C said that the most beautiful view in the world is to see the snow peaks on a full moon day. The range turns absolutely blue and sparkles in the silvery light. I was jealous of C. This was his first visit to the mountains, yet he has seen this fantastic sight. I, on the other hand have been to the Himalayas so many times but never ever seen such a sight. Even on this visit to Kumaon, the summer haze hid the snow range on the full moon day. I still have so much to see and experience.
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In my last post I said that villagers are so simple and happily ignorant. Here in the villages of Kumaon I saw a different sight. With the help of an organization – Chirag - who have 209 villages under their wing for conservation through community development, they have come a long way. And all the change have been understood, led and implemented by women. Its not that the organization deliberately chose to empower the women……but it’s a big fact that men are less prone to gaining positive knowledge and more prone to resistance and destruction. With proper guidance, the women of the villages are now involved directly into all areas of work….from forestry, rain water harvesting, education, livelihood issues, self help group, micro-financing, agricultural marketing etc.
One woman of the Van Panchyat Committee (Forestry) admitted that if given to the men folks they would cut down all trees for easy money. She and a female member from each house takes turn to guard the forest, plant trees and collect fodder and dry twigs. I looked at the mountain side….it was lush green and vibrant.
I remembered Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. Our ancestors were right. There’s immense power in the feminine.
And I was grossly wrong in my thinking. Villagers are ignorant but you can change their mindset by giving them right education and guidance. Whereas its just the opposite for city folks. They are educated, yet its so difficult to change their mindset. Tell a villager why it’s unwise to use plastic and they will carry one plastic bag for months. Tell a city folk that it’s unwise to use plastic…and they will insist on taking back 3 plastic bags instead of 1 every time they shop. They are not bothered because they wouldn’t give up their luxurious life or mad rush for money for anything in this world. Even if it means giving up Earth.
And its when we actually reach down to their level and try to understand, we see that in reality its us and not them, who have no clue.
3 comments:
Well, this is a surprise. Since I have worked in Chirag, it was pleasent to stumble upon your blog.
what you say about the men in kumaon is very true but i'm not so sure about the impact that Chirag is having...they have no interaction with the youth and are consequently not fit to even fathom the migration problem, let alone deal with it...and agricultural land is being sold increadibly fast in the area where chirag works, as can be discerned from the number of resorts and hotels being built...no land, no village. Then there's quarrying which reduces entire mountainsides to rubble in a matter of weeks.
The whole thing is just really sad to see.
Hi Yemeth,
Good to know people following the same cause. How were you associated with them?
yes u r right. and its a huge issue with them right now...we were discussing the same issue. as i see it...its a chiken and egg situation. u say modern facilities. but along with it comes roads, people, tourists, easy money etc. and when people give lakhs of rs to people who dont know beyond thousands....they will obviously take it. answer may probably lie in educating them and getting them to do homestays instead. there are ways yemeth...its just that change is always slow esp when temptations are many.
from the way i look at it....there's still somebody who's doing something. and in that way its a whole lot good than letting it fall in the hands of the useless bureaucrats and destroying everything in a matter of mins.
bips.
"They are not bothered because they wouldn’t give up their luxurious life or mad rush for money for anything in this world. Even if it means giving up Earth"
This comment about city folk made me remember something about the "Greatest Nation in the world" which every Nation wants to emulate.
If every person in the world consumed as much as the average American does, we would need 6 planet Earths, here you are talking of giving up just one :-)
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