Local trains

He looked at his little daughter. There was something very unusual about her crying today. Not because she cried with everyone else probably for the first time, but maybe because no one truly wanted to make her again happy today. Or perhaps no one knew the answer to the question her little face kept asking. She knew, her father wouldn’t disappoint her. She came to him with eyes showing emotions that probably were far outside her brain’s territory of understanding. Because of this, there were more revelations, more confusing confusions that her face could not belie. He looked painfully at his father, personified by a little pot containing his ashes, and his everything. The new red cloth on the top of it was tightly knotted giving it a firm, confident look. But unlike her, he knew that his father would disappoint him. And death was something really inscrutable for her. Instead of answers and justifications for her questions and troubles, all he could see was a local train, his daily commuter, again. Every night he would think about the train and would imagine leaving behind something between him and his daughter on the hook he held his hands on that day. Be it her dreams, her banter, the extra time he wanted to spend with her, the lullaby he wanted to sing for her and everything else. Then, he would see the bogie full of those hooks, empty, but the hooks carrying something on them. But today it was not the same. He instead saw them taking the forgotten, old dreams and some memories which looked unnatural. Things that were undealt with. Teas that were unmade. Chats and discussions that were incomplete. All those hooks and the empty bogie seemed terrifying. There was an uneasy type feeling again, but much more intense than it used to be. The hooks seemed irreplaceable and gave some uncomfortable vibes. He looked at her again. Her face suddenly seemed calm. Yet, she was crying almost continuously. She had sat in front of him, and her tears had dried on her face itself. But today it didn’t bother him. All exhausted, he kept lying on the sofa looking at his father. She kept crying and looking at hers.

Dice

He checked well before starting. New cool shorts, yes; shoelace, yes; specs hanging out, yes. Everything was alright. He gradually increased his pace and was soon almost floating a bit of an inch above the ground. He took sharp turns to avoid people on the road, but with ease. He always loved this appearance of an adroit runner. Showing off was something he hated with brain and loved with heart. But today he slowed down soon after he started. Got puzzled when he couldn’t understand exactly how he was controlled. Perhaps he didn’t want to think about it too. He felt numb. The reason was right in front. Yes, that was her. Surely. The same trait. The same appearance. He kept observing her from the back until he could sense her presence at a higher level than that of his eyes. It had been long since he talked to her, in a literal sense. Eyes always did their job for him, when the mouth shut up. But the last time the eyes spoke was also far back in time, at least in its relative sense. He had shifted elsewhere keeping all the stuff behind. Why was she in his sight now, in this little area? She suddenly disappeared into an alley. He kept following her. He was intrigued by what she was doing there. Yes, there she was. Yes, yes, that was her. She was probably traipsing around. He suddenly realised something. ‘Wait a minute, has she seen me? For all possible ways, she could have. She won’t show anything even if she has seen.’ And he was right behind her. On his phone, he checked all social sites where they used to talk. Checked his emails, messages. And there was nothing, almost as expected. He wanted to continue looking at her but didn’t want to call. He wanted to be the same numb, comfortably. But there was another choice, a third one; he was reminded. There was a way back. Without letting her know his presence, assuming she had not seen him, he could fold the history and throw it away. There wouldn’t be any conversation, a meaningful one, at least. His eyes were red by now, filled with some unknown emotions. He didn’t know if he would see her again, like this. He wouldn’t even get the satisfaction of avoiding her, with its full meaning and eyes with disgust and disguise towards her. But perhaps he would be able to close this half-open newborn chapter. He slowly turned another way. He kept walking on roads, perhaps away from her and in the opposite directions, but for a longer time than he usually took. If anyone changed their mind, they could have met. Or he might have given her a subtle chance to see him. Or maybe just by a coincidence, they would have collided. Yes, he would have labeled it a coincidence then. He hoped that he really got away with all the hope. He kept enjoying the numbness. And, yes, armed with probability, this was the fourth way. At least that’s what he convinced himself.

Field Visit- Day 1 : Getting familiarized and Surveying

Last time I wrote about farming, I had interviewed a farmer, who mainly grows oranges and is a resident of a big city, Nagpur. This time, I visited a village along with my 4 teammates, stayed there for two days and collected some data. In this post, I’ll talk about the work in short, my main lessons and surprises and the demographic and financial overview of the village.

Village – Yewati, Jalgaon district, Maharashtra.

