After Ahmedabad, I wasn’t up for another excursion, I was finally feeling the weight of the six weeks, and so I went to Anera with my grandparents for a recuperation day. I ended up talking about histories, like the JP (Jay Prakash Narayan) and Vinoba split over emergency, I had never discussed with them. As they age, spending the few extra moments I had on the trip with them became more precious, and just sitting on the same swing as Ba as I read the newspaper was treasure. (Later, when saying goodbye to my Dada on the phone in Mumbai as I was leaving for the States, he joked that Ba was going through Aashna Withdrawal – the house felt lonely without us)
I am embarrassed to say I also chased a few peacocks wildly and clucked loudly, hoping to scare them into opening their feathers. Needless to say, it didn’t work at all! Damn peacocks are fast. And I finally got to hang out with people around my age. I love you all oldies, but there are some things you just don’t get. The girls asked me A LOT of questions about America and marriage and boys and Hollywood. And we danced and talked at night for so long. My cousins who went to the Golden Jubilee celebration in 09 know what I’m talking about… they LAUGH SO FREAKING MUCH. At me? Very likely.
In the morning, I visited the offices of the teachers who are so affectionate towards me. Many of them taught my mom when she was 15, and also saw me grow up in between my visits, from my cute baby days to (even cuter) teenage years. When I visited all the classrooms, the kids from each class took a break from their studies as the teacher welcomed me into the room. I was in the spotlight, the grueling hot seat of answering questions from what school is like in America to how big highways are to whether or not I was getting married soon. The last one is a definite no, by the way to all you curious ones out there.
I met some really fun and interesting kids. It was a blast. My dad was in Dungurpur, RJ at the same time I was in Anera so we met to go to Baria in Shamlaji at around 3. Then after some bus switching (a definite experience to travel with different levels of society in overflowing public transport) and van taking, we found ourselves at Neeta’s home in Devgad Baria at around 9pm.
Like all good things, this trip couldn’t last forever, no matter how bad I wanted it too. This entry is the last of our excursions in GJ and India in the Summer of 2011, but without a doubt the most fruitful and enriching.
We debated endlessly whether to spend our last mini-trip in Kutch or in Baria, with a tireless, comprehensive, and empathetic NGO head/ activist friend. Neeta and three other friends of her founded and ran Anandi, an organization that has expanded to Ahmedabad and Rajkot. Neeta and the other successful three women founded Anandi as a women’s empowering organization. I’ll inform you about their purpose and mission through an excerpt from http://anandi-india.org/SupportingLocalwomenleadership.aspx.
Also check out the Time coverpage on them.
“Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI) is a voluntary organisation (VO) working in rural and tribal areas of Gujarat since 1995. It adopts an empowerment and a rights-based approach. Founded by five professional women with experience in the development sector, ANANDI helps poor families of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including the Tribals, Dalits, and Muslims to move out of poverty conditions.”
“ANANDI works with women of marginalized and poor communities. The founder members believed that without the Involvement of women, no development is sustainable. The starting point is the formation of mahila mandals (women's' collectives) to help women prioritise their problems, undertake collective action, to make representations to the government authorities for their entitlements. The women gain confidence and legitimacy as citizens when the state responds to their needs. When the women realize that some of the problems are beyond the realm of the village and more regional, they federate to form Sangathans. This gives them visibility at the block and district level."
ANANDI provides capacity building support to the sangathans on leadership skills, feminist analysis, conflict management, negotiation and representation with the idea that they are able to function independently and recognized in their own right. The three sangathans that ANANDI has promoted are Devgadh Mahila Sangathan, Panam Mahila Sangathan and Maliya Mahila Sangathan. Together, they have a membership over 5000 women.”
I hope that gives you an idea. Organization mission statements are carefully crafted and succinctly written for readers like us. I hope you check out the website’s empowerment section.
I have to tell you all that I have a special connection to Neeta and Anandi. Remember in the Agarias section I told you I visited the salt panning area and the agariya schoolchildren when I was 7? Well, I also went on motorcycle with Neeta and my dad all around GJ at that age! To be honest, riding on the motorcycle is the only mental image I have salvaged from that trip, but the exhilaration and fascination of that motorcycle has instilled a permanent love for all journeys where the motorbike plays even a minor role. Something in the strong breeze and freedom I think. My dad and I had also sat on top of a jeep together. Yeah I was a pretty wild 7 year old.
10 years later, it was thrilling to be back with Neeta. This time I could actually understand the dynamics of Anandi’s work and learn from Neeta about her economic research analysis and discussions about women’s increasingly larger role not only in their households, but also on the panchayat and district level and how these progressions have been made. This part of the trip, I did the most observing and learning, a type of educational enrichment I ceaselessly listened to with unwavering attention. School and structured classes seemed so far away.
After talking till midnight, the next morning (the 29th) we walked through the town of Baria to the office of Anandi. Baria is a nice environment— there is even a square that looks like the city planners took a trip to Amsterdam and found unquenchable inspiration. At the Anandi office all the staff, who are responsible for different wings and projects, told us what they do and what current initiatives they are involved with. Two talented women have created movies that focus on issues like domestic violence, Hindu Muslim riots and what happened to women, witch calling (will get to that soon), women farmers, etc. The initiatives foster understanding and camaraderie within these communities; they are not targeting outside audiences only, like many social working videographers do.
A big issue Anandi focuses on is helping poorer rural women with their finances, by creating and then supporting collective savings and credit. Microfinance was developed in response to predatory lenders charging mind-boggling interest rates like 400% and hostile banks not open for those without credit. Microfinance is severely limited though, so Anandi goes a step beyond not just to secure financial safety, but also to create social linkages and food security as a lasting priority. Women can loan from the grain bank and can not only bond over their domestic and social issues, but also work on development challenges facing their communities and take all these problems forward legally, to the panchayat and in many cases the district. That impresses me greatly! Finances constitute a major part of a woman’s needs, but without some sort of food security and social buttress, collectives meant only for monetary succor are woefully inadequate.
The Anandi faculty helps the panchayat decide on how NAREGA projects can best serve the locals by community mapping with each ward in the panchayat. As the pictures below show, ward citizens draw all the huts, anganvadis, pumps, rivers, roads, paths, everything in their ward, communally. There is a check or x next to each pump or bridge dependent upon if it is working or not. Each asset’s condition is documented, because just because a pump is present doesn’t mean that it delivers sanitary water when needed to all nearby inhabitants who depend on that very pump for bathing, drinking, washing etc. This way, villagers can together visualize what needs are taken care of, what caste/communities have what resources, which infrastructure needs fixing, and what NAREGA work can be accomplished. The facts are laid in front of the panchayat, all sectarian opinions aside. This way, NAREGA resources are adequately allocated, because often times the panchayat’s selection process is arbitrary to what villagers want and need, and those basic needs continue to cause severe problems for years by remaining unmet. This community mapping elucidates the answer clearly and collectively. Of course, after seeing what each ward demands the project is ultimately decided by the panchayat leaders together.
Remember when we talked about the social audit in Bihar? Both Anandi’s work and audits attempt to extract as much out of government programs like NREGA and the food-ICDS schemes. The programs compliment each other, but one is an initial attempt to best allocate projects on the local level so NREGA best serves the community workers who lay the bricks. The social audit on the other hand does a final evaluation of the project—how much money workers received, how far the project was from the finish line, etc. I noticed that Anandi gets to interact with the villagers more deeply and cohesively.
