It was June 2017. I was on my Village Immersion at Sandeshkhali, Sundarban to study the Livelihood patterns of the people of Mangrove Region. It was not part of my course curriculam, but I wanted to have an indepth understanding of Marginalised people and their lifestyle.
I was staying there with a Tribal family. It was a kachha house made with mud and tile without any luxury available in my parent's house. The landlady was staying in her house alone, her two daughts were married off and were staying in their in-laws houses. Her husband went to Kolkata to work as a daily labour.
Philosophy and Psychology are two of my favourite subjects, I love observing people and try to understand their motto of existence or you can call it their Ikigai (named after the famous book by Hector Garcia Puigcerver).
I started my study with Didi (the landlady). She was almost 50 yeras of age, lean featured with long curley hair which generally she tied in a bun. She was pretty indeed. Specially her eyes were very attractive. She was exactly the lady described in the Meghdoot by Kalidas "tanwi, shyama, shikharidashana'.
Her daily routine was interesting. She used to wake up by 4.30 in the morning, clean her house with mud water, give food to her hens and goats, clean her utenciles and freshen up herself. Almost every neighbourhood ladies do the same work at the same time. By 7.30 some of the ladies from neighbouhood round up in Didis courtyard and discuss about their lives. They share their happy and not so happy moments with each other. They laugh out loud. Though I was not that much interested in their discussion as it was time for me and my story book, but I used to obseved them carefully. By 9 o' clock they usually finish their chats and return to their respective houses. Then Didi and I used to go to pond to take baths. By 9.30 Didi used to get ready and serve both of us "Panta Bhat" (previous day's cooked rice), green chilley, salt and a piece of lime. After finishing her meal she was ready to leave her house for her workplace. She and her Self Help Group members were on duty of preparing mid-day meal for the nearby Government Primary School. She used to return home around 3 pm, eat puffed rice and take a nap. After waking up she spend some time alone by the bench near to the pond. On somedays she was on mission to fix the holes on the house walls, created by rats. By evening we used to go to the pond for fising. It was not the traditional style fishing, but villagers use their hands to catch small fishes and crabs. It was mesmerising view. Sun is saying by to the world for the day - leaving the sky with golden yellow and light pink tint, birds are returning to their nests, people are returning to their homes from different places and people like Didi are collecting their food for the day. Finishing the fish and crab collection both of us were back to home, she start cutting and cleaning fishes and crabs and I tried to help her in cooking by cutting vegetables (mainly "puishak" or "palank shaak" and potato). Didi had a small black and white TV and people from her neighbourhood used to come to her house to watch daily serials. When her was done with watching her favourite serials she use to prepare food, then we ate and we went on sleep by 9 to 9.30. It was her daily routine.
It was the daily routine of many people like Didi. Once Didi leaves house for her school I used to take my copy, pen and mobile and lock the house and put the key to the instructed place and leave the house. I used to move around the village, talk with the villagers, click pictures of the beauty of nature and try to understand the life goals of the villagers along with their Livelihood patterns. Livelihood and Life Goals are interelated. Generally people try to work for their Livelihood as per their Life Goals.
I made friends there, who took me to different nearby villages. All of them were almost same. Their live goals was to live the day fullest. They were not even thinking of making their today or tomorrow better. They were not interested in what is happening in the world. They were not interested in any idea of Modernization, Globalisation, Higher Education, Feminism, Sustainable Development Goals etc etc. Their world was small. They do Agriculture in their small patch of land, they grow vegetables in their own garden, do fish cultivation in their own pond and live the day fullest. No worries for past, present or future.
No, they were not intetested to buying i-phone or macbook, trying expensive jewellery or designer cloaths, eating dinner on a big resturent or having holiday on a luxuriors place or even make their mud house to a permanent one. Yes, it was a whole new experience for me. People around me are different from the people living in Sundarban.
One day I asked Didi about her viewpoint regarding savings, she told me that she and her group members are saving money through SHG in their bank account. That's it. They do not think about having a better life. They do not think about growing their business, earning more, getting higher education, getting better benifits, save, live in a better home - nothing. Yes, few non goverental organizations were working there to improve their condition and I have seen their brilliant annual reports but actually things were different from all those glorious reports. It was a politically sesnsitive place too. Once I visited the local school and I was not so happy with my observation. Nobody is much concern about those innocent people's actual improvement. They deserve a better life. There was no hospital in the locality, children were not interested in their studies and they had no big dreams for their future. I was feeling I was observing a life which used to be 100 years ago for many of us. Today 15th August 2020. I am thinking about people of Sandeshkhali, Sundarban. Do they observe Independence Day with the same spirit like rest of the country does? I have no idea.
If you are interested you can plan a tour to Sandeshkhali. It is around four hours journey from Kolkata. Take a local train from Sealdah station to Canning and then take bus upto Dhamakhali and then by boat you will be able to reach Sandeshkhali. To have a better understanding of the life of people over there go to Dhuchnekhali. You will be amazed by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment