In 2018 do notice these simple smiling moments of daily life Day 42
Learning so much from Tribals instead of teaching them.
It was with a sense of uncertainty that I volunteered to be a part of a medical camp team. I had no idea of what life was in a remote tribal village, I just trusted a friend who had been there before.
At the start we first-timers were briefed on the poverty levels of the villagers who don’t have access to most of the urban facilities that we take for granted.
From the diversion off the main road, we drove still more into the interior side of the district. We reached the local school and the first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful Warli paintings on the school walls, that I knew about. This was the first meeting with the Warli tribe villages, who even speak a language called Warli, that is similar to Marathi.
My non-fluency in the local language was one of the reasons for my rare silence throughout the day. Instead I communicated with smiles to those who were interested in looking at me in the eye.
We then visited a local village home, next to a very dirty pond, where I saw scantily dressed village women and kids washing clothes, vessels and even bathing themselves all in the same dirty muddy water. No wonder most of them had to be treated for skin rash infections at the medical camp. Which led me to the insight, that instead of curing diseases with medical camp, it is also important to impart good information on new hygienic practices to be adopted for the prevention of diseases.
The villagers especially women and children are thin and malnourished physically yet are high spirited emotionally. They were getting ready to attend a local wedding, where the guests bring their own booze and even sell their own wares. Our local host gave us some excellent homemade tea with jaggery and no milk and she boiled some corn in a big vessel to sell at the wedding.
Instead of playing games with the children, I ended up watching them play their own simple games and enjoyed seeing them laugh from their heart in gay abandon.
Instead of feeling sorry for the lack of materialism among villagers, I ended up admiring them for their abundance of enthusiastic spirit, which is missing from most of the stressful urbanites. They may earn less, but have lesser needs than us and they enjoy the luxury of being one with nature, most of the time.
In the end when I saw a Warli design card made by a local, I gave a silent blessing in my head.. Let them earn lots from their artistic talents and enjoy village life itself instead of competing unnecessarily in the mad games of the city.
Even though the patients were grim and serious when talking to the doctors in the medical camp, the grins and smiles before and after the visit, is something that I take away from the unusual day visit to a remote side of India.
So in 2018. Do notice these simple smiling moments. Have a smiling year.
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