Learning from the field Course Documentation
Tripti Shrivastava | S1401114 | M.Des Graphic Design (2014)
Contents 1. Acknowledgements
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2. Purpose of the Visit
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3. Day 1 and Day 2 - Scanning the region and identifying potential areas for further explorations.
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4. Day 3 and Day 4 - Going a little further and understanding the scenario in detail
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5. Problem Identification - What did we observe
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6. Problem Identification - What can be done
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7. Conclusion
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Acknowledgements I would like to thank our course coordinator Dr. Tridha Gajjar and course faculty Mrs. Mona Prabhu for facilitating this project and for giving their constant guidance and support throughout the course. We also really apprecite the help Mansukh Bhai and Mahendra Bhai who travelled with us all the way the villages and helped us gain a better understanding of the scenario. Our local guides Sanjay Bhai and Bharat Bhai were always ready to assist us and familarise us with the village and helped us break the language barrier and communicate well with the local people. I take this opportunity to also thank the people of Kalasar and Sompipaliya for opening their doors to us and being so warm and welcoming, for giving us their time and sharing their stories with us. I want to thank them all for their patience and understanding. Lastly, I would like to thank NID for this wonderful opportunity; it was indeed a great learning experience.
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Purpose of the visit The visit was conducted in order to provide us with a hands-on experience on how a field research is conducted. It was for us to understand and sensitise towards the general people, their lifestyle, daily chores, issues and life choices. While we stay in our studios, working on our laptops, it is not possible to actually understand, observe and relate to the various realities in our society and environment, hence, this was an essential experience provided to us. Having gained the knowledge about the various research methodologies, the visit was an important one to exercise those practically. It was for us to understand how to speak to people of various descents and to observe the things that aren’t generaly spoken. A rural village was chosen because our villages are so rich in cultures and traditions; there are so many activities and practices done there that we don’t generally witness in our daily urban life. The villages gives us an almost unadulterated picture of the Indian traditions and belief systems and, since most of the Indian population still resides in the villages, as designers, it is important for us to understand them, their thinking, their practices and the problems that they face. There is so much that we can learn from these people, in terms of simplicity and how they enjoy the little things in life. Also, the data and information that we collect and document can later be used to provide them with various design solutions and as well as be used and a learning on so many levels.
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Day 1 and 2 Scanning the region and identifying potential areas for further explorations.
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Sompipaliya The first place that we went to was Sompipaliya, a very remote village, around 2 km from the Ghela Somnath Temple. The village was a very under developed one and from the looks of it, the people of of the village did not seem to be educated. Once we entered the village and scanned the area, there were many health and hygiene issues that were easily identified. Like any other place, the people were a little sceptical of talking to us, as we were the strange looking ones there, but with the help of our guide, Sanjay bhai (a local from Hingolgarh), we were able to strike up a conversation with them. The very first and obvious thing that they wanted to know was the purpose of our visit and, in our struggling Gujarati we said “bhadwanu matte”, that is, to study, which was later explained to them in detail by Sanjay bhai. The village did not have any school or healthcare facility. There were a few distinct things that we noticed there• Information and advertisements painted on the walls • The bright and distinct attire of the women with their typical jewellaries and clothes • Cactii everywhere • Cotton farms • Traditional tattoos “chundna” on the body of older men and women. • The same water tank being used by animals and people • Old Royal Enfield motorbikes that run on diesel • Distinct white dress of men with folds and pleats • Leather boots and hand kada of men • Every house had similar plan and structure
Hand-painted information on health on the walls.
Hand-painted map of Sompipalia by reliance Foundation.
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Dead cattle lying in Sompipaliya
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Cotton flower
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Kalasar After Sompipaliya, we headed to Kalasar that was around 9 km from the Ghela Somnath Temple. From the looks of it, Kalasar seemed to be a little more organised and developed as compared to Sompipaliya. The very first thing that we saw and noticed, as we entered Kalasar, was this school right beside the bus stand. Upon going further in the village one thing that could not be missed was the doors of the houses. Almost every house had this grand, big door outside, well decotrated and colored. In Kalasar the people seemed to be more well off. Just like Sompipaliya, they also got pretty curious seeing us there and the kids followed us everywhere. We could not enter any houses in particular but we did get an inside glimpse of a few houses. We met this really welcoming lady who offered us cold water when she saw us going around in the heat. Everybody were super intrigued and curious to know our purpose of the visit. It was interesting to talk to them in our broken Gujarati and with a lot of gestures. We noticed so many women had covered their faces completely with ghunghat and yet there was this sense of authority in them. We were even offered flavoured soda and when we asked to pay for it, they did not accept money. The people were very welcoming. Since itw as almost sunset, we had to leave after a quick round of the village. Everyone asked us about when we’d come next and a lot of them invited us to their house for our next visit. In all, it was a very warm and pleasant first day.
School in Kalasar under the Sarvashiksha Abhiyan.
Hand-painted map of Gujarat with its various districts.
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Shree Somnath Cotex On our second day of the trip, we viisisted Shree Somnath Cotex to see, observe and understand the process of how cotton is remined and bundled up to be sent to the textile and other industries. The main buyers of these cottton bumdles are in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
Cotton seeds are separated and sent to extract the oil. The remaining is used to make cakes to feed the cattle.
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The Process
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1. Cotton is kept in the open.
2. A crane lifts the cotton and put it in a duct
3. The duct send the cotton inside the factory.
4. The cotton seeds are separated by the machine.
5. The seeds are sent to another factory for the extraction of oil.
6. Cotton is sent to these machines to make finer.
7. Cotton is made finer, lumps are removed by this machine.
8. It is then sent forward to another section.
9. Manual labour is required from this stage to accumulate.
10. Cotton is compressed using machine and then tied together.
11. Super compressed cotton bundles are tied and covered.
12. Cotton bundles ready to be sent out and sold.
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Jagdish Industries Jagdish Industries involved in making various kinds of machineries that have the most consumption locally. It was the first companny in the country to produce the electric nagada (drum) that is used in temples. It was also the first company in Gujarat to produce the destoner machine. Other products include- groundnut decorticator plant, grader, poratble ginning machine, maize sheller, chaff cutter, air handling unit, gravity separator and almond cracking machine.
Sharpening the tools.
Welding in process.
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The Aarti Yantra or the electric nagada. It is also called Automatic Arti Machine or Bell player Machine or Arti nagada. These are widely used in temples for religious events and occasions. This one contains two bells and a drum that runs on an electric motor.
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Destoner To remove stones, glass and iron particles from crops like groundnut, wheat, maize, jawar, pulses, coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, Isabgol etc.
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Jayant Industries Jayant industries is the certified manufacturere and seller of thresher machines, located in Jasdan, Gujarat. To day the group is among the top one thresher manufactures of india and provides a complete. product line multicrop Thresher ,Rotavator and Farm Machinery attachments. A thresher machine is devised for the separation of grains from stalks and husks and other such light weight impurities.
An old road signage pointing towards Jayant Industries
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Day 3 and 4 Going a little further and understanding the scenario in detail
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Taking a closer look After the discussion at the end of Day 2, it was decided to go forward with Kalasar. What intrigued me was the lifestyle of the people there hence it was decided to explore more in terms of the lifestyle of people, their occupation and daily activities. This required going to the houses there and interacting with the people personally. A basic questionnaire was prepared and the rest of the questions followed acccording to how the conversation shaped. In total, around 15 families were visited and interviewed. After visiting the first two families, it was found that in Kalasar, people generally chose their occupation on the basis of their castes. This is something that they have been doing for generations. However, a little shift was seen in the current generation. If the male members of the family were educated (even till higher secondary school), they mostly chose to go out and work in the nearby town, Jasdan. In Jasdan, they were either worker in the diamond cutting industry, or they owned a small shop or roadside kiosk. Those who stayed in Kalasar worked according to their family tradition. In total, in Kalasar, people belonged to one of the following castes1. Patel (Leva Patel, Karva Patel, Koli Patel) - Farmers and land owners 2. Bharwad- Workers and cattle owners 3. Kumhar- Potters 4. Brahmin- Temple service
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5. Vaniya- Shopkeepers 6. Vanan- Barbers 7. Harijan- Labours, Dhol players in festival and events 8. Bhangi- Labours 9. Darji- Tailors We made a point to visit at least one family belonging to each of caste. The basic questions that were asked included•
Name
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Age
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Education
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Total number of members in the family
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Their age and educational level
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Occupation
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Source of family income
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Daily activity
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Family traditions and things that have been going on since generations
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Present day scenarios
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Festivals and traditions
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Clothes and customs, if anything in particular
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Interviewing the women of the family
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Their daily activities
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Their educational and awareness level
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Future plans and ambitions
Rest of the questions that followed depended on their answers to the aforementioned ones.
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Rupalben Bhaveshbhai Satapra - Kumhar The first house that we visited was named ‘Gokulkripa’, there we met Rupalben Bhaveshbhai Satapra. She is a housewife with two kids, Priyanshi (3 years) and Jhingal (5 months). Rupalben, daughter of a potter is from Bapunagar, Ahmedabad. She has 4 more sisters and all of them are not educated, they helped their fater with the pottery and its sale. Her parents were against her marrying to Bhaveshbhai, so they eloped and got married. She has been married for 5 years but her parents are still angry with her about this and have not spoken to her. Her husband Bhaveshbhai works in the diamond cutting business in Jasdan; he studied till the 7th grade. Their day starts at 6 am when Bhaveshbhai leaves for work. He gets home by 7 pm and eats out for lunch. She does all the household chores and takes care of the kids. Her mother-in-law Shantaben Satapra helps her along. Once in a week Rupalben goes out to collect wood for the chulha. They use the earthen chulha for cooking. They also have gas cylinder and is used only when they are running late (cylinder from Jasdan in black, Rs 700). They don’t eat fruits that often and cook whatever they find without giving a thought to it- generally potatoes, chapatti, rice and dal. Shantaben is from a nearby village and she is also not educated. Though they are potters by caste, no one in their family has done pottery for the past 20 years. Bhaveshbhai’s ffather used to make loca drinks and sell it; now he serves in the temple. They seemed well to do in terms of money and income. They even had an electric water purifier in the house. Though they seldom use it as Shantaben doesn’t like it because it adds to the electricity bill. Priyanshi is 3 and she will be going to school when she is 5 years old.
Mini well inside the house.
Vessel with worn out rope, used take out water from the well.
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Babubhai - Leva Patel Babubhai is a farmer and owns lands in two places, one of 6 biggha and the other of 20 biggha. His land has been passed on through generations. His father and grandfather and others were also farmers. In his family he has- his wife, two daughters and a son. All the kids are graduates and are married. The daughters are housewives now. His son works in a private bank in Atkot (earns Rs 28,000 per month). He has one child- Bhavya (4 years old). His wife, Champaben, works in farm with him and does the other household chores. They have a house in both Kalasar and Jasdan. We visited both the houses to meet his family. In his farm he grows cotton which takes 4-5 months to grow. If they have water after that, they grow cattle feed otherwise not. He and his wife work together in the farm. They get paid labourers during harvest, if required. He sells his harvest in the Jasdan market. The cotton plant, once it grows is uprooted from the ground. The leaves and the stalk are used feeding the cattle and for cooking, though they burn really fast. He comes in during day and night to look after the farm from the wild animals and theft. He waters the field on every 8th day from the tube well.
Learning how to milk a buffalo.
He has 2 buffalos (6 and 12 years old). Milking is done twice a day (6am and 6pm)- 7litres each. Doctors from the Amul corporative society do regular check-ups, and accordingly give them the Amul tags and batch numbers. A buffalo lives for 25-30 years and on an average has 15-20 kids. The pregnancy period is of 10 months and 10 days and has milk for the next 8 months. A buffalo can have kids and starts milking after she is 3 years old. He has a small house in the farm itself where he stays all day, goes home for lunch, or at times get the lunch box to the farm itself.
Fresh buffalo milk
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Stages of a cotton plant, from flower to fruit to cotton.
Different fruits and vegetables that grow Babubhai grows in his farm. It is generally grown for their own consumption, but at times they grow extra and sell as well. 33
Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Jagagbhai Sinabhai Sirolia - Bharwad He has 35 goats and 1 cow and cattle herding is the main occupation and the only source of income for his family. He has two wives, the first wife cannot have kids so he remarried. He has one son (1 year old) and two daughters (2 and 1 year old). He second wife is expecting another kid. He takes his cattle for grazing in the morning and comes back in the evening. He sells the ggoat milk and cow milk and what money he gets, runs the family. The goats produce a total of 20 litres of milk per day. His wives do the household chores and take care of the kids. Bharwadis were nomads, and never settled at one place for long. Since they’d always be on a move, they put on every valuable thing of theirs on their body, and that became tradition. So even today, when they are settled at a place and have a hhouse of their own, the Bharwadi women put on all their jewellaries all the time. They have this typical type of ear rings that they wear called as Pokhani. Bhadwadis also dress in a typical way. While the men put on colorful dhoti (generally blue or green in color), the women wear a black wrap-around kind of skirt that is called jimi, a typical blouse called as kapdu and chundari or the dupatta.
Jagabhai’s second showing her ear-ring or Pokhani.
Jagabhai’s goats
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Nagjiben Bojabhai - Bharwad Nagjiben is the only tailor in the Bharwad colony. Her husband is a mason. They run the family together with both of their incomes. She has two sons (10 years 4th grade, 5 years 1st grade) and one daughter (13 years 9th grade). Her family’s previous generation used to to cattle herding, but now they have no cattle. She has been working as a tailor for the past 5 years. Most of the Bharwadi women and a few others get their clothes stiched from her. They get their own cloth pieces and she stitches those. The most common thing that she stitches is the kapdu of the Bharwadi women. The sewing machine that she uses runs both manually and on electricity. Her monthly electricity bill is around 500-800 rupees. For stiching 5 kapdus, one roll of thread is used; on an average around 30 rolls of thread get used up in a month. She is not that particular to match the thread acccording to the color of the cloth, one thread that gets put on the machine is used till it gets finished up irrespective of the color of the cloth being stitched. Unlike the previous Bharwadi women that we met, she seemed more conscious and aware. She was very particluar of what pictures we clicked. There were used utensils lying in the corner to be cleaned and she made a point that we didn’t click its picture.
The kapdu that she was stitching when we visited her place.
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Manjhibhai Chaganbhai Chauhan - Kumhar His is one of the very few Kumhar families in Kalasar that still practices pottery as the main family occupation. All the male members of the family do pottery while the women take care of the kids and other household chores. The kids learn pottery on their own, seeing their elders work; nobody teache sthem how to make a pot. He did not have clay to demonstarte anything. They were very helpful and they took the effort of setting the wheel and spin it for us to see. They get the soil from village itself, they don’t require to buy it. Soil, ashes and water is mixed together to prepare the clay dough. The maximum sale is during summers or during festivals. They make matkas of different sizes, tawadis or tawas and kunda for birds to drink water. While the matkas and tawadis are for sale, they give away kundas for free. A lagdu is put over a donkey and then they go out in the village to make the sale. For making pots to store water, a little portion of donkey shit is also mixed with the clay; this helps in keeping the water cool. There are total six people in his family, Manjhibhai, his wife, a son, a daughter in law and two grandkids. His ggrandson is 3.5 years old while the granddaughter is 2 years old. Pottery is the only source of income in his family and by the looks of it, they seemed quite well to do. The women of the house were not educated and neither was he. His son had studied till the 8th grade. They do plan to send their grand children to school when they come of age.
Manjhibhai setting the wheel in action for us.
