My experiences & learnings from field work

Garima Trivedi

It is rightly said that India’s heart lies in its villages. The rural community nurtures those traditions, rituals and customs which have long been forgotten in the cities. Fieldwork was an opportunity to come closer to our culture and stay with a family in the village for over a month. During this time we tried to understand the nuances of a village life. Over the course of time as we got involved in the day to day activities, we developed a sense of bonding with the village and we often referred to it as "our" village to the outsiders.

I was excited about going to Rajasthan where I had spent some eleven years of my childhood. As our jeep crossed the city of Udaipur and drove towards the village, we were catapulted into an entirely different world. The winding roads bound by lush green hills and streams gushing with water took us by surprise. Damana is a multi caste village with the Rajputs, OBCs and tribals staying in different hamlets. We reached Peeplimala, the tribal hamlet of the village by covering the last 1.5 km on foot.

After the initial jolt on discovering no telephone, electricity, bathrooms and water, I think we did as well as the villagers in managing on our own. Our daily routine included a half - kilometer walk to the hand pump to fill water in the earthen pots (we soon accepted that they are better carried on heads), visit to the Nala which was a kilometer away to wash clothes and a sponge bath taken in the confines of our room. It didn’t take us long to appreciate the facilities one gets in the cities at the snap of our fingers. But we also learnt to respect the villagers who led such a tough life and scrambled for almost everything from food, fuel wood, fodder and water and yet showed more hospitality, affection and kindness than the people in the cities. Their capability to maneuver the limited resources is worth taking a cue from for the people in the cities who have been using these resources indiscriminately.

Tribals have a lot of customs which would look liberal to the outsiders who are part of the rather conservative society. It was surprising to know about the "prem-vivah" prevalent among the tribals which is a kind of a live- in relationship, and later the couple may consummate it into a marriage with the groom sending some token money to the bride’s father. Tribal women leaving their husbands to settle with other men or widow remarriage were quite common and openly accepted. Contrary to this the Rajput community, though financially better off, was much tougher on the women. The women stayed strictly in purdah, didn’t go to school after puberty, were not allowed to help in agricultural work, and could not remarry even if their husbands deserted them or died. Over generations they had been forced to be totally dependent on men for their identity and survival. Sometimes, the Rajput men found it rather audacious that we roamed about freely in the village and sat at the kirana shop all day talking to the customers.

Health was another issue in the village. It was heartbreaking to see mal-nourished children who did not learn to walk till the age of two. For a brief spell, a sense of helplessness and paranoia engulfed us when the village was gripped by seasonal diseases. A lot of people, including the elderly and pregnant women were not in a position to walk two to three kilometers on tough terrains to Damana hamlet to seek medical help. I was completely shaken up when I learnt that a four year old girl, Kali, died suddenly of fever at midnight. She could not get medical attention at that hour. Life in a way had toughened these villagers where almost every family had been through such crisis at some point of time.

Looking back I feel that the Rural Action Component (RAC) was one of the memorable activities we undertook in the village. Engaging the community in organizing a health camp or seeds distribution and working with the real life teams was the most exciting experience. We celebrated the success of our health camp by trekking over four kilometers, up and down the hills, to a historical temple called Kamalnath Mahadevji. Folklore says that Ravana prayed at this temple and offered his head when he was short of one lotus. All the way I was conscious of one feeling that how destiny took you to places and how my experiences were different from what my other ‘mainstream’ friends would ever have.

The experiences I underwent throughout this period, no matter how subtle they were, have enriched me as a person. I learnt how an entity called village exists as an aggregate of castes and communities. Government policies and NGO interventions have brought some relief in the lives of the people but we still have a good distance to cover before we reach our goals. However, I am optimistic that day is not far away given the enthusiasm I saw in the villagers to cope with circumstances and the support of grassroots organizations and government

Garima Trivedi from IRMA did her internship in Seva Mandir in July'07