Anandi legally supports women bringing cases of domestic violence or compensations questions to the district level. For example, one woman and her husband were farming in their field last monsoon season, which happens to be on the border of the Forest Department’s ever increasing forest sanctuary limits. One day, a bear and her cubs wandered into their field. Mama bears are insanely protective of their children, so she lost control just seeing them close to her babies and mauled the two poor farmers! It was some time before neighbors saw and pulled the two to safety. He died of the severe wounds immediately, and after months of intensive care in the hospital she is finally recovering, though her face is destroyed. She apparently has to pay for the astronomical hospital costs herself and is still not getting any of the one lakh rupees compensation the courts earlier ordered the sanctuary to give her. In comparison to a lost husband and lost means of living, the amount is not huge at all. It breaks our heart that she must fight for what she very superficially deserves still one year after the harrowing incident. She is pressing this issue to the district courts. Keep your fingers crossed she gets her money and can move on with her life.
For the second case, we went to the field with Neeta to get more information. Because five of us were going, we couldn’t all fit onto one bike whose capacity size is MAX four people, one of them being small child (by Indian standards only). So guess who got the keys? Don’t start having heartburn now, it wasn’t me.
So we were off! No greater fun exists than speeding in a bike in monsoon season through the farmers driving the bullocks, the sun mildly grazing your skin, the leafy green vegetation overflowing to every corner the eye can see. It was BEAUTIFUL!! I passionately, dogmatically, resolutely believe that when traveling, the bike is the most superior method of transport because the eyes can take in EVERYTHING and feeling the muscles of the wind becomes the definition of knowing you are free.
Bike at 7. Bike t 17. Oh yeah.
After half an hour of bliss, we were in the village. After some walking, we arrived at the hut of some women and men who have and still are working with the organization. We sat on a tarp covering with 8 women and three men, discussing their problems and happinesses as the Anandi staff caught up on the overview of their current situation. Then the second case came up. One poor, poor man lost his wife due to cervical cancer, quite un-rare in these areas. He is absolutely destitute, and any savings he had went into finding some medical care for his wife. She passed away very recently, and he struggles to support his three children 10, 12, and 6. Anandi and the entire village helped build a hut for his family after she died so the children could stay home alone when the father was off trying to cultivate his meager land for some income. Everyone got together to volunteer his or her time and effort for the community cause. But the man is having severe money limitations. His 10 year old son ran away to Jamnagar, on the opposite side of the state, to earn some money by picking cotton without telling his dad. Here comes the case. Out of severe frustration and anger, he went out drinking one night and ended up calling his aunt a witch, a terrible accusation in these communities. The name-calling can have severe repercussions, from ostracizing to beating to even killing the woman by her family. We were in the aunt’s son’s (the widower’s cousin) house and they were all having an animated talk about it. The man regrets it, but the woman is lucky her family supports her and backs her otherwise she could have been kicked out onto the streets by now. The matter may be settled in the district court, because it went unresolved at the panchayat level.
Other important facts I learned through going to their informal meeting was that many of the poor in the area don’t qualify for BPL (below poverty line), which in turn is linked not only to BPL compensation but food subsidies, gas subsidies, anganvadi fee waivers, extra dal chaval etc. For the poor, qualifying for BPL can make a vast difference in their daily struggles. The panchayat decides, not even interviewing the 1000 people under its jurisdiction. Also there are some systemic errors to the question. For example the disability question is almost always skipped and there is no question for child labor or quality of things like water at the local pump, key questions that give great insights into the needs of a family.
Also, there are problems with people answering questions, like including parents and cousins into how many people are in their immediate family. Or double counting a family’s land, making one son seem he has more than he actually does. The BPL survey is to be done again later this month electronically, so the villagers needed to be trained to understand the questions government researchers will ask them.
After a 4:30 lunch in the village, we sped off back to the office, watching the limitless chameleon become an intense yellow and orange rose.
It was late by the time we returned home for our second and last night with Anandi. I was also doing a lot of coughing and sneezing… monsoon season has finally caught up with us – no the bike ride had nothing to do with it, I insist!