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Pratap Triwedi - Brahmin He gets marriages done and other pooja and havan. In his family, there are four members, his wife, one son and a daughter. They own a general store. That has been there with their family for generations. He got married at the age of 15. His daughter did BA and helps with the shop. His wife studied till 10th grade and runs a beauty parlour in the house itself. They thought of themselves as modern and forward thinking and, considered the others in the village as lower to them and kept mentioning the other people as ‘villagers’ in a demeaning way and didn’t consider themselves as one. We asked her (the daughter, Tara) why don’t you open up a school here or do something like that since it’s your village as well. To which she replied that there’s no point of it, the others have their own belief system and they say that “you’re modern people and you won’t get it”. Tara kept pointing at the little kids of the village that had been following us everywhere, and kept saying- “look at them, they are useless, they have no future. Why have you come here, there is nothing here in this village”. His son (picture on the left) claimed to be 20 years old and was still in the college. They lived with other brahmins. They considered themselves superior to others as they were more well to do and educated. Unlike other families, they were not welcoming at all, in fact they didn’t even open their doors or invite us in or offered water.
The kids that followed us to their shop whom Tara pointed at.
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Shah Rameshbhai aka Baggabhai - Vaaniya Father - Shah Manoharlal Mohanlal Mother - Shah Varshaben Brother - Shah Dharmesh. He runs another shop. Both the brothers are unmarried. He has four sisters. All got married after they turned 18 - Ritaben (studied till the 12th grade), Dipikaben (10th grade), Rupalben (10th grade), Tejalben (10th grade). Father is no more and his mother is a housewife. Bhaggabhai studied till 10th grade and has been running a general store since 12 years. His shop contains both branded and non-branded itemssoaps, balms, powder, biscuits, detergents. The grains are not branded, sells them lose. In village, shop runs more on faith and trust. The shop is open from 6 am to 12 pm. 1 - 3pm is for lunch break, then he shuts the shop. The Kathiawadis have this habit of taking a nap post lunch.
Varshaben cooking food using a gas cylinder
He gets his shop supplies from Jasdan. The monthly income from the two shops is around 20 thousand rupees and that is enough to run the family well. They get their home supplies and other utilities from Jasdan. His mother takes care of the house and cooks for the two sons, They have use a gas cylinder, a licenced one. That was kind of rare since most of the people that had gas cylinders in Kalasar got it for without licence (for black in layman terms). They have a small rock in their house that they consider as Lord Hanuman Temple and worship.
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Laljibhai Parwar - Harijan Laljibhai Parwar is a student right now. He is pursuing Bachelors of Arts in History. His father, Mooljibhai Parwar, is a farmer. He has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. All of them are farmers. They don’t own a farm and work on somebody else’s farm. His sisters studied till 7th standard and after that started working in the farm. His sisters and his mother Manjulaben also take care of the house, cook food and do other chores. One of his brothers is married, he doesn’t have a kid yet. This is the only source of income of their family. When there is no work in the farm, hsi family also works as labourers. Laljibhai is the most educated member of his family so far. He plans to do a job after his bachelors and may be do masters as well.
Laljibhai’s sister cooking food in the house.
He has his great great...great grandmother still living with him. Her name is Amriben Govindbhai Parvar. She is about 130 years old and yet she can see and walks a little. She can still have 2 bajra rotis on her own.
Amriben Govindbhai Parwar 130 years old
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Jhiluben Hakkabhai Waghela - Bhangi Husband - Hakkabhai Waghela Son - Kishorebhai Hakkabhai Waghela Wife - Vilasben Kishorebhai Waghela Four granddaughters - Krishna (9 years old, 4th grade), Kareena (7 years old, 2nd grade, Katrina (4 years old), Vidhi (3 years old) One Grandson - Pratik (2.5 years old) They always wanted a grandson, hhence so many children. They work from 7 am to 7 pm as labourers in the farms of Patels (earn Rs 200 per day). Kishorebhai and Hakkabhai play dhol in weddings and festivals. When they play dhols at weddings, they stay outside, they are not allowed to enter the house. This has been the case since ages, and they don’t seem to mind it. All the festivals are celebrate in the village together. All the Harijans (Bhangi included) live in two areas, both are situated at two corners of the village, at the coundaries. The area that we went to is called as Ambedkar Nagar. Both the male and female members of the family work. Jhiluben now stays home take care of the kids and cook food while others go to work. They eat whatever they get, nothing in particular, but mostly potato and bajra.
