Learning through meanderings …

Sufaid, Jalal, Impana, Sufian, Dilshad and Illias visited Reach India during the weekends. Impana and Sufaid reached at the wee hours on Saturday morning. I picked them up from Mananthavady. Jalal joined us on Saturday afternoon and Sufian made his presence felt late on Saturday evening.

While Sufaid and Impana rested of Saturday morning, I went on to attend the Gram Sabha at Korom. It was evening by the time I came back home. When I returned, Jalal had already joined Sufaid and Impana.

Mask painting!

As the evening progressed, Impana suggested to paint and decided to paint Warli paintings on the wall. Jalal was experimenting with mask painting on Sufaid’s face. Sufaid had a cool camera and I started experimenting with aperture and shutter speed. Following the dinner, I requested Sufaid to sing Khwaja ji. Sufaid has a mesmerizing voice and post dinner we sat for almost an hour singing one song after the other. Mostly it was Sufaid’s personality that set the tone for the evening. We winded up singing and retired in the guest room.

Sufian was interested in knowing what we were doing in the hills of Wayanad. I painted to him a story about Reach India Foundation right from its inception since Azim Premji University days. I informed him about the registration of organization, building the website our model of intervention. I emphasized how we are focusing on community participation in child’s education- I am quite taken by the idea of community participation these days. I am trying hard to find the source of the idea but to no avail. May be it came from my reading of Daniel Greenberg’s ‘Free at last’ or Gijubhai Badheka’s Divasvapna. Perhaps the idea stemmed from my participation in Gram Sabha for the last two days.

Sufian, is interested in waste management. He did not come across as widely read about waste management, but his passion to work was palpable. He detailed how he has planned his intervention and how he is going to execute it. He took note of our panchayat model of intervention and working closely with the gram panchayat members.

It was only 4.30 in the morning when Sufian’s alarm started ringing. Since he was cozily wrapped in a sleeping bag, he did not bother to get up and turn it off. The alarm went all, till we got quite weary. I even stated weaving the alarm ringtones into my dreams. Thanks to his alarm, the morning walk got delayed.

Morning walk along the tea estates

The tea estates served an ideal place for morning walk. Armed with a camera we stared uphill. Spiders were the first to get our attending then the tea manufacturing process, then the people working in the tea estates. We caught up with Krishna Appa, one of our neighbors and milked the history of Parisons tea estate. The new owner apparently bought the entire estates for 44 Cr, five years ago and presently they would not sell it even for 200 Cr. Krishna Appa was on his way to the temple. We bid him farewell.

Sufian, even though joined us late in the evening on Saturday had found his niche. Impana and Jalal tried their best to coax him to stay for the rest of the day. However Sufian could not ignore his wife’s dictum on attending one of her relative’s marriage. Sufian, having patiently heard Jalal and Impana, declared- People, marriage is oppression. Please do not get married. Sufian left us at ten in the morning after having breakfast and exchanging numbers and email id.

Revisiting childhood!

Rest of us decided to visit Banasura Dam. Before we set off, I accompanied Sufaid, Jalal and Impana to two of our neighbor’s home. Both Sainaba and Sujathan share good bond with us. We reached Banasura by 1 pm. I liked the rope swings and thought play elements like these should be a part of our creative space. All we need is a wooden plank and rope. Trees we have plenty.

During the day, we were drifting in and out of our conversation and imagination. The weather was sweltering hot. We had our lunch at Padinjarthara and came back home. One tune that stuck with me and us was ‘Kantha’. The folk song inspired form Thrissur Puram is a lively song. I could not hit the right note, but still did not mind singing.

I noticed quite a few tourists from above North of India. Even foreign tourists were seen. However, the vast majority consisted on locals. The dressing code suggestive of the religious orientation also depicted the demography of Wayanad.

We reached home before sunset and visited the nearby steam for a quiet read and possibly bath. We quit the idea of bathing since the water was only ankle deep. We had our share of fun though.

Praying for more water!

Dilshad and Illias called up and said they will be joining us late in the evening. Illias had been here before however Dilshad was coming here for the first time. Post dinner we had a luxurious time discussion our philosophy of Reach India’s Intervention. Dilshad and I stayed awake for a long time before we dozed off. Before sleeping, Dilshad said, Janaki-Marriage is a beautiful thing and you must get married soon. I guess, I have to find it for myself, I thought myself. 

Jellying well-Grandmother, mother, sister with Impana.

Early morning, everyone packed off in Dilshad’s car.