Change happens. Perhaps the only thing more fundamental than that sentence, is that people don’t like change. But then we do!

I was expecting change too and probably that is where I went wrong. Neither changing the village, nor the people, but myself. But realized that is not possible till you actually live their life. Its only when you have to live it, is when you change. All I could gain is awareness, which is necessary. Staying in Pochampally for 8 days, understanding how the village works, how the money flows and how humanity still exists (unlike in metro cities) was a breathtaking experience for me.

There was so much to learn and much more to unlearn! I had many misconceptions about villages and I am happy I was proven wrong. People in villages are neither ignorant nor do they lack passion. Each day for them is full of hard work, mentally and physically and the work I am talking about doesn’t even ensure them the next day’s meal. The whole weaving process is so complicated that none of us could understand how its done till the end! These people are ready to work, just that their efforts need a channel. A channel that should be rewarding. We spoke to so many people in Pochampally, we listened to them but still felt helpless at a certain point as we couldn’t change anything but they were the ones who could.

Pochampally is a beautiful place. And I realized there were so many people who wanted to work for the “betterment” of the villagers of Pochampally. What I don’t understand is who told them to! To me the people seemed quite content. It was because we see a completely different lifestyle in the cities and try to compare (probably unknowingly) it with the one in villages like Pochampally, we think they need help. But may be they really don’t. Yes they need facilities and that we can work on.

Like Nakul mentioned, our biggest mistake was that we assumed they had problems and questioned them on that instead of asking them the probable way out in their view. It is but obvious when someone comes to you and asks you 10 bad things about your city or profession, you will have a long list ready! And in my opinion, the camera was a hindrance. No one can ever be natural when they know that they are being filmed. Though we tried making them as comfortable as possible, but I still feel road trip minus the camera (or some other alternative) would work better (at least when it comes to interacting with a certain community which is not at all tech friendly).

Definitely there is a vast difference in knowing something and seeing it. What hit me was these villagers had to shell out Rs.10 for a can of drinking water (20 liters) when they earn just about 3000-4000 a month! Can you imagine a slum dweller in Mumbai who earns about the same amount a month (or even more) buying mineral water for survival? It was then that I realized how we take things for granted and expect to get basic amenities like water free of cost whereas the people of Pochampally had to pay for it even if it was expensive for them. They are left with no other option for survival.

There were many other issues we came across which we will be talking about…but for now I am really missing the road trip!