Sironj- A small town
Hmmm…starting from where I had left in my previous post (My days in PRADAN-1), I must discuss the town Sironj. Well, it is a small town, which was earlier a part of the Tonk State during the pre independence era. District Sironj was a part of Rajasthan State after independence. It was one of the strangest districts of independent India, as it was a part of Rajasthan, yet it was surrounded from all sides by Madhya Pradesh. This situation continued till 1956, when, under the state re organization act, it was merged in the state of Madhya Pradesh and was demoted from a district to a tehsil (block headquarter).
As during the Tonk days, Sironj was governed by a Nawab, the character of the town has a characteristic Muslim tinge in it. May be about 40% population of Sironj town would be Muslim, and it one of the big Muslim education centers in India, with pupil from various parts of the country as well as from abroad coming to Sironj to get Islamic education. There are a number of Muslim buildings-mosques, madrasas and dargaahs, as well as some old graveyards here. Contrary to other similar cities, Sironj is known for its record of communal harmony. This town is dominated by traders and businessmen –Muslims, Hindus and Jains, and it is in their interest that there should be peace in the area, as the business is the first casualty in any strife.
The Market- Agarbah!
The main nerve center of the town is a market road, which, after encroachments and all, is hardly 14-15 feet wide and it runs through right at the center of the town. It contains shops of all kinds-clothes, grocery, general stores, ornaments, money lenders, traders, bicycle shops, iron smith shop, spice shops, shoe stores, paan shops, small eating joints, medical shops, electronics shops- and so on.
The most characterstic thing about this market is its three tier shops. There are some that are almost on the footpath, their main portion under the ground and only some part above the ground, others that are about 4 feet above the ground, just above these underground shops and still others, that are about 10-12 feet above the ground level. It is said that this market catered to three kinds of customers in past- common people on foot, warriors and officers on the horseback and royalities and big traders who were on elephant back and the heights of the shops were set accordingly.
There is a local haat on every Friday (or Juma, the Muslim weekly Holiday on which grand prayers were said). On Fridays, the villagers from all across Sironj, roughly 200 villages come to this market for their shopping of the edible oil, salt, spices and some vegetables- things of daily consumption that are not freely available in their villages. During Fridays, the market is so crowded that you find it difficult to walk in , forget about driving. This market anyways did not support the four wheelers much for the driving. The day I saw it first was most probably a Friday, and looking at this market bustling with villagers-on feet, on bicycles, bikes and tractors, the ladies clad in long veils (ghoonghat), with the old men wearing big turbans of fluroscent green, orange or maroon, the whole of market full of the smell of chillies, spices, sweat and smoke from the bidis of the villagers, I immediately exclaimed –“Agarbah!” – being reminded about the famous market city of the Arabian Nights as shown on the Alladin of Disney. From that time onwards, I called it Agarabah, atleast with my colleaugues, who would understand the context.
Haunted Ruins
Immediately after joining PRADAN, I shifted in with Anant, a PRADAN colleague from Orissa. When I reached his place first day of my joining, after crossing many a streets covered with the flagstone, with open drains and goats as the traffic signals, we stopped near a decrepit old building, a haveli, which was next to another one-which was in ruins. I looked at him in disbelief when he told that I am supposed to live with him in this.
Although I am not a frequent flyer in Ghost airways- I mean I have not witnessed them very often but still, I went inside with a slightly high heartbeat. As we climbed up through a narrow staircase, my heartbeat increased. There was no railing on the stairs. As we reached the second floor, he showed me the kitchen and his living room. I tried to be comfortable in the surroundings, and approached one of the closed windows on the wall. I opened it to find that it led to the balcony outside. I then proceeded to the next window on the same wall, which was similar to this was in all senses. When I opened it, I was jolted to see that there was a small tunnel like thing that led to some place downwards.
Eeeeeeek!!!!!
I was afraid of this place-which seemed to me more like a set of Sahib-bibi aur Ghulam or Gumnaam- the horror-thriller movies of the bygone days! Anyhow, I spent the night there. Next morning, I asked Anant for the wash room, and he asked me to go to the balcony. “Washroom in the balcony? Have you gone nuts, man?” But that was it.
On the far end of the balcony there was an enclosed chamber called the toilet. When I went in, I found, to my horror, that my face was above the upper portion of the door, and so it was visible to someone in the balcony while I was busy in my daily chores! So, I could either dump my face down between my legs or let any onlooker to analyze the expressions on my face which I was in the loo!
