Sarojini was full of things to share about Sandeep whom she called her annayya. I got to know everything about him through her.
She told me how his grandfather convinced Sandeep, who was determined to do B.Com, into doing agricultural B.Sc, She told me how he took to farming while studying and how he changed the agricultural processes in the village from traditional to modern farming techniques like using the more practical fertilizers like the organic ones, raw materials around us and using seeds that yield more with less water.
Now under Sandeep’s guidance a huge cattle-rearing project was being run there. He was helping them to use cow dung in the biogas plants and how the resultant waste was again used to generate fertilizers free of pesticides and growing organic vegetables.
Not only that! In every progressive step that the village took, Sandeep was in the forefront of it all. I was so surprised that he could achieve so much in such a short time.
I woke up early in the morning with a new energy. But Keerthi was already up having a conversation with all the flowers and trees in the garden. I had never seen her so happy and I felt very fulfilled. I saw Sandeep coming from a distance. I waved to him from the house and he waved back. He picked up Keerthi and entered the house carrying her on his shoulders. “I never saw a place more beautiful than this. I feel like spending my whole life here,” I told him.
“That is my intention too!” said Sandeep mysteriously. All my loneliness that suffocated me all these days, all my disappointments vanished in no time.
“The farmers of the villages are coming to talk to you,” he told me. I looked at him questioningly and he said it was about the school plan.
“Yes, my dream project.” I said with confidence.
“Yes, we have to discuss about plans for a building, funds and other things; before it gets too late, as they have to attend to their work in the fields later.”
I finished my bath and got ready within half an hour. By seven about ten farmers were in my house. Even though we all met for the first time they talked to me as if they knew me well and enquired after my well being. We all sat on the stairs of the veranda. I remembered sitting in AC rooms and getting backaches. Now it is so comfortable.
”Sandeep babu told us that you are planning to stay here and open a new school…”
One elderly man started as if in introduction.
“Yes, sir, however the school is going to be started not by me but by us.”
“All of us?” they were all confused.
“Yes, we must a build a school that would not build up any pressure on the children. It does not mean that studies will be neglected. We should promote and train the children in the vocations of their interest.
“I heard that there are many educated people in the village. Along with them Sandeep and I will prepare the syllabus. We will pay the teachers and the people who maintain the school as much as we can reasonably manage. We will charge the children only nominal fee. We will collect funds for all other development activities and we can run the school with the interest the fund earns. Here is my share, Rs. 10, 00,000. I called Sarojini to bring my bag and wrote the cheque for the amount. I gave it to Sandeep and told him we must first form a trust.
Immediately, one of the visitors who was surprised at my gesture, stood up and said in great excitement, “If a woman can give so much money why should we all lag behind? Take from me too. I will give one acre of land as my donation. Build your school there. I will get it registered tomorrow itself.”
“Wait, Uncle, you must discuss this with your family first” Sandeep tried to stop him. He flared up in anger. “Why should I tell anyone? This is all my hard earned property. I expanded two acres into fifteen acres by my own hard work. If I want I can give all the fifteen acres, my sons cannot object. What will my wife say to this, you ask? She may grumble for a while but will eventually agree.”
All of us laughed at the way he was enacting the anger of his wife.
Sandeep had already been in the forefront of creating community assets and the school would become another such asset for the village as combined property of the village. It would automatically be looked after by the entire village.
A rough calculation was made as to how much fund should be raised and how much should be spent on organizational aspects and people got a rough idea of the whole scheme. They were busy discussing how much money should be donated by whom and then they told me they would send the educated young men who were then unemployed to be involved in this activity. Sandeep saw them off till the gate, came back into the house and showed me a victory sign.
“We tried all these years to bring about a change in this uncle of ours. But today thanks to you he gave away one acre of land. This piece of land is just adjacent to the village, a right place to construct a school building.” He said with excitement.
I was also very satisfied and felt happy with the result of this effort.
“What shall we have for breakfast?” he asked walking into the kitchen.
“Do you get time to cook too?” I asked in surprise.
“What do you think, I have no time? I have plenty of leisure, I listen to music with a relaxed mind, I read books, and by evening get ready to play volleyball and kabbadi with the teams that come across from the villages around.”
“Are there no adversities for people around here?” I asked in wonder.
“Why, there are lots of problems! People are still caste discriminatory, the hutments of the untouchables are still outside the village and they cannot ever hope to build their house in the village along with other communities. But that change too will come. The day is not far off! They will all realise the happiness one can get in living together as one family” I just nodded my head in reaction to this optimism.
I entered the kitchen and saw an unusual stove. When I asked about the arrangement he pointed at a well in the backyard which was covered with a large drum. There was a tank by its side and some rubber tubes. Sandeep told me it was a biogas plant. I lit the stove and saw a bright blue flame in emanating from the stove. “This is very amazing” I remarked.
“Every day the cow dung is collected in the village. Once it is poured into the small tank and a large amount of water is added, it starts moving freely in the tank and goes into the well. It turns into gas and comes into the pipes through the drum that is placed on top of the well. The gas comes into our kitchen through these tubes. We don’t depend on the government for the supply of gas. Almost 70% of the houses in the village have adopted this technology, which is totally homemade. We also make fertiliser