Area- Approx 1600-1800 Hectors

Population- Around 5000

Being born in Jalgaon and having spent many summers and vacations there, I desperately wanted to visit Jalgaon again, and so I chose it over the other two villages that were shortlisted. This visit aimed to collect general farming, small business and financial data from a village and analyse it to create vulnerability indices to help implement the PoCRA scheme. This work is a part of one of our teammates’- Manasi’s Mtech project.

PoCRA (Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture) is an ambitious scheme funded by World Bank, which aims to enhance climate resilience and profitability of smallholder farming systems through the promotion of technologies and commodity value chains. Over a 4000 drought-prone villages are chosen in Maharashtra for its first phase of implementation. Under the scheme, farmers from chosen villages can apply for individual assets like wells, farm ponds, fruit garden, cattle, etc. and get those in subsidized amounts. The role of IIT is to promote crop planning through village water budgeting and to initiate policy planning by setting up measurements for critical agricultural indices. The idea is to provide optimum assets to any particular village based on factors like total land and water availability. Manasi’s work involves understanding the socioeconomic status of mainly rabbi farmers and forming vulnerability indices so as to facilitate the distribution effectively. Five of us then visited the village to collect some relevant data. This is how the first day went-

We arrived at Jalgaon at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday, 2nd Feb. Jalgaon was more developed and resourceful than what some of our teammates had thought. We met two Govt officers from PoCRA there, who it despite being a holiday, were on time to receive us. We visited the govt. Agriculture office and then proceeded towards Yewati in a Govt car. After about 1.5 hours, we reached and after refreshing at the sarpanch’s house, left for the grampanchayat office. Sarpanch briefed us about the village economy, its soil and water availability, usual pattern of crops, general issues and the demography. We then spent the rest of the day surveying farmers in the office and later visiting them in their houses. We were accompanied by the grampanchayat clerk who knew almost everything about the villagers and the land. The highlights and lessons of day-1 are

Though we had a clear objective of surveying the farmers for the sake of gathering some data, almost nobody from the village thought so, including the sarpanch. Moreover, none of them knew anything about the IITs, the so-called ’eminent’ and ‘highly desired’ institutes in India. We had to explain to them that we’re from a college which is involved in PoCRA, which led them to identify us as PoCRA officers. So, though it was us who ‘needed’ something from them, it all looked like the more they help us, the better they were off. One of us was from Delhi, who then got more ‘bhav’ from them.
About the village (as the sarpanch told): There is very less communal violence across different religious communities and casts. Even the sarpanch had an interfaith marriage. He was relatively new and had come from Mumbai only a few months ago. He told us about the open defecation problem which was happening near the small hospital. He had put big bright lights near it so as to stop that. When asked about the free toilets scheme, he said that a few people took loans (about 12000 Rs) and built those but they never got the funding. It was surprising to know that still most of the population goes out for defecation. The village gets water from a distant river source, situated in another village, as there is always water deficiency. There is one school in the village which teaches till 7th standard and one has to go to the nearby taluka to get further education. There is an ITI (industrial training institute) nearby, which is probably the maximum level of education achievable for the villagers. He also told that Daarubandi has been successful in the village, with around 5% of people with addiction.
While we were in the office, a teacher from ITI visited the sarpanch. Someone came to inform that he wanted to complain to the sarpanch about a notorious boy, son of the grampanchayat water clerk. The case was interesting. The student had apparently used abusive words to the teacher. He kept talking about how he asks his students to clean up their own workplace and how, in particular, this student doesn’t listen to anything. Everyone around was lecturing the boy to be grateful that he has got such a good and well-educated teacher. The boy was embarrassed, probably because of our presence. This resulted in sarpanch telling us about the importance of education. Using laptop and reading mails was a thing to boast about. The boy finally said sorry, and left.
As we wanted to take surveys, instead of asking us to visit farmers, they called those people to the office. We were given chairs to sit, and the poor farmers sat on the floor. Those being interviewed felt lucky, and others patiently waited. We struggled to interact when they thought that we were PoCRA officers and can help them with their problems. Especially the Delhi guy was a messenger of God. Some of them told us how they were cheated by companies, some told us how they have spent a lot to get bore-wells, but still get no water. Surprisingly, though we read about loan waivers every year, barely a few of them had ever received a waiver. A guy was happy talking to us, and he showed us some photos, and finally asked us to pose with him. That day, since one of the two athavdi bajaars was set up, many of the farmers had gone there, which led us to take a break.
Meanwhile, we visited a polyhouse in the village. The idea was brilliant and gave an output of around 50 lacs for the investment of 30. It was crazy to form and grow the business. They were simply growing many plants at a temperature maintained place and providing them with the best soil and nutrients. They had specialized mats to plant the seeds. Many farmers would buy those at a low rate (lower than they would spend if they grow those themselves) and plant them directly. The businessman has flourished the firm, which his father has started. He owns a lot of land now and has even applied for a loan under PoCRA to further set up. He offered us many farm products while on his field. The best was sugarcane juice, made from fresh sugarcane. It was never sweeter for me.
As the farmers returned in the evening, we visited some houses and little shops to gather more data. Every time we caught hold of someone, a number of people stopped by and listened to us. Soon a bunch of people would gather along with children, elderly and the surveying process would become easier. It is important to mention that wherever we went, we were offered water and the best place to sit in their houses. In fact, people wanted to be our data points, in the hope that they would get something.
Our main findings were as follows. The village mainly grows cotton, maize, wheat, some vegetables, and harbhara (chana). They usually alternate their crops every year. About 10-20% of the population is landless (bhoomiheen). These people work for others, and some migrate to the cities, having no other options to survive. In most of the families, everyone works. Some children go to schools, but after schooling, they start working. Though there is a small village health center, most of the people prefer going to private places outside the village. Almost all farmers have taken loans. Some are able to pay those back, while most of them just get enough money to sustain and continue. Some of them had applied for assets like wells in PoCRA.
When the last survey was getting over, I started asking the clerk about the general village economy. To my surprise, and I still don’t understand how people joined our conversation. Soon, instead of the clerk, two three men came out and started answering my questions. Around 20-30 people gathered and cried out their problems. Some even asked me to provide their PoCRA assets soon. It was impossible for me to explain and for them to understand my inabilities. Children were curious about our arrival. Looking at the iPad one of us had, a girl commented on the big size of the ‘phone’. One girl also told me that she wants to become a doctor.
About the village economy, these were my findings- a lot of them are unemployed. Partly because they are landless and also because others don’t have the capacity to give jobs. One of the main farm product is cotton, which they sell at the nearest taluka. It’s processed there and sent further to the factories. To deal with poverty and unemployment, the villagers could come together and set up the processing unit. Their considerable consumption is farm and health related. Instead of going to nearby places for work, this would save their time also. Moreover, women could also work together.
The day ended with us going back to the sarpanch’s house and a nice dinner. We were told that they could even treat us non-veg and biryani and we should tell them whatever we wanted. We chose to eat simple food and being tired, went to bed early.