The signage for Ambedkar Nagar
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Mangalaben Babubhai Trivedi - Brahmin Husband- Babubhai Trivedi, passed away a few years ago. 3 sons- Maheshbhai (studied till 10th grade), Gautambhai (did BA), Prakashbhai (Did masters) 3 Daughter inlaws- Sheetalben (studied till 8th grade), Manishaben (8th grade), Bhartiben (10th grade) Mangalaben studied till 9th grade. Sheetalben has one boy and a girl, Manishaben has two boys and Bhartiben has a boy. All three sons of Mangalben run a shop together in Jasdan where they well tobacco, beedi and snacks. When they are free or when required, they do havan, pooja and also marriages in the vlllage. That is also a source of income to them since people pay the pandits well. The three daughter inlaws are housewives and take care of the household chores, cook food and take care of the kids.
Manishaben doing meena work on the metal plates.
During the day, if they have time, they do this part time job of painting metal plates with color; it’s called meena work. Their neigbours, the Kohli Patels get the metal plates with designs from Jasdan and they color it for Rs. 4 per plate.
Meena work, used to decorate gift boxes, vehicles, etc.
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Jayantibhai Patel - Koli Patel Wife- Shantaben Jayantibhai Patel He has four children- Jignesh (17 years old), Pooja (15 years old), Kajal (13 years old), Manish (12 years old) The three elder kids work in the diamond cutting business while Manish goes to high school (9th grade) Elder brother- Dhirubhai Patel Brother’s wife- Varshaben Dhirubhai Patel His elder brother has 3 children- Dharmesh (22 years old and married), Sheetal (19 years old and engaged), Nilesh (18 years old) His elder brother drives a chhakra (Indian Jugaad vehicle). Both the brothers have a 10 biggha land each where they grow groundnuts, cotton and corn. When there is no wor on the field they even go and work as labourers. Jayantibhai’s wife, Shantaben, mostly works as a labourer in other farms. They rely on rain for their crop, and mostly they have just one crop cycle. They don’t have a tubewell in their farm. They once invested 600 rupees for boring the ground, but it wasn’t successful, there was no water found. After that he did not invest on this anyymore. That’s why they need to work as labourers as well so as to run the family.
Frame within frames
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Sharmishthaben Gopaljibhai - Darji Husband- Gopaljibhai Laljibhai 1 daughter- Pinal She had a younger son but he passed away. Gopaljibhai works in Jasdan in the diamond cutting business. He leaves at 6 in the morning and comes back by 7 pm. He also does wedding videography (contract based, earns on an hourly basis, doesn’t own a video recorder). They are darji (tailor) by caste but they don’t practice that anymore, Gopaljibhai’s father, Laljibhai was a tailor. She insisted that since they are darjis they only sew clothes or do jobs, they don’t indulge in farming or cattle rearing.
The recently renovated washroom
She told us about the water issue in Kalasar. They get water after every 2 days, so they need to store water. The same water is used for every purpose. There is a common tank in the village from where she gets water. Rich people have borewells. They recently got their washroom renovated. Sharmishthaben is basicallly from Pihar, Ahmedabad and she has seen a lot of the mordern world. Though she is not very educated, she can read and write and she seemed to have a basic sense of understanding.
Sharmishthaben’s daughter, Pinal
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
Bupatbhai Chauhan - Kumhar Mother- Sanjuben Wife- Savitaben He has 4 children- Sheetal, Rahul, Mehul, Kiran While Sheetal and Rahul work as labourers in the farm, Kirana and Mehul go to the school and are studying right now. Bupatbhai is a chhakra driver and he owns the chhakra. His wife also works as labourer in the farms. Sanjuben stays home, takes care of the children, cooks food and does the basic househhold chores. For 4 months the family does farming while Bupatbhai drives the chhakra. Rest of the time they work for different seths (land owners, rich people) and build houses and jhoopdas (huts) and make bricks in other villages.
Kiran and Pinal are good friends.
In that case, they lock this house of theirs and completly shift their base to another village. Their contractor provides them with a hut to live in. Te kids continue with their education as they join the school in that particular village. Every year they get a contract for a different village. They earn around Rs 200-500 per day per labour. We asked why do they take everyone along, why can’t they leave the school going kids home with the grandma while the others go and work. They told if they leave Mehul or Kiran home alone, someone might get to know and take them and, sell them in the bigger cities.
