Gramya Manthan is about Rural Immersion and intends to give us a first hand experience of village life - people, resources, ecosystem, mindset, problems, and possible rays of hope!
It's entirely managed by youngsters, and the oldest person in the organizing team was 28 years old. Still the team did extraordinary work and the experience we 25 participants had was incredible beyond words can convey!
Initial days involved meeting up with role models-cum-mentors, which included Anshu Gupta and Ravi Gulati, along with networking amongst ourselves. This was the extraordinary part as all of us got to share so much about our lives. It was like the lifeline session exemplified multifold.
After being divided into three groups, each group was allotted a village according to their choice of interest - Education, Livelihood or Sanitation. Each member was to spend 1.5 days totally with a family in the village.
I was in Ganga Deen Nevada village for livelihood, where there is NO ELECTRICITY! Can't share how it feels to walk in total darkness amidst hefty buffaloes, gutter openings, mud and gobar everywhere! But the love and welcome by the family was incredible. Auntyji made me laugh and I felt like it's my second home.
Back to business, we spent the rest 5 days surveying for data, brainstorming on the possibilities, TALKING to people, sharing the possibilities with them, making them join hands and come together. It's one thing to WRITE all this here, and it's totally another to actually LIVE it out there. With villagers laughing at us, it was tough to stay strong and focused, but we became a part of the DEHAT and lived their pain with them.
I had tears in my eyes when I saw the photos on the last day. I had never been to a village, and when people asked me "Aap kis gaon ke hain?" I used to say that I've always lived in a city. But yesterday someone asked me the same question and I replied "Ganga Deen Nevada" :-)
It's entirely managed by youngsters, and the oldest person in the organizing team was 28 years old. Still the team did extraordinary work and the experience we 25 participants had was incredible beyond words can convey!
Initial days involved meeting up with role models-cum-mentors, which included Anshu Gupta and Ravi Gulati, along with networking amongst ourselves. This was the extraordinary part as all of us got to share so much about our lives. It was like the lifeline session exemplified multifold.
After being divided into three groups, each group was allotted a village according to their choice of interest - Education, Livelihood or Sanitation. Each member was to spend 1.5 days totally with a family in the village.
I was in Ganga Deen Nevada village for livelihood, where there is NO ELECTRICITY! Can't share how it feels to walk in total darkness amidst hefty buffaloes, gutter openings, mud and gobar everywhere! But the love and welcome by the family was incredible. Auntyji made me laugh and I felt like it's my second home.
Back to business, we spent the rest 5 days surveying for data, brainstorming on the possibilities, TALKING to people, sharing the possibilities with them, making them join hands and come together. It's one thing to WRITE all this here, and it's totally another to actually LIVE it out there. With villagers laughing at us, it was tough to stay strong and focused, but we became a part of the DEHAT and lived their pain with them.
I had tears in my eyes when I saw the photos on the last day. I had never been to a village, and when people asked me "Aap kis gaon ke hain?" I used to say that I've always lived in a city. But yesterday someone asked me the same question and I replied "Ganga Deen Nevada" :-)
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