The next post describes our second day in the village and my important takes from the visit.

Here are some photos and a video:

Polyhouse – mats and small plants

The size of each plant

This one is for a hundred Rs.

Greens and dries

Cauliflower plant. Each one grows around 3 kg of it.

Juicy sugarcane!

Sugarcane sweetness

Brinjal plant

The Gramsabha was organised the next day. And they informed everyone this way- just like how it used to happen in stories.

– sylviasolo

Field Visit- Day 2 : Learning and Unlearning

We were almost done with our surveying on day-1. For day 2, we had planned to visit the farms, look at the wells and other water resources, and collect some soil samples. After that, as the sarpanch had told us, we had planned to attend the gramsabha. Here are the highlights of our village safari-

The village is divided into 5 zones according to its area. That way, it is a fairly big village. At the center of it, people have set up the society. There are natural slopes almost all over the fields and depending on those, there are farms. For example, if there is a natural water slope on some side of the farm and if it has to be divided into two for next generations, the division is made such that both farms get a share of the water. Each farm has been given a unique gat number so as to keep a record.
The water problem is much severe that we can imagine. It was just the first week of February, and a lot of wells were empty. We could see from the survey that it was August-September when the wells would go to their highest limit. By December, the water level would drop to almost zero. Many farmers used drop irrigation, and they took water through borewells. Some would put water in the wells and then use them. But depending on the fields, some borewells had a good flow while others couldn’t get water even after digging deeper.
Water availability is also a function of soil quality. We saw that some fields had a very high quality of soil – black and heavy. It could hold a lot of water and thus less amount of water would be sufficient. However, most of the land had medium or low quality soil. The same goes with murum- the material below the soil. If wells are made up of black rocks, those would not allow the water to drip and would have a good amount of water even in February. Under the MGNREGA scheme, workers had created an artificial farmpond which had almost no water because of incomplete work and fewer rains. Another naala was also created which would help during the rainy season but was completely empty. Moreover, it had carried the fertile soil with the flow it once had. We couldn’t imagine the situation when the summer would arrive.
We walked for more than two hours and could barely touch two zones. Meanwhile, we saw farmers in the fields, some giving water, pesticides and some sowing the seeds. We also ate some fresh farm products like harbhara (chana). As it was time for the gramsabha, we left for the grampanchayat office.

