their eduction further.
There was also a computer lab to provide basic computer education to children from classes 4 to 10.Kitchen was also well maintained and 12 students were accommodated in a single room.
Well guys. lot to report. but gotta go. Will report soon. C ya
Travel with Dadaji
From Udhyamitha Vidyapeeth , I got an opportunity to travel with Dadaji to Tribal girls hostel in Majghawon.The residential school which takes care of tribal girls at free of cost from all the surrounding villages. The important aspect of the school is teaching the self reliability to all the students from the very childhood. The school children cultivate their own vegetables in their backyard & cook their own food.I tasted a sweet made by children themselves.Hmmmm tasty.
From there we visited a tribal village which had a get together function.had some food sitting along with them in a typical village fashion.Two tribal guys , Tripathy brothers, took me around the area, once barren, now flourishing with Amla and other fields by the water shed project and contour bounding project undertaken by DRI.
The most important part of travel is thought sharing with Dadaji . He explained that anything that is done for free or without the participation of the villagers will not stand long . So in order to develop villages any individual or organisation should identify the needs of the villagers and devise ways so that villagers themselves can solve their problem.We can only provide the technical know how and show a path to travel to solve the problems of the villagers.They have to repair the path and bear the fruits of travelling on it. Noble idea, isn't it?For all the people and politicians in general who think that this cannot be done,please visit Chitrakoot and 500 surrounding villages.Every project including construction of checkdams,contour bunding,watersheds, converting barren land to agricultural lands were mostly undertaken by villagers themselves with very little help from Govt.
Dadaji was of the view that construction of efficient checkdams and watershed projects can simultaneously bring lakhs of hectares under cultivation as well increase the seepage level in the surrounding areas.Totally implemented in Chitrakoot.So the doubts that if that is workable will not stand as it is implemented effectively in mountaneous terrain.So the success implementability in plains and Plateaus should not be doubtful.Immediately the Polavaram project in AP stuck my mind.12000 crores were already pumped in and still the project was not even 10% completed.Thousands of tribals were displaced and beautiful Papikondalu hills were on the verge of extinction due to this project.If at all this simple solution would have been undertaken,it would have been something different.
Well, this was my day 2 experience and will come back tomorrow with more exciting things as I will touring in and around Chitrakoot. Take Care.
19-Dec-2010
The programs for today were preplanned.Since,it is a Sunday,the staff were off.So,Vineetji planned a tour for me with Gautam ji. So started my day on a bike towards Kamad giri, the holy abode of Lord Rama in his exile.The parikrama was a total of 5 Kms. But me and Gautam ji up on my insistence took the hard route. We trekked the holy mountain, though not to the peak but I can almost say around 80%. Since it is a holy mountain for the locals, we have decided to trek with bare foot. Amazing experience . Slopes were steep and ground was harsh to us.Yet it is awesome.We got some photographs which even locals might not have had.By the time we finished this tour it was time for lunch.
Well, after lunch we started towards Sati Anasuya , the mountain dedicated to wife of Athreya Muni, the great pativrata, (listen all girls...lolz).Well the architecture was good.More importantly the route to Sati Anasuya was a great experience.Travelling through jungles and monkeys greeting us on either side of the roads.
From there we next headed our bike to Gupt Godavari.Wow,wow and wow. No one knows from where the water is coming from inside the mountain.Travelling through caves , centuries old with the polished stones and trekking to great heights. Experience of a life time.
Then on the way visited Ram darshan, a place dedicated to tell about life of Rama through paintings and sculptures,developed by DRI.
At night I was invited to Siyaram Kutir, to meet Dadaji and Didiji.Had dinner with them and it was a great experience.
Well, Thats all in for the day. Catch you up with more exciting things in the coming days.
20 Dec to 26 Dec
Well, long time since I updated my blog as I was unable to access net and was quite busy visiting places.Here is my summary of all the last week visits and experiences.
Visit to Udhyamitha Vidhyapeeth
Udhyamitha is a workshop training center where candidates from villages will be trained in various self help activities ranging from food processing to brick making to tailoring. Value addition to products are eye catching.Amla is processed into pickles,juice and sweet called Murraba.Similarly with lime and other things.Training varies from 1week to 3 months.Everything was highly professional with packing the products, labeling them and printing the expiry dates.Also there is a bakery training unit making people proficient in cake and biscuit making.
