On my birthday 16th Feb, we were in Orissa where we got this experience. Thought of sharing this experience with you.
Last week Rishi and I went for a short Orissa trip. One of the place we had to visit was ‘Vishwaneedam’ in Balangir district. This was mainly to see the transformation after installing Solar lights in tribal villages around Turla. But, indeed, this visit happened to be much more than that.
We reached Katabanji on 16th early morning. Anant came to pick us up at Railway station. He was surprisingly late. And we got a message that his diesel ran out. That was a start of the day. But luckily, backdrop of low range mountains and beautiful rising sun light was enough to spend time on such small station. He soon came and then it was a beautiful drive of 2hrs to Vishwaneedam. We reached Turla and were welcomed by Anant’s family, infact Vishwaneedam family. Twinkle, his wife who really twinkles like a star, actually runs the school, family, house and almost everything. Everyone around knows her for her warmth. Their 7 yrs old son Evan goes to the school with other tribal children.
This does not complete the family. Mahadev who was Anant’s neighbor in his childhood days alsocame with Anant to settle down in this remote area. He does most of the field work and with immense passion. His wife makes incense sticks as part of her work contribution and they have a 6 yr old son, Jishnu. One little Sindhu (3yrs old) and her mother lives with them. Anant and Twinkle adores Sindhu and love to start their day with her sweet smile. Jyoti (a blind man) and his wife married each other against their family's wishes and so their village abandoned them. Vishwaneedam became home for this loving couple. They too, make incense sticks. Jyoti is exceptionally talented and wishes to make ‘til-laddu’ for nearby hari shankar temple. Kanti, one of the teacher lives with them too. She is from one of the nearby village with young in spirit. Ramprasad (8yrs), an orphan child, whose parents and family died out of starvation, lives here as another family member. Sukant’s (7yrs) mother died and father needs to work to earn, so he too lives here. Couple of months back, when Twinkle was coming in a public bus, she met a pregnant woman, Lipsa. Lipsa’s husband left her and ran away with another woman. Her husband had taken elder son with him. She had no place to go and had no choice but give birth to the child. Twinkle, without consulting anyone in the family brought Lipsa home and she was welcomed by everyone. Lipsa delivered a baby boy just a day before we reached there. The whole family was excited to welcome this child.
By the time we met this small family, it was already noon.
Anant works for a software company in Bangalore and runs this family. They have started a school and have 24 children. School gets part of the funds from a German friend. But it is still not enough. Anant and family has thought of many options for revenue generation. One of them, recently started, is making of incense sticks.
The same day we went to a tribal village, Dhodha, where solar lighting was installed. It was amazing to see the smile on people’s faces. They could do so many things after sunset which they could not do before. Women could cook after it was dark so they could continue working in the day time. Men could continue weaving in the evening. So, instead of delivering one saari in 4 days, they could now deliver it in 3days. In one house we saw 10-12 women rolling incense sticks after sunset with chit-chat. Children could study in the night. We saw two such villages and again, these became extended family for Vishwaneedam.
Things which are basic needs for some could be luxury for some. We take so many things for granted that we do not even realize that someone may not even have access to these things. I went to school to interact with children. School has a basic building infrastructure and needs a lot improvement. They get some funds from Germany but that only covers infrastructure cost. Out of 24 children, 14 children’s education is adopted. Each child costs 600 to 1000/- a month which includes study material and teacher’s maintenance. For many children, this is a pocket money. For many of us, it’s just one dinner cost. And for many, it could be schooling for the whole month.
I am sure there are many Anant and many such efforts happening around us. I hope we could be aware of such efforts and support them in any way we can, may it be in our thought, our feelings, our prayers, being volunteers, being contributors in knowledge or monetary terms.
Khalil Gibran says ‘Education sows not seeds in you, but makes your seeds grow'. Could we help some seeds grow?
-Tejaswini
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