This gramsabha was a continuation of the previous sabha, held on 26 January. Due to some reasons, it was suspended. Following are the highlights of the gramsabha- the smallest unit of our democracy.

The first thing I noticed was the complete absence of women. The vice- sarpanch of Yewati was a woman, and from the 10 grampanchayat candidates, five were women. The saddening part was a lot of women and men had gathered near the office to attend a funeral, while some men came to the meeting, no woman was even encouraged to follow. The only women present in the hall were two of us girls in the team. There were a total of 30-40 people for the sabha.
As always, everyone sat on the floor, sarpanch took a chair, and the gramsevak started addressing the sabha. We all were offered chairs, as we were the ‘guests’, though younger than all of them. Firstly, they asked us to talks about our visit and PoCRA. Manasi did her job well and then the gramsevak continued with the process. It was a bit surprising for me to see that he was actually presenting all the schemes govt has along with the requirements for beneficiaries. Except for the male dominance part, the sabha was just as how I had read in the civics textbook. Most importantly, the villagers were patiently listening to him and if anyone had any doubt, he would ask after the gramsevak would finish his sentence. This was unbelievable to me, as the biggest unit of our democracy, the Loksabha, functions totally opposite to this.
The gramsevak introduced many schemes in proper details – PoCRA, Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna, Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojna, Indira Gandhi Yojna (for BPL), Rojgar hami Yojna etc. Some were for special backward classes, some for single ladies, some for landless people and so on. He had a proper documentation for each and he would tickmark once he was done explaining. After he was done, he would ask if anyone had doubts and if so, the person should stand up and ask. It was very disciplined.
I saw that people carefully listened and asked smart questions. One person asked about hygiene in the village and proposed that they get big dustbins at different places to avoid littering. They all discussed the possible plans if there is a water shortage. They had planned that if nothing works out, they would surely get water tankers. People asked about local development plans and the proposed work and its progress. It was interesting to see many people actually making this small unit of democracy function well. A lot had been proposed- old temple rehabilitation, Buddha Vihar construction, water tanks, gutters, farm roads, etc.
The sabha ended with a conflict. Someone proposed that the people who are illegally living in someone’s field should be thrown out. To that end, an old post holder started making aggressive comments. When asked to name the person who is responsible, he blamed the sarpanch, which resulted in him shouting and asking for proof. Everyone else left the sabha quietly. Again to my surprise, the conflict was under control.

After the sabha, we again went back to sarpanch’s house for lunch. We left the village around 4. He generously offered to drop us, but unfortunately, his car didn’t start. We then went back in a dukkargadi- a share auto. All this while, no one asked us for money as per the sarpanch’s order. We got into a Volvo from Jalgaon station and reached Mumbai the next day.

My main takes from the trip –

The world is relative in its every sense. And that makes it beautiful for everyone. According to us, the village was very small, had barely anything ‘happening’ and also no great food, or theatre. But in itself, the village probably didn’t bother. Of course there is poverty and shortage of water, electricity etc, but in gaining happiness, I wouldn’t rate them lower. They didn’t know the IITs and were unaware of the pressure system other students go through. Though the world is small, it makes a perfect sense to them.
We take transport for granted. One of us wanted to leave in the evening of the first day, and because he told about it around 6, there was no way to go back. The standard way to commute is to go to the nearest station (7 km) where Maharashtra express stops, and from there it’s possible to go Jalgaon or Bhusawal. The next possible option is at 2:30 in the night. Moreover, going to the station in the evening is painful too, unless you have a car. The only car in the village belonged to the sarpanch.
Human is a very smart creature. Yeah, this is biology, but we see that people generally look down upon villagers. But I saw that many of them have better morals, better business sense, more power to struggle, patience, and discipline. The clerk knew everything about the village, about who owes how much to the grampanchayat, who has filled the PoCRA form and so on. People knew the demographics also. Everyone was perfect in their jobs. Everyone was very friendly and showed hospitality. Overall, I felt that they are no less than the city folk, but are devoid of opportunities that we get. Among those 5000, surely there are people who can complete with at least 1000 of city people, but rarely would they get any chance.

Here are some photos from day 2:

Little water that the well has-