That concludes our trip outside of Gujarat. A key reason we started our trip outside of GJ for the initial three weeks was so I could distance myself from GJ and relate to India outside of my comfort zone, formed by the fact that both my parents are from this state and we visit it regularly.
We both wanted me to form my own mental and intellectual foundations about how to delve into the social work sphere by transcending traditions and familiarities. Sooner or later I have to break barriers and, like Buddha did, embark on the path to enlightenment not by venturing to a far off place unconnected with his present, but by seeing how the other side lives just beyond the palace walls.
This first leg was about total immersion, in terms of language, issues, places and individuals we met. And so the most fruitful outcomes of visiting those initiatives in Bihar, Jharkand, and UP— areas with completely different political, cultural and socioeconomic “development” statuses was that I interacted with very distinct personalities and perspectives on how to include the “other” in India’s development process. They each approached tribal, Dalit or OBC empowerment and protection advocacy in different ways. From rallies to organized work to social audits, andolans/sangathans, and NGOs, I could myself discover and weigh in on the merits of these different approaches through my own fieldwork and interactions.
Many activists in GJ and rest of India know each other and have important observations about each other’s work, but I purposefully didn’t want to be influenced by them from the beginning, until I myself plunged into first hand experience. They must have their personal, ideological, and social resonances/disagreements with each other, having spent their lives as activists refining and coming to their own beliefs, debating with other in the vast change makers’ circle. I tried to avoid asking about all these dynamics in the initial stages of my trip. Sometimes people close to us unintentionally form a protective bubble around us, inhibiting us from grasping certain concepts and exploring ideologies or lines of work alien to them or “not the right one” in their opinions. All the same, I am so much indebted to their advice and observations. I emphatically clarify this.
On returning to Gujarat, I got to replenish myself at my grandparents’ for a day in Anera, but even that included my talking to the entire assembly of their educational institution about our experiences – and that too in Gujarati! We had no time to slow down. There were so many people to meet and so much to do that we were on the move.
Thus "the Adventures of Aashna the Indian-American" begin!