There was an even more, when I reached the bath room to take a shower. I found myself in the ‘bathroom’ of the decrepit haveli. It was nothing more than two tin doors fixed in the balcony with a gap of about 4 feet. For taking bath, you need to leash both of them to the wall of the balcony. However, while you taking the bath, if the breeze blew a bit too much, the doors would open and you would be there, taking bath in a balcony, with a full Monty spectacle to not just the ghosts of the haveli, but also the common public in and around the haveli!
It was not long that we ran away from there, to find another, more suitable abode for ourselves!
The Office and the PRADAN Staff
PRADAN Office in Sironj is I think the next important office after that of the SDM. Most of the villagers know about it and it has become some kind of a meeting place for the villagers who come for the weekly haat at Sironj on Fridays. It is so interesting, you can find unknown people sleeping in the hall of the office on the dari (the rug) in the second half of the office. We used to feel irritated initially but later on when we came to know that most of the poor guys came walking from villages that were more than 15 kms away at times, we never used to disturb them. For them, it was like their home- they would sit there, discuss things, settle disputes and to seek help from us. Their affection became evident on such occasions.
When Sun starts to set, these guys would slowly get going out of the office and would take the dusty paths through the fields, forests and hillocks back to there small huts in the distant villages.
We sometimes used to compare our office with the government offices, where the babudom does not let the People, whom servant they are, to sit next to them on a chair. A poor man coming from a village deep inside the hinterland has to either keep standing while running pillar to post in a government office or after a while has to squat on the dirty floor of the office in the most derogatory fashion. In PRADAN, it is very clear that the villager would be seated on the same height that the PRADAN Executive Director would get while on a visit to any office. If there were 2-3 villagers, the PRADAN professional would offer them a chair next to him. If there were more people, the professional would request them to sit on the rug on the floor of the hall and take some space on the same rug to sit with them. This was tought to me once by a Tribal in a village deep inside the forest in Garhchirolli, Maharashtra. He told me that till the time we sit on the same level, we are partners, the moment you sit on the chair and I on the ground, you become the boss, and I, the subordinate. This was the single most important feature in PRADAN that made it different from other offices.
Hmmm…starting from where I had left in my previous post (My days in PRADAN-1), I must discuss the town Sironj. Well, it is a small town, which was earlier a part of the Tonk State during the pre independence era. District Sironj was a part of Rajasthan State after independence. It was one of the strangest districts of independent India, as it was a part of Rajasthan, yet it was surrounded from all sides by Madhya Pradesh. This situation continued till 1956, when, under the state re organization act, it was merged in the state of Madhya Pradesh and was demoted from a district to a tehsil (block headquarter).
As during the Tonk days, Sironj was governed by a Nawab, the character of the town has a characteristic Muslim tinge in it. May be about 40% population of Sironj town would be Muslim, and it one of the big Muslim education centers in India, with pupil from various parts of the country as well as from abroad coming to Sironj to get Islamic education. There are a number of Muslim buildings-mosques, madrasas and dargaahs, as well as some old graveyards here. Contrary to other similar cities, Sironj is known for its record of communal harmony. This town is dominated by traders and businessmen –Muslims, Hindus and Jains, and it is in their interest that there should be peace in the area, as the business is the first casualty in any strife.
The Market- Agarbah!
The main nerve center of the town is a market road, which, after encroachments and all, is hardly 14-15 feet wide and it runs through right at the center of the town. It contains shops of all kinds-clothes, grocery, general stores, ornaments, money lenders, traders, bicycle shops, iron smith shop, spice shops, shoe stores, paan shops, small eating joints, medical shops, electronics shops- and so on.
The most characterstic thing about this market is its three tier shops. There are some that are almost on the footpath, their main portion under the ground and only some part above the ground, others that are about 4 feet above the ground, just above these underground shops and still others, that are about 10-12 feet above the ground level. It is said that this market catered to three kinds of customers in past- common people on foot, warriors and officers on the horseback and royalities and big traders who were on elephant back and the heights of the shops were set accordingly.
There is a local haat on every Friday (or Juma, the Muslim weekly Holiday on which grand prayers were said). On Fridays, the villagers from all across Sironj, roughly 200 villages come to this market for their shopping of the edible oil, salt, spices and some vegetables- things of daily consumption that are not freely available in their villages. During Fridays, the market is so crowded that you find it difficult to walk in , forget about driving. This market anyways did not support the four wheelers much for the driving. The day I saw it first was most probably a Friday, and looking at this market bustling with villagers-on feet, on bicycles, bikes and tractors, the ladies clad in long veils (ghoonghat), with the old men wearing big turbans of fluroscent green, orange or maroon, the whole of market full of the smell of chillies, spices, sweat and smoke from the bidis of the villagers, I immediately exclaimed –“Agarbah!” – being reminded about the famous market city of the Arabian Nights as shown on the Alladin of Disney. From that time onwards, I called it Agarabah, atleast with my colleaugues, who would understand the context.
