Students of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) as part of their two year MBA course experience three internships in the development sector. The first of these is conducted after the first trimester of studies and takes place in a village. Amit Goel, a first year student at the institute spent his first internship in Dandkala a a border village in Rajasthan. He recounts the unique experience that the 50 day internship stint at the village was for him and the deep impact that work in the village left on his perspective as a future entrant in the development sector.
I was born and brought up in Delhi and barring two short visits to villages as part of preliminary orientation programmes conducted by IRMA, had never visited a village. I had also never visited Rajasthan in the past and hence was suitably excited about this visit to the state. Our bus crossed the city of Bikaner, drove towards the village and we were catapulted into an entirely different world. Dandkala is a multi caste village with Rajputs, Jaats and Nai staying in different hamlets of the village which is situated 50 kilometres from Indiaas western border. Pakistan refugees who settled on this side of the border after the 1971 Indo-Pak war started Dandkala in this desert district.
The village topography consists of undulating plains blended with shifting sand hills, the slopes of which are lightly furrowed by the windas action. There are no rivulets or streams and the panorama it presents is that of an expanse of sand intermittently broken by sand features and a few habitations. The literacy level in the village is very low at around 40 percent. In the beginning of 2008, primary school had been upgraded from class five to class eight. The school was established in the year 1992. The inhabitants build their own houses using locally available materials like grass, wood, shrubs, mud bricks that are unfired and plastered with a mixture of mud and cow dung.
The climate and the terrain make it one of the most inhospitable areas in the world. The temperature in the area varies widely. It may come down to the level of 5AC during night time in the winter season and go up as high as 45 – 48AC during the summer. However it is the people – The Pak Visthapits, who provide an all pervading aura of uniqueness to this village.
I was quite shocked on discovering that the village had no electricity, roads, muddy water and toilets. The first thought which crossed my mind after I had recovered from this jolt was: the next 50 days would be challenging. I thanked the Almighty for leading me to such a village; a near replica of the village which I had dreamt of on so many occasions. Life would undoubtedly be tough. However, it would also be full of opportunities for me to display potential that I knew I possessed in abundance. On completion of my fieldwork and by virtue of my small but sincere and dedicated efforts, I wished to leave the village as a better place to inhabit. I also desired that my association with the host organization and village continue even after the conclusion of this assignment.
I learnt basic activities such as cooking and washing clothes. I realised the importance of resources like water. The ability to work in an organization, manage time and money, observe and then analyze, look into the root cause of a problem by imagining oneself to be in the other personas place and devise practical solutions were all skills that I imbibed in the environs of this village. Most importantly, I learnt that with power comes responsibility and so words must truly be chosen carefully.
Dandkala is a major centre for the income generating activity of the URMUL Trust – an NGO operating in the village. Women here are renowned for the exquisite embroidery that they practise. The earnings from this activity form a major source of income for the families where women do Kashida embroidery. Income from this has proved to be an alternate and regular source of income for the artisans of Dandkala. Women can, on an average, earn the sizable amount of Rs 2,000 per month. It increases the self-confidence of the women, providing them with an opportunity of becoming primary bread winners and hence dictate terms.
The villagers were friendly and helpful, not wary of us. Interestingly, they evidenced a very good understanding of caste and class issues and, mainly due to ideological leanings, exhibited a significant level of political consciousness in terms of party politics. They did emphasize on the skills needed for managing the environment and earning a living. They also elaborated on talks of marriage, children, and their socialization within a community of relationships.
A major component of my stay at the village was listening to the villagers through the day, observing and interacting with poor families. This involved getting to know their life experiences, learning from and helping them and also encouraging them to voice their ideas of well-being and ill-being. Prior to this experience, I knew nothing about what it is like to be poor. After seeing the poverty of Dandkala, I have learnt to be grateful for what I have.
There are close to no private toilets in Dandkala. All villagers (including women) go to the open fields for washing purposes. Only two affluent families enjoyed the provision of private toilets. Within one week of my stay, I made up my mind that the family which hosted me must have a proper toilet. I motivated the family to construct a toilet and with me providing financial assurance, the toilet got constructed within the next week. I provided all the technical expertise needed for constructing a toilet. It was a wonderfully satisfying experience for me.
I can never forget the hospitality which I received from the villagers of Dandkala, particularly from the family which hosted me. Inspite of the family members being under a huge financial debt, they still took care of both of us as if we were their own children. They do not eat rice and vegetables because of the high prices of these items but they cooked delicious pulav and prepared vegetables everyday to make sure that we got proper food. Words cannot describe their love for us. I still remember how our host got worried when we told them that we wanted to go in the Rajput Hamlet for a transect walk (information gathering exercise).
There was no electricity in the village despite it being an electrified village in government records. I felt strongly against this anomaly, involved the community in writing the application for village electrification and motivated them to talk to the local MLA – Mr. Devi Singh Bhati. These were some of my most exciting experiences in Dandkal. The effort put in by the villagers gave immediate returns and within twelve days of submitting the application, the electricity meters got installed in the houses of all those families who had submitted the file earlier. This collective action convinced me that villagers required facilitators and not sympathizers.
My theme paper of aEmbroidery Marketinga helped me immensely to understand the dynamics of marketing in a rural area such as Dandkala. It was an eye opener to see a reputed clothing product such as Fab India being produced here. I had never imagined that such expensive and high quality kurtas could be produced in a village. I sold kurtas in the exhibition (organised by URMUL) at Delhi Haat in Delhi and this immensely boosted my confidence as I practically interacted with the customers. The most important lesson which I learned was the importance of learning to manage and work with limited resources
In hindsight, I feel that constructing a toilet in the house of the family that hosted me and working for village electrification were some of the most memorable activities that we undertook during my stay at the village. The acts of planting trees (55 saplings) and creating awareness about vasectomy in the village are other experiences which I can never forget. These experiences have now become vivid memories which I am sure will remain guiding lights through my life, at all times.
I learned quite a lot during my stay in Dandkala. The first hand experience of the intricacies of rural village life helped me to understand some issues related to development that simply cannot be taught in a textbook, but instead need to be experienced. The experiences I underwent throughout this period, no matter how subtle they were have enriched me as a person and will remain with me for rest of my life. I learnt how a village exists as an aggregation of castes and communities. Development certainly is a long road but, in a world where most paths wash out long before reaching anywhere, it is certainly a road well worth extending and maintaining.