Those Nine Days Witnessed Our Urban Plasters Peel Off : Spriha, Gramya Manthan'14

Spriha talking with women during a Health Camp in Tishti village

How does one write about the deepest joy and the truest sense of freedom experienced through a program like Gramya Manthan? Nine days and twenty five new faces, we set out on an unforgettable journey of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and identifying our real potential...

Though it has been nearly ten months since that fortnight last summer, when I close my eyes and silence all thoughts, it comes back to me. The sight of those villages, happy children playing barefoot, shy women dressed in colorful sarees offering sweet delicacies, humble homes with lazy cattle and hardworking men, that quaint evening at Paliya village during sunset, and that busy morning in Tishti dehat as i woke up to the sound of cows mooing and hens cackling. 

Away from the hustle bustle of the metropolitan cities, devoid of the clatter and confusion of the frivolities that accompany our daily lives, and in the absence of a constant restlessness that usually surrounds us, I heard my own thoughts and listened to what my heart spoke. The physically exhausting living conditions of forty five degree Celsius in those electricity deficient villages were overlooked as each of us stretched our mental blocks and constraints. As we stepped into the dehat, we walked out of our comfort zones. Enjoying a drink of water from the tube wells and eating lunch under the shade of a Banyan tree, stealing a quick nap lying on hay mattresses and taking respite from the torrid summer, those nine days witnessed our urban plasters peel off. We were not only introduced to the joyous notion of Simplicity, but came to cherish it so well and lovingly!

Questioning our basic assumptions, unveiling our conscience to the higher truth, and realizing where we’d gone wrong all these years, the structured pattern of activities thus designed facilitated in our introspection. Glancing into rural life was one aspect of the program; peeking into our hearts was perhaps the real motive of Gramya Manthan. Staying in Tishti dehat, hosted at a humble residence of a particularly sweet family- as sweet as the milk they lovingly offered, sharing our views of the world in general and love in particular over morsels of heavenly traditional food, I realized what it meant to travel and to be changed. Working on improving Health and Sanitary conditions in the village, it dawned on me how deeply empathy and happiness were connected.

I’d go back to Gramya Manthan for it all: the lifelong friendships, the early morning silence sessions, those deeply satisfying conversations, the bus rides and the exotic scenery, my most cherished meetings with them content villagers there, that five year old smiling girl who’d tag along with us all through the dehat, the meticulously organized Health Camp, patiently helping old women figure out their health concerns… but mostly I’d go back for those few moments I’d experienced as I slept in the village that one particular night, on the terrace under a starry sky, completely spent from the day’s work, listening the sweet whisperings of the family who hosted me at their place, lulled by the evening breeze, and wondering if I’d ever been that awakened and joyous as I felt then...