Haunted Ruins
Immediately after joining PRADAN, I shifted in with Anant, a PRADAN colleague from Orissa. When I reached his place first day of my joining, after crossing many a streets covered with the flagstone, with open drains and goats as the traffic signals, we stopped near a decrepit old building, a haveli, which was next to another one-which was in ruins. I looked at him in disbelief when he told that I am supposed to live with him in this.
Although I am not a frequent flyer in Ghost airways- I mean I have not witnessed them very often but still, I went inside with a slightly high heartbeat. As we climbed up through a narrow staircase, my heartbeat increased. There was no railing on the stairs. As we reached the second floor, he showed me the kitchen and his living room. I tried to be comfortable in the surroundings, and approached one of the closed windows on the wall. I opened it to find that it led to the balcony outside. I then proceeded to the next window on the same wall, which was similar to this was in all senses. When I opened it, I was jolted to see that there was a small tunnel like thing that led to some place downwards.
Eeeeeeek!!!!!
I was afraid of this place-which seemed to me more like a set of Sahib-bibi aur Ghulam or Gumnaam- the horror-thriller movies of the bygone days! Anyhow, I spent the night there. Next morning, I asked Anant for the wash room, and he asked me to go to the balcony. “Washroom in the balcony? Have you gone nuts, man?” But that was it.
On the far end of the balcony there was an enclosed chamber called the toilet. When I went in, I found, to my horror, that my face was above the upper portion of the door, and so it was visible to someone in the balcony while I was busy in my daily chores! So, I could either dump my face down between my legs or let any onlooker to analyze the expressions on my face which I was in the loo!
There was an even more, when I reached the bath room to take a shower. I found myself in the ‘bathroom’ of the decrepit haveli. It was nothing more than two tin doors fixed in the balcony with a gap of about 4 feet. For taking bath, you need to leash both of them to the wall of the balcony. However, while you taking the bath, if the breeze blew a bit too much, the doors would open and you would be there, taking bath in a balcony, with a full Monty spectacle to not just the ghosts of the haveli, but also the common public in and around the haveli!
It was not long that we ran away from there, to find another, more suitable abode for ourselves!
The Office and the PRADAN Staff
PRADAN Office in Sironj is I think the next important office after that of the SDM. Most of the villagers know about it and it has become some kind of a meeting place for the villagers who come for the weekly haat at Sironj on Fridays. It is so interesting, you can find unknown people sleeping in the hall of the office on the dari (the rug) in the second half of the office. We used to feel irritated initially but later on when we came to know that most of the poor guys came walking from villages that were more than 15 kms away at times, we never used to disturb them. For them, it was like their home- they would sit there, discuss things, settle disputes and to seek help from us. Their affection became evident on such occasions.
When Sun starts to set, these guys would slowly get going out of the office and would take the dusty paths through the fields, forests and hillocks back to there small huts in the distant villages.
We sometimes used to compare our office with the government offices, where the babudom does not let the People, whom servant they are, to sit next to them on a chair. A poor man coming from a village deep inside the hinterland has to either keep standing while running pillar to post in a government office or after a while has to squat on the dirty floor of the office in the most derogatory fashion. In PRADAN, it is very clear that the villager would be seated on the same height that the PRADAN Executive Director would get while on a visit to any office. If there were 2-3 villagers, the PRADAN professional would offer them a chair next to him. If there were more people, the professional would request them to sit on the rug on the floor of the hall and take some space on the same rug to sit with them. This was tought to me once by a Tribal in a village deep inside the forest in Garhchirolli, Maharashtra. He told me that till the time we sit on the same level, we are partners, the moment you sit on the chair and I on the ground, you become the boss, and I, the subordinate. This was the single most important feature in PRADAN that made it different from other offices.
PRADAN is full of qualified people from diverse back grounds. It has got an elaborate system of recruitment of the Professionals from about 70 odd educational institutions across the country through a rigorous process of Campus recruitment. The people joining PRADAN are Post Graduates barring the Engineers and B.Sc (Agriculture).