Next is the flour processing in a typical traditional manner where the nutrient value is not lost.They showed me the difference between normal flour making and their process.Quality differs. Similarly is oil making.Oil is extracted from seeds and then oil cake is also value added in the form of fodder.Machinery used for all the activities is very simple and was brought from neighbouring towns.
Next were the printing workshop,then cement brick making workshop, then the carpentry workshop and then tailoring workshop.Every workshop has a master trainer who in turn will be constantly upgrading his skills by undergoing training at various places across the country.
The training was provided at minimum cost as the institute believes that people will not value that comes something for free and the items produced in the workshops during training were sold in the counter at very nominal prices.Apart from this, when the strength is more trainers themselves go to villages to conduct workshops for 2 months.Also micro finance is provided for people who want to start their own ventures at practically 0 interest by forming self help groups.The magic of SHG's can be seen here as almost hundred such groups exist.
The whole idea is to make villagers self reliant and to establish home based industries so that a minimum income is guaranteed for them.The idea was a success with hundreds of people trained till now. The pay back rate for micro finance was also almost 100%.
Visit to Educational Research Centers
ERC's were divided in to three parts - Nanhi Duniya , Surendrapal secondary school and vignan kendra ( 11 and 12). Starting from Nanhi Duniya , it's a concept school. Simple, great and an awe. There were both outdoor and indoor classes and the burden of learning was made 0. Education is imparted through games and developing value system.On birthday of a particular child, they make them to plant a sapling and transfer the responsibility of bringing it up to the child who should water it daily.Should see the pics to more clearly understand the concept.Total strength of 250 students till class-I . Fee was also very nominal with 180/- p.m.
Next is Surendrapal school which operates from class-2 to 10.Ordinary school I can say.Then is Vignan kendra with classes 11 and 12.Again ,an ordinary school.
Visit to Gurukul
Developed inline with traditional Gurukul system where 1 elderly retired couple are made in charge of around 25 students of all ages.They were given separate bulidings and separate kitchen.As a group it is their responsibility to maintain it properly.Every building has a separate study hall and dining area.There around 12 such buildings.
Interaction with Students
I had 2 instances of meeting with the students of class 12. First is when I took a class for them in mathematics for around 35 students and other when I presented a career counselling for them.Well, lecturers were impressed at both the instances and invited me for taking further classes at every available opportunity during my stay.Well, Great experience as I received invitations from students themselves to take some classes for them.
Visit to Krishi Vigyan Kendra ( KVK )
Most important place of visit till date.Its in short and agricultural laboratory established with the help of ICAR ( Indian Council of Agricultural Research).Different varieties of crops are first experimented by scientists and depending up on the success rates, they will next be tested on some real fields under the care of farmers with supplying technical knowhow. Then they are prescribed for all the villages under their spectrum.
Crops under experiment were diverse ranging from wheat to mustard seeds to bajra to brinjal.Different types of irrigation system such as sprinkler and drip types were also experimented for various crops.
Visit to Ramnath Ashram Shala
A tribal Co-ed hostel.Financed by the govt. but maintained by DRI. Administration was good and transparent. Students from here represented Wrestling at state level and even won a bronze medal in inter state competitions. Classrooms were available and also students were taken classes under huge trees in a typical Gurukul style. I was shown the students registers of past few years and the pass percentage in 10 was good with around 75%. Along with education, students were given training in Agarbatti making, washing powder making , tailoring, etc.. to make them self reliant after their schooling in case they stopped their eduction further.
There was also a computer lab to provide basic computer education to children from classes 4 to 10.Kitchen was also well maintained and 12 students were accommodated in a single room.
Well guys. lot to report. but gotta go. Will report soon. C ya
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInternalise the experience, so that the translation into work when you come back becomes more effective.
ReplyDeleteAyush
Yeah ...sure bro...Internalising is something which is inherent...putting it in here in free time....
ReplyDelete