The theme of our last day with ANANDI was luck. We spent a couple hours at the office before heading out to a village to talk to an older woman and her husband. The heavy rain impeded travel by the coveted motorbike (alas! What happens when you love a thing too much!), so we instead hitched a ride on one of these thingies that is kind of like a mini-truck. It has an engine and a front seat that attaches to a wooden box about 8X10 in length where people hop on and off depending upon where they are getting off. Like a far simpler and more farm animal version of a mini-bus. At one point there were 35 people in the small space face to face, face to armpit, face to butt. My theory is that public transportation like buses doesn’t stop at village nexuses and individual rickshaws are too expensive for most people who don’t own a motorbike—like taking a helicopter from Ballantyne to Stonecrest). After 45 minutes and a sweet driver who basically took the four of us as far as the road existed (getting that far without walking is incredibly rare), we walked to the house of a powerfully sharp and intelligent woman and her sweet husband. She helps the local village as a midwife and assists pregnant women with prenatal concerns. She is also sort of their developmental trouble-shooter-in-chief.
That is their hut on the outside. It is literally on a steep incline. I have trouble envisaging how locals farm in such a mountainous and rocky region.
Their hut is made out of the stalks of the tuwer dahl plant.
Gujarat recently adopted 208, its version of 911. As a mere observer, it seems to me that the program is quite successful, even on the congested streets of Ahmedabad. The lady said 208 does a good job, but it takes time for the van to get to the village, and many people in this hilly landscape live farther away in more inaccessible parts. This is a major difficulty, especially for pregnant women. Also, the emergency vehicle obviously only provides transport to the hospital, so getting home for a lot of them is difficult. Renting a transport vehicle for both journeys ends up being simpler. Still, 208 is quite a success.
But the situation at the hospital remains pitiful. Understaffed and operating on a bribe system, most opt out of hospital deliveries. As soon as the delivery has finished, the woman and her baby are discharged two hours later to increase efficiency and open up beds.
Doctors in private hospitals with a government contract are paid in advance, based on expected births in the area. Quite odd logic.
The midwife said most deliveries still happen in the village! But if women went to the hospitals, they might qualify for some vitamins given to lactating women, some important literature etc. it would increase their access to institutionalized incentives and information.
She has a leg that is constantly in pain, so her husband does all the household work AND farms his entire plot by himself. There is no one to help him; they have no children. It was refreshing and impressive to see such a man devoted to his wife and responsibilities. He was very affectionate and open; he told me about a mountain in the distance and local stories as I took pictures of the scenery as he smoked bidi.
He is so sweet.
A woman is making chapatis, like bread on a very simple stove lit with fuel wood. There is no electricity in this area.
Haha Narendra Modi in his high-flying Gujarati wrote them a letter about how great the people of Gujarat are and supposedly enclosed compensation for sacrficing their land for the benefit of the state. The money envelope LITERALLY came empty.
We walked a few kilometers to reach a spot where we could get the mass-private transportation back to Baria. This time the vehicle was even smaller. It’s an innovation of an Indian company for Indian rural markets. My dad wants me to say it’s so cool. I think it looked like an 18th century fire truck. My dad got to sit with the driver – it was literally a child’s play. A boy younger than me was driving it. They talked about the economics of this as a business – my dad told me later. In addition to doing these local rounds, the transporter also ferries the adiviasis to far off corners of the state for seasonal work in irrigated agriculture or construction and other odd urban labor.
A mountain in the distance. People actually live on the top!
Family doing kheti below.
After this full day in the field and then we all rushed to catch the last direct bus to Ahmedabad. The next morning there was a meeting that all of us were supposed to attend. In addition to heading ANANDI, Neeta is also the current president of Janpath, the first woman, of the statewide network of voluntary organizations, and it was the main sponsor of the statewide meeting that we were going to attend. Neeta also joined us on the night bus last minute, so we got the bus to stop by her neighborhood so she could hop on after. Anandi gets special treatment in Baria ;). We reached quite late at night and the meeting was in the morning all day. We had to pack our bags to return to the States the next day! So like the good daughter I am, I stayed home and did just that.
Goats are awesome.