When I joined PRADAN Sironj, it had one B.Tech (Agriculture), One MSW, One M.Sc (Agriculture). Within three months of my joining, there were two more fellows- Madhukar- B.Tech Agriculture guy from PAU and Shabana- a MA (Extension Education) girl from Jamia Millia Islamia. Such a mix of people in the team in a remote area where the outsiders were almost always less qualified vis-à-vis the educational qualification, always promoted a lot of intellectual discussion, thinking and what we called reflections of individuals. I don’t think there was a better intellectual stimulus to me as compared to the initial one year in PRADAN where as an apprentice you are supposed to learn from the work that you do.
The girl that I met on my first day in PRADAN Sironj was actually not from there. She was a summer trainee from Goa Institute of Management, Goa and was there for a period of about 2 months. In PRADAN summer trainees keep coming for some or the other project and whoever spends sometime here even for 2 months with an open mind and a spirit of learning, carries some everlasting impact on their lifestyle and thought process for rest of his/her life. The best part is the sensitivity towards the poor rural community.
My initial impression on the team members, particularly one of my senior colleagues Arpana, was not at all very good. Because of my urbane' appearances and happy go lucky attitude, she considered me to be a ‘hero’ who will pack his bags soon. Nevertheless, not withstanding the initial impressions, I received a very fair treatment from all, very supportive and almost kid gloved one. She is now the second in command in PRADAN Sironj, with very strong presence in the team and became one of the sources of strength for me later on. She got married to Ankur, of my senior batch in IIFM (who is also working in PRADAN Sironj) and they have been recently blessed with a baby boy!
The most remarkable role was that of Bhabhi (wife of Ashok, our Team Leader). She was like the mother to whole of the team. Despite living in such a remote place where there were no proper facilities for the education or health of her kids- Ankur and Aman (both of them were very naughty, yet very sweet), She supported Ashok and rest of the team with her dignified and reassuring presence in the team. Although she was a housewife, but at a number of instances, she played a important role in the team, as important as her husband, the Team Leader. She was the one who balanced the pragmatism of Ashok in the team with care and affection.
Then there was Sulakshana- the champion of gender issues. I have not seen a stronger lady in my life with such a devotion to the cause of uplifting the women –particularly those from the nomadic and tribal community. She worked with Banjara, Gond and Bagdi tribal groups in some very remote places where even the male colleagues in PRADAN would not feel very comfortable initially. A steadfast feminist that she was, she would not let any male colleague drive her bike when accompanying her, and would be provoked for a heated debate on slightest comment on the women. She was the champion of SHGs in PRADAN Sironj and some of the SHGs made by her proved to be longest surviving in PRADAN Sironj.
Ashok, the Team Leader was my Field Guide during the apprenticeship days. He was a B.Tech (Agriculture) from PUSA and was working with PRADAN for about 8 years when I joined it in 2002. I don’t think that I have learnt more from anybody else about the development sector than Ashok. The kind of interactive sessions that we had just after I joined was really phenomenal. The handholding of the novices like myself by Ashok as a Field Guide was really the USP of the apprenticeship program in PRADAN. He was a kind of Godfather to most of us.
(To be continued)
3 comments:
Thanks Madhukar!
My objective for writing all this here is to make others know the ground realities, to sensitize them towards our not so fortunate countrymen, some of whom we find begging at the traffic signals in the metros, and shoo them away like mangy dogs! They are Indians, just like you and me. Their only fault is that they were not born in a rich enough family who could afford for their education and upbringing. This was a curse given to them by destiny, but we should not forget that in life, nothing is permanent. It’s them suffering today; it can be someone that we know tomorrow.
I am not asking for your charity for the poor. All I ask is to have a sympathetic outlook towards them and think of them as your own. This way, some day or the other, one would be able to make some change in their life, not for them, but for oneself, as we all are indebted to our nation and our society in one way or the other.
If you really like my writings, I have a humble request for you. Take these real life stories to as many people as you can and let them see how our people are suffering, when we call ‘India shining’, or ‘India is everywhere’! Going through these writings, even if a couple of people feel sensitized towards the poor, I would feel that my efforts of typing down my experiences did not go in vain! On my part, I promise you guys that I would keep posting more of my experiences in future. I would love to hear more from you guys and love to respond to any questions that you may have. You can either post them here, or you can send me a mail on prashantmishra7@gmail.com.
Best regards,
Prashant
Hi!
I understand that some of you were having problems in commenting on the blog because of administrative restrictions. Your coments are precious to me, so I have allowed even the anonymous comments on this blog. So, please spare a few minutes, and tell me how you feel about this blog.
Thanks and regards,
Prashant
I know I am late, I just saw your blog and it reminded me of my old days. The experience and knowledge I gathered from there I can never forget that. It was an awesome and absolutely an unique Experience for me. Nice to see you and Madhukar after such a long time.
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