My Exploritales: 2014

Sunday, 14 December 2014

The Joy of Giving

Treks are a way of being one with nature,exploring nature and letting your spirits roam free away from the day to day drudgeries of life.During Diwali I thought of joining a novel initiative by treks and Trails India group where they decided to travel to five villages in the interiors of Maharashtra and distribute clothes,food and other necessities.Never the one to have shirked from an opportunity to do something good I registered myself for it.
We travelled to Kumshet by bus and had to carry our own food.This was not a trek but a distribution drive for the villagers.The travel expenses were to be shared by all the participants.Many of the participants of this initiative had already bought lots of stuff to give away like blankets,sarees,clothes,Steel dinner sets,school stationery and Diwali faraal.I had given about two large bags of clothes but unlike some others I had not made any cash donations.So we reached the first village and gathered the crowd at the local school.men ,women and children were really excited to see us all.We had a small tempo following us which carried al the distribution goods.Once there,we did a bit of sorting and arranged the things to be distributed.It was a bit chaotic at times as everyone of the villagers tried to get the maximum from u while we tried to see that each family got their share..We got a person from the family to call out the names of the families and we distributed the goods in turns.It was really satisfying to see the happiness and excitement in the villagers to see their Diwali gifts.They collected them carefully and carried them home.The kids especially were very happy to get the kiddie clothes,story books,school stationery and toys.The wide,toothless smiles on their faces said it all.
We continued the same for three more nearby villages and got the same response from villagers.They were happy to get the things but it was noticed that there was some disappointment too.By the time we reached the third village we had run out of the steel dinner sets so we did not give them away and a couple of villagers asked us why did not give them those.At the last village we were out of sarees so the women folk showed their displeasure at not getting sarees.They lamented that the churidaar sets we were distributing were of no use for them as all they wore was sarees.News really travelled fast in the villages!Before we reached,the villagers got an idea of what the earlier villagers got so they made comparisons.Anyway,we did learn a lot from this drive.It was important to see that we got the things that they really needed.There was no way we could please everyone but it was important to keep trying to do the best for them in every little way we could.The leaders of this initiative made a note of all the factors and decided to have another similar drive in a few months time.After the distribution we had our lunch and made our way back to Mumbai.
For me it was a new experience as barring being with CRY(Child Relief and You) for a few years where I taught underprivileged kids and took adult education classes for women during weekends,I had not done anything like this.It was satisfying.before the actual distribution when the leaders were distributing the stuff,I had a talk with a few children there and found out about their school.They had an elementary school nearby which taught upto STD 5 but later on they had to travel a few kilometres to go for higher classes.They found that very inconvenient.The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan ,an initiative of the Maharashtra government had reached the interior villages and the students got mid-day meals,school books and bags from the school.Almost all the adults toiled in the fields and sadly I did not see anyone,adult or child,even a little on the fatter side.They all looked lean and under-nourished .They wore simple clothes and their houses were simplistic with only the basic necessities.I saw that most of the adults had really bad oral health and I learnt that most of them used tobacco in some form or the other.The kids were low in confidence and very hesitant initially but later on I called all of them in the school area and taught them action songs in Marathi.they were really thrilled to learn the new songs and happily repeated my lines and actions.They also said the numbers 1 to 100 in Marathi for all of us.They were happy to pose for my group friends as they clicked away.It had indeed been an eventful day.It was not an easy task to manage the villagers as we distributed stuff.The excitement was palpable and uncontrollable at times yet we managed.I was happy to be a part of this initiative and make this Diwali special for the villagers and for myself.Came back with happy memories and decided to do something like this very soon again.Hopefully,when others hear of my experiences they too will join a similar initiative and bring smiles on the face of the under-privileged in any way they can.For me it is just the beginning to many more similar initiatives.
Try it,it really works.Make someone happy and see how much happier you feel.

The treks and trails team at the Diwali distribution.....

Finally reached the village....with the tempo.

Loading the goods in the tempo before the night long ride to the village.....

Distribution in progress...........so many people!!!

Teaching action songs to the kids.....doing what I do best!

The chillar party!!!

Had a nice talk with these kids....

These pretty girls posed for me.

At the next village...same response.

Early morning view as we reached the village....after the overnight ride.

The braver kids who were the first to come forward.....

Waiting in anticipation.

Sifting through the stuff to find clothes that fit.

Happily posing with their clothes.

Bags,bags and more bags to be distributed.

Clothes for the little ones.....

Waiting for the distribution.....

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan

Waiting for the distribution to begin

Village women....simplicity personified.

Friday, 12 December 2014

Bhandardara Bliss-cum-Blast!

Waiting for lunch.....

I love my work but yet there I times when I just want to get away from it all and be one with nature,move away from the concrete jungle into natures haven.After having many trekking opportunities due to my work obligations I finally registered myself for an overnight camping experience with the Tattva group.Excitement unlimited was what I wanted and I was not disappointed as the camp lived up to my expectations.Though this camp was a bit of a pinch on my pocket (Rs 2,200) it was worth it.
The bus left from Dadar by 9.15 am and I boarded at Mulund.In the beginning all kept to themselves but after the final pick-up of campers at Kalyan phata the robust gaana session began.As usual we had the Antakshari session after which we had the mash up. Sai,Jaal,Rohan and Neha were the leads for the camp and they made sure that we all had a great time.After the singing session we had a round of the wish game.On our way the unthinkable happened!We had all alighted for a pee break and we all got in and immediately Jaal began with the wishing game.We were all engrossed in the game when poor Neha called and said that we had left her at the hotel where we had halted and had left without her.We were flabbergasted and the leads were really amazed as to how this happened.It was a sad and a humorous situation,if there can be one.We turned back and went back to pick Neha. Sai kept saying Koi nahi hasega and made light of the situation. Incidently, Neha was stranded there for about 40 minutes while we played games in the bus unaware of her situation.She was at the hotel where a group of Chinese were having lunch and later we joked about her situation though at that time it was not a happy time for us and certainly not for Neha.It was a sight to see Neha when she boarded the bus.She talked non-stop for a few minutes and asked the leads how they could have not missed one of the co-leads.True,it was not a good thing to happen but then this was also one of a kind experience that taught us that aisa bhi ho sakta hai. We were all wiser by this incident and constantly kept a head-count whenever we alighted the bus.Neha took this lapse in her stride and after that each time we alighted and boarded we made sure that Neha was in the bus.It was a novel experience even for the leads so next time they kept a head count of the leads too.
After a long journey through scenic locations we reached Bhandardara.Lunch was simple village fare at the local villagers place.Rice,daal,bhakris,sprouts and potato sabji,papad and thecha.After that we explored the nearby area while a few prepped up for the barbecuer.They had got all the ingredients needed for paneer and chicken barbecue..Hats off to them for diligently doing all the cutting and mixing of stuff for the campers.You must have guesed that I was not a part of the culinary group as mera bass chale to mein ghar mein bhi na pakau. Cooking or prepping up for cooking is not what I enjoy so I did what I enjoyed most,I had a talk with one ajoba who wanted to know why we had come there and later I walked around and clicked photographs.I saw the village school,a nearby Hanuman temple,women and little kids fetching water from a hand-pump that was a few metres away and got a first glimpse of our to be camp site from a distance.The place was really enchanting.....lush greenery,the inviting blue lake and mountains all around.A quick introduction round was in the offing and after that we walked for about 15 minutes to reach the camp location.it was already early evening by that time so we immediately began pitching our tents.The local boys who accompanied us were of great help as they pitched our tent for us.While all this was going on the leads were readying the barbecue,veg and non-veg for the hungry campers.Sai,Neha and Lawrence untiringly made sure that we all got a taste of the yummy chicken and paneer barbecue.I had two chicken legs with schezwan sauce and then turned my attention towards the paneer.Just being outdoors and having it near the lakeside made the food more yummilicious.A bonfire was lit and we had the singing session once more with the strums of the guitar.It was so soothing to hear the old and new melodies belted out by Sai and the rest of the gang.While we were at it dinner arrived.Again we had our fill of rice,daal,chapatis,thecha and sprouts bhaji.I didn't even realise I could eat so much after the barbecue,probably camp fire brings out the hunger in us.After dinner it was time for the famous game of mafia. For a few hours it was just the tug of war between the good citizens and the mafia along with the doctor,detective and framer for company.The game kept us enthralled for quite some time and we called it a night only after 2 am.I never thought it was going to be so cold and was shivering .the breeze kept howling and my tent mates and I were afraid that our tent would be blown away by morning and had already made plans to occupy one of the bigger tents if something like that happened.Thankfully,the tent lasted till morning and I slept like a log though one of my friends was sleepless as someone had mentioned to her that the tent was haunted.What a night it had been....cool- cool weather,bonfire the lake nearby and the star lit sky with the full moon.It was really blissful.
Awaking in the morning at 6.50 am and stepping out of the tent to see the lake in front of us,mountains all around and the wonderful hues of dawn is something that can only be experienced and not described in words.After freshening up we decided to have a dip in the inviting water but when I put my foot in the water I changed my mind as the water was icy cold.I did not want to ruin the holiday month bereft of treks due to sickness so I made a decision to skip the dip.The braver ones(mostly the boys) ventured out into the water and thoroughly enjoyed themselves though they came our shivering.For the rest of us it was portfolio time as we posed with Sai's guitar and also took selfies and usies.We had mera wala maggi and hot tea and soon it was time for a Tattva group pose after which we packed and took a bus ride to Ratanwadi.It was 8 kms away and the route was really picturesque.We could see the Ratangad fort in the distance as we reached the Amruteshwar temple.We clicked pictures there too and played a boisterous game of Hanuman-Krishna,Idli-dosa and City walks.After spending some fun moments here we took a long boat ride to another village where we had lunch.We had chicken rassa and ghati chicken sukha while the vegetarans had sprouts and daal with rice and chapatis.We lazed about for a while and then took the bus back to Mumbai only halting once for tea and snacks.During the ride back there was another game of mafia and after that there was naach-gaana with our part time DJ keeping our feet tapping with the latest hit numbers.One by one we bid adieu and before we alighted Rohan had made a group on Watsapp in order to post pictures and keep in touch.The hangover of the delightful night out will remain for a while as being in the lap of nature is a luxury we don't experience too often.It was fun with old and new friends and now I am waiting to make my new year rocking in a similar way in the heart of nature.Hopefully, the coming year will bring more opportunities to go trekking and camping with my like-minded trekker friends.Amen to that.
Here are a few snapshots of the Bhandardara camp.