Time for another blog… In the past couple of months, I have been in Trichy for more days than I have been at Bangalore.. Particularly because, I hate my job!!! But here again, I have a news. I have resigned my job to take up a more exciting offer, and my last date at IBM is the end of this month…
But that’s not what this blog is about.. It’s about my yesterday.. My brother has come from US.. Yesterday, we went for a field visit, near Manaparai….It’s one of the projects that my brother’s US based non-profit org funds… It’s an agricultural project for a local non-profit org called New Earth Team (NET) that they had funded 1 and ½ years back and my bro went there to see how the progress is. I immediately said I will go with him.. Though Trichy is where I have lived most part of my life so far, I hardly know a restaurant or a picnic spot or a bus route there… (pothi pothi valatha pulla) This wud be a chance for me to go around Trichy, visit agricultural fields, and (most importantly!) give me a topic to blog about!! ;) And yes, it did fulfill all 3 of my expectations…
We went about in town bus all the way till JJ college (As the norm goes, the conductor asked us to board the bus last, so that we won’t block the seat of someone going all the way till Manaparai). Looking out, the way was no different from any long distance buses we take.. Looking in, the movie in the bus was no different from any vijaykanth movie.. The only difference was the naatupura paatis asking me of everyone, which stop to get down (I only wish I knew!!!)
We got down and a guy came to pick us up in a bike.. It’s triples all the way to the fields, with him & my bro….At first, it was scary.. It was the first time I went triples after many years.. And then, the roads were so full of stuffs which cud make the bike skid.. But looks like the guy was an expert at triples.. He rode quite well… There was a group of women farmers (beneficiaries) who had gathered to meet my bro.. It was very entertaining as they brought their hands together, and when I almost expected them to say “vanakkam”, they said “Good morning”…I was clicking photos and videos as my brother inquired them about their progress and as they made appeals for “more seeds, malligai padhiyans and goats” as though he was the naataamai..Oh, for that matter I also saw the typical panchayat place under the arasa maram…(or is it aala maram?!)
Then we went to see the fields.. I have always imagined that fields meant paddy fields… And it’s true in most places now… (Gathered from my bro that people opt for paddy to any other non-traditional crops, thanks to the procurement prices that the government offers to rice and wheat)…But these ones were different.. There were jasmine fields (mixed cropping with okra and eggplant)!!! And there was muthu solam and makka solam fields (until yday, I didn’t know they were different).. There was aamanakku (from which we get castor oil), ellu (from which we get gingelly oil), kambu, sunflower (No candies to guess wat oil comes from it) and so many other crops, each field belonging to a different person… Sunfloweres have always been a fascination to me, I always try to photograph them while on bus, with little success, ofcourse). Yesterday, I got a chance to be so close to a whole sunflower field and enjoyed taking photos of them, with them (amidst the amusement of the villagers at my excitement about sunflowers)…The reason these farmers (all women, while men go out for other work in the town) grow these alternative crops is that it that the place has a scarcity of water.. Unlike water-demanding crops like paddy, these plants demand much less water, for which again, they are solely dependent on rain….I also got bribed with some fresh kothavarangais (My favorite!) from the fields.. After some time I realized what a different image, I had been having of villages from what I saw in the movies. Something totally different from what I would ever see in my life.. I always imagined them to be something that existed in far off places, which I would never see in my routine life.. But no, it wasn't to be so.. They are places close to mine.. Which I often cross when I travel in buses, in trains… Which I had always fancied with a sense of poetry, rather than realism…
The nice thing about these villages (ammapetai etc) was that people were still able to manage a decent quality of life, thru agriculture, cattle-raising, “nooru naal velai”- a government scheme which offers 100 days of work per year to each family with a job card, construction work in town etc… All kids went to schools, government or private… (No dropouts!!!) The only pathetic thing was about the founder of this org called NET who died recently. It looks like he has completely been into this NET for a long time, without caring much about his family, expect their immediate needs. He has left behind his wife (who knows nothing but her family and cooking) and three school-going kids, who now don’t know how to pursue their education. A couple of them have finished their plus two and one girl has finished her 10th. I feel angered by this guy who didn’t plan his own family’s future when planning so many other families’….It was an outright blunder.. Though the kids have passed their exams, they don’t have high marks that will win scholarships. Nor do they know the direction to find one… Now, I am getting know of so many kids like this, who need help (esp in trichy). Though I am able to do a bit for them, I am not able to do much, for four reasons:
(1) There are so many cases I get to know like this, and I find it difficult to choose whom to help and whom not, when I find all of them are genuine candidates
(2) It’s embarassing for me as an individual to ask for proofs that they really need the money, to ask for fees receipts etc
(3) It will be difficult for me as an individual to ask for funds from others to help these people
(4) It will be better to get tax exemption for these
The only viable solution I can think of, is to become a part of organizations who already do this. I know there are many schools and college alumnis, who setup their own small org to do this.. I would like to use this blog as a forum for finding these out. My dear friend who is reading this blog, if you personally know of an org like this, or if you have more ideas on this topic, I am sure you’ll share them with me.. Thank you and see you again