Bupatbhai on his chakkra
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Problem Identification
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Image courtesy: Parvez Ansari
What did we observe A few things that were inferred and observed includes1. Lack of awareness 2. Health is not a priority 3. Lack of availability of fruits and vegetables 4. Very few locally grown vegetables 5. Most of the women lack basic education and are either housewives or work in the farm. 6. The women who stay home have a lot of time to kill and at times it gets boring and monotonous as well. 7. For them food is just a basic necessity, so they cook and eat whatever is found, without putting a thought to it. 8. They generally use the earthen chulhas that generate a lot of smoke. Everyday they inhale so much of smoke that is high on soot. 9. They lack awareness about clean drinking water. The women mostly stay home, but there are a few places that they go to or gather at. These include1. Temples 2. Nearby shops 3. Water tank area 4. Milk collection centres 5. Farms 6. They go to collect wood for household work 7. Common meeting points in the village
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What can we do What we can do is come up with a way that helps spread awareness and educates the people (especially the women) on different levels. The methods that can be used for the same include1. Wall paintings - Wall painting are an effective way of communication, especially in the villages. Both in Kalasar and Sompipaliya it was noticed that there were health related messages painted on the walls. However, those are texts and since we are targeting everyone (both literate and illiterate people), written messages won’t help. Also, they don’t grab attention as much as an image. The walls can be strategically painted at affective areas where people, especially women, gather and meet and where there is a chance for it to get noticed well. 2. Dance and nautanki - There can be plays, dance dramas and nautankis organised, that help spread the message. The local folk theatre form, bhavai can be used to entertain the people and at the same time educate them by performing the same with a story on predecided lines. 3. Installations - Like wall paintings, various installations can be put up strategicallly at locations where it they grab the most attention. These canbe interative installtions that may engage an entire family. School going kids can be involved in creating these so that people will be more keen on seeing what it has to offer.
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4. Going door to door - Since the women generally stay home, we can use this method as well. During this visit the people opened their door and were so welcoming and, shared their stories. This method can be applied to spread a hhealthy message as well. 5. Taking help of the school going kids - The best way to educate the women and the family would be to start with the kids, the school going ones. The school can come up with activities that are to be carried out at home involving their mothers, something like learning by doing. There can be activities at school that may be carried forward at homes as well. This may be one of the most affective methods since there is a direct involvement in this one. 6. Mom’s day at school - There can be one day of the week when the mothers also have to go to the school with their kids. There can be activities and group information sessions arranged that will enable us to talk directly to them. There are many other methods and modes that can be used like: •
Taking help of the already educated and arranging information sessions in the villages.
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There can advertisements run on radio and television.
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Pamphlets and graphical boooklets can be distributed.
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Informing about kitchen garden and how to set up one.
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Balanced diet related activities in the schools.
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Taking help of the Sarpanch and village elders.
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Conclusion The time that we spent in the village was a great learning experience. For most of us it was the first ever visit to rural India. This lead to the reconstruction of a lot of pre-set notions in our heads and led to a better understanding and a better picture of rural Gujarat and India. The course also helped in making us realise about so many things that we take for granted rather than a privilege, the daily struggles of people and, how to find happiness in the small and simple things of life. The people there are more humble, warm and welcoming and everybody and everything coexist in such a harmonous way. There are issues that they face on a daily basis and those than can be solved and taken care of just by putting in a little effort from our side. We have the capacity and the knowledge and, with a little intervention we can bring about a huge change and make their lives better. The course was also kind of an inner journey and it triggered a lot of thoughts and questions about things like sustainable development and resource management; also, about culture and traditions and how their meanings are changing in the rural and urban scenario.
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Colophon All page titles are set in Egyptienne F LT Std and the page body and cover page is set in Frutiger LT Std. Both the typefaces were designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1956 and 1976 respectively. The page numbers and section names are set in Aleo which is a contemporary typeface designed by Alessio Laiso as the slab serif companion to the Lato font by Ĺ ukasz Dziedzic. Printer: Siddhi Printech, Ahmedabad