Konkan Vidya Prasarak Mandal, Mumbai has been established towards looking after the progress.
Shridhar Rane and others accompanied us (us ==
Ashish,
Anu,
Jay, Atul, Prajakta) from Mumbai
despite their busy schedules. We got to Vaibhavwadi Rd. by the overnight
Konkan Kanya. A jeep took us to Mangavli from there.
After getting some rest at Shantaram Javadekar's place, we went to visit the various facilities. The tour started with the Pradnyatai Shridhar Phadke Mahila Udyog Kendra. Here cloth sewing is carried out ('kerchiefs, bags etc. using 6 sewing machines). Recently they have also started producing "haat sadiche tandul" (hand polished rice) and flours from some cereals (e.g. Udad). We saw here the "traditional" welcoming whereby 5 suwasinis performed "owalane" with niranjans and haldi-kunku. This was repeated later at the entrance of the middle school along with children lining up the two sides of the road scattering petals and then an NCC parade. I do not like such things which to me seem to be for show and pomp and to impress the "VIP". However, it was explained to me that this is a place that is far from anywhere, and rarely does anyone of import come here and so these times are the only ones when they get to enjoy doing such a thing. I also do not understand how someone can enjoy doing such a thing, but I have seen enough people enjoy it and so I believe it. I bought the argument. Still, did not much like the thought of children spending too much time in rehearsing stuff like swagat geete (welcome songs) which incidentally, were well performed.
There was also a photo of Aniruddha bapu on the wall. I am told he is a great
social activist besides being a guru. I do not mind if someone's work prompts
others to do more. However, it is his work that should be propagated rather than it
being turned into more idol worship. Unfortunately, we already have too many of those.
At the middle school an art exhibition was set-up. There were some lovely examples of drawings, paintings as well as small sculptures. Given the fact that the school runs mostly without any library books and other advance equipment, the effort was more than commendable. the teachers have made several charts on their own to teach/explain various concepts. The school does have 4 computers, 3 of which run windows 3.1 and the other runs windows 95. Of course they do not have any CD drive or USB support. Some educational software exists on them. Something like LOGO will go a long way starting the children off. A plan of action has been suggested whereby Atul could follow-up with software and better hardware.
The school is fully supported by the government, meaning it just pays the salaries of the 4 teachers. There is just a cupboard full of instruments for all 3 grades together (~150 students). That too can in principle be rectified using the help of individuals like Vivek Wagh who are into low-cost instrument making or organizations like Vidnyan-Vahini.
Next to the school is a hostel. It s only close to the exams that students who normally reside in other villages come and stay there. All round the year students are provided a nutritious rice drink.
Rather than giving a talk to the students (as I had been asked to), I said I will
let them ask questions and talk to them about it (I still remember how bored we used to
get when someone would bore us with an "important" talk. The questions came faster than
I had thought. They were mainly based on three themes: (1) Mars (blame NASA/Bush for that),
(2) Meteors (partly to do with bad omens), and (3) Man (or his origin on Earth). The
teachers could have partly contributed to the selection effect. Mars, I could talk cleanly
about. Meteors were unambiguously dealt with as well. About Man too I was on firm footing,
but a former discussion with Shantaram kaka had cautioned me to be not too attacking on the
superstition issue as these issues need to be dealt with gradually. As a result, I kept
on making a balancing act. Anu/Prajakta helped ably and Shridharkaka too pitched in at the
right moments. There were also interesting questions about inertia, farming implements used
in the US, and if the US is indeed a Freudian mistake. Some of these were from the villagers
who had also turned up in plenty. Someone also asked us a question we clarified we were
not really qualified to reply: what advice would we give to the young students. Riding on
Atul's exquisite statistics about how many people of what age work (no children or retired
people or housewives do, and then there are Govt. offices), how under 10% of the population
is carrying forth the whole country, we made remarks about treating all jobs as important,
trying to be self-reliant, not neglecting agriculture etc.
As the overhead display shows, the primary school regularly bags many shields from
various competitions.
Mangavli is divided into 12 wadis (with a total population of ~3500). The wadis are
scattered, and are supplied water by 2 wells, one of which is shown here. Though
Mangavli is in Konkan, it is not close to the sea and is on the dry side.
As elsewhere, people here revere their Gods. But the good thing is that the temples
have not been commercialized and still wear the charm that old temples do. It is
difficult to deal with the superstitions that go with it though. Some people believe,
for instance, that the shivling grows every year by a little bit. It can easily be a
rumour spread by people who could in principle benefit by it, but is not easy to
verify without getting tempers raised. It seems such an ideal place, but such "small"
matters often seem to mar the scene. Many people tend to ignore it so long as progress
keep happening on other fronts. That may be a pragmatic approach, but may be some
scientific methodology and a bit of skepticism being introduced may not be out of place.
The real important thing is to help people think for themselves. Then everything will
happen by itself.
Shantaram Javadekar has his practice in Pune, spends some time in the US, but it is his
stays in Mangavli that have been instrumental in getting the place moving towards
development. His abode is a small place with a well. We were hosted there and
enjoyed the hospitality of the locals (the choice was a hotel in Vaibhavwadi and we
of course decided against that).
One of the areas being stressed is alternate agriculture. Traditionally Mangavlikars
grow only rice. What that means is that they use their land only for 4 months. Through his
farmhouse (and that of a few others) Shantaramkaka is trying to get Cashew, Jackfruit etc.
in in a big way. It seems to be a tough task though. It is not easy to get people to
work three times as much, water is not in plenty, and in general the preparation does
not seem to be enough at this point for the villagers to adopt this in a big way. But
miracles need not be expected - these things will need time and one should keep pushing.
The place is replete with birds as any rural place, especially in this part of
the country would be. I had always thought that villagers know much more about
plants and trees and birds than us city-dwellers who typically grow up
thinking eggs come from the local grocery store. However, I found a rather
appalling general ignorance about the names of birds and trees. True, names
do not mean much, but if you can't distinguish them with such handles, you
can't possibly employ them to differential usages or base your actions on
their behaviour. Also, if you actually observe them, you will necessarily name
them. It is not that they are not observant or keen. It just seems that they
never had an exposure. In the morning when I set out for birdwatching, I got
three young and eager followers who could spot birds quickly though they
had never done such a thing for the sake of it before. Such activities should
be encouraged in the school. I have since passed on a bird identification book.
I also met Nandu Kshirsagar (a close acquaintance of Shri Rane) who has been
involved in the making of a lovely VCD "ganare aakash" on birds who said
that he will take it to Mangavli. Incidentally, during our stay there we saw
Serpent Crested Eagle and
Hornbill among many other species
(
Drongo [kotawaal],
Kingfisher [kha.nDyaa],
small green bea-eater [veDaa raaghu],
tree pie [takaachor],
woodpecker etc.).
Shantaram Javdekar is an expert on trees, but we missed his presence at
Mangavli.
We would obviously have liked to stay longer, but other duties beaconed. We discussed possible future lines of action for further advancing the community. All people seem to share a sense of curiosity not frequently found across classes - from household workers to school teachers. This was evident in handling the binoculars during "aakashdarshan" and for birdwatching. The town is clean and people simple. The Konkan Shikshan Prasarak sanstha and all concerned should be highly commended for their involvement.
General future directions:
Shri and Sou Shridhar Rane, Sau Reshma Lingayat, Mahensh and Suwarna Sansare,
Sau Sunanda Aire, Sau Kolte, Sau Panchal,
Chandrashekhar Hazare, SS Patil, S D Patil,
Shri and Sau Bhosale, Sharad Kamble, Tanaji Kamble, Manohar Dikey,
Bodke and many others, besides Ashish, Anu, Jay Mahabal, Atul Upadyay, Prajakta Joshi-Upadhyay