Footprints on the Mountainside

I am just back from another ISABS lab. This is the second time I did my ALHP. This event was very special and very different in many ways.

This was a low budget initiative aimed at making ISABS and the T-Group processes accessible to sections of society that cannot afford the high budget programmes that usually happen in resorts and are willing to live in basic comfort.

This was completely different from previous experiences for me. Normally, participants live in comfortable air-con rooms on a twin or triple sharing basis, with separate areas for dining and laboratories. Here, the entire community was accommodated in four dormitories, which also doubled as labs and one of the dormitories was used as the dining room as well.

All through the duration of the community, there was a constant churning of participants among the group. You sleep with some of them, meet different people at meal times, attend your lab groups with still another set of them, prefer some of them for company in the evenings……. a constant shuffle of people you’re with, but no such thing as an isolated space for anyone.

I had been very apprehensive about this lack of space, but got so swept in the flow, that I don’t remember what exactly it was that I had been apprehensive about.

Ok, the food could have been better, the fans could have worked, and small comforts could have been missed by some, but the phenomenal community feeling was….. indescribable. People had just knitted together so close, that we had turned into one big family.

It was also an amazing experience to have such a large representation of people from the NGO sector in the community, and a valuable insight into perspectives we had never really been very close to.

I may write more about this eventually.

This post will be split into two, as there is plenty of content. I’ll focus this on the travel and the people and the next can be about the religious experience.

Getting from Sangli to Kule Narshingpur is a pain. First, there is a state transport bus journey to Islampur, which takes about an hour, and then there is the further journey by bus/rickshaw to Kule Narchingpur, which takes another half-an-hour.

We were lucky to find a luxury bus waiting as we reached the bus station at Sangli, and the journey to Islampur was comfortable and quick. Not much to do, except watch the kilometers tick by, and the wierd little conductor interact with the people on the bus in his singsong voice.

This region is all about sugarcane production, and we passed fields with sugarcane standing, or in various stages of being harvested, sugarcane loaded on tractors, bullockcarts, being stored….. whatever - sugarcane - and loads of it.

In Islampur, we gave up trying to figure out further state transport and simply hired a rickshaw to take us to our destination. The road was now bumpy. I guess the parents in law were not exactly comfortable. Raka was sitting on half the driver’s seat in the front, as these rickshaws are designed to seat only three, so I guess he wasn’t too comfortable either, but I was enjoying the ride through the countryside.

Narrow bumpy roads, blocked with bullock cart traffic - pretty heavy - we seemed to be waiting more than moving. Charming glimpses of the river, and all kinds of people chattering with our rickshaw man as we passed them. Very charmingly rural, if you overlook the not-so-charming ruts on the road.

Bullocks and goats seemed to be all over the place. Parked in front of homes having lunch, yoked, pulling carts, being loaded, unloaded…… I’ve never seen so many bullocks in one day.

We reached the home of the pujaris at our destination. Actually, the pujari on duty was someone else, but my parents in law had good relations with another, who wasn’t on duty, but we stayed with them anyway. I was surprised to find a Marathi family - I was expecting Kannada Brahmins (my in-laws are Kannada) like in Sangli. Apparently there are historical migrations and stuff involved and the seeming discrepancy was a normal state of affairs in such issues.

At least I could understand what was being said. I found myself feeling at home. The family were really charming people, complete with a really charming old widow grandmother - a typical joint family.

We visited the temple in the evening, and I have never seen such a charming location in this region (plenty in the Himalaya). What can I say, I’ll let the pics do the talking.

My parents in law are staunch theists. They believe in the multitude of Hindu Gods and the places they need to travel in order to obtain their blessings. One such location is this trip, which is actually three locations. These are the family Gods of our clan. No matter where we go, these guys are supposed to have their benevolent eye on us.

Apparently, my father in law had ignored the Gods for many years, as had his parents, and bad times came on the family, when my husband was young. Then some astrologer told them that their fortune will change if they go and meet their roots - the Gods who look after their clan. Full of suitable repentance, and reverence, they did so, and claim their luck has changed ever since. Health, happiness and money flowed.

I am skeptical. Where is this flowing health when my mother-in-law needs to take some 12 pills at one time 2-3 times a day? Diabetes, blood pressure, …. Their explanation is it could be worse. It is a matter of their previous actions that is causing them to come to these experiences now. Heh. It could be worse whether you believe in God or not.

But regardless of their beliefs and ours, I really respect them for not forcing us to conform. Except for this one thing. It is quite common in India. Newly married couples go to the temples in their villages to pray within a year of the wedding and ideally, immediately after. In our case, this didn’t happen. We managed to keep avoiding this tour because we were busy or something or the other. But whoever has lived in India, with Indian parents know, that once the mother decides on something, obedience is inevitable. It is simply a matter of time

Raka and I don’t believe this nonsense. We are both atheists. But we do love our parents, and you know how it is in India…… if your parents insist long enough, obedience is inevitable. We tried all the excuses and explanations we could. We didn’t believe, if God is everywhere, what is the need to go to a specific place…. and so on. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with our debating abilities. The parents believe that it is our divine duty and it must be done - never mind that we don’t believe - do the actions.

Whatever. We like the region and are ok with travelling there, but so many temples…..? I guess resistance is futile

So here we are. Leaving for Sangli tonight. By morning we will reach there. Then it will be a merry go round of temples and offerings. We will be supposed to show our gratitude to the powers that be for giving us good lives and asking for good lives

This promises to be very different. Stay tuned. I’m going to be back on the 9th and will be writing about this trip.

Keep an eye on what you are driving, and make sure you are keeping its pollution levels law. It is required by law, but its surprising how many people don’t really care.

Avoid using vehicles for going around the corner. The walk will do you good.

Use shared vehicles and public transport where possible. Use eco friendly fuels.

Keep an eye on what you are using. Many chemical products are harmful for the environment. Find out the effects of chemicals you use, and explore options that help you do your thing with minimum damage. Its probably healthier for you too.

Avoid cooking fires. Avoid campfires. Avoid all unnecessary smoke.

Don’t sit on the horn when traffic comes to a standstill. Your horn cannot physically move cars along. If it’s a jam, it’s a jam. If it looks like its going to take a while, switch off your engine, and have patience. Blaring horns only make a bad situation unbearable. Yeah call me fussy. I call it noise pollution.

This goes for other noise pollution stuff too. Bizarre loud celebrations in the middle of the night, loudspeakers, etc. near hospitals is a baaaaad thing to do.

Saving the environment seems such a mommoth task. It simply leaves people immobile. Where does one begin?

Some things are easy. Don’t litter. Don’t damage. Don’t waste resources. But what exactly does this involve? What does the common person do to be saving the environment? Not everyone can research. Not everyone can make it the calling of their lives. Not everyone even knows what to do.

Yet, we have a huge number of people available, who would, if pointed out, definitely be happy to make small adjustments that together can result in massive change. The key is in identifying exact things, that are quick to do and watch out for, once people know.

If it doesn’t take too much time, doesn’t involve a great deal of effort, a large number of people will happily walk the path to feel a little more secure about the state of the world tomorrow.

I find that like any other dauntingly huge task, this one seems much more doable when we break it up into bits.

First, make a not of the words/issues that occur on the subject of saving the environment: plastic, paper, forest reserves and trees, water, energy, pollution, fuel, spreading awareness……… We can keep adding to these as and when new words occur.

Let’s take each aspect and brainstorm on it (the links above open into seprate articles on each subject, to keep things managable out here). If you have ideas, please let me know, and I’ll add them in, so that we have a ready resource of stuff that is really easy to incorporate into our lives and has the potential to make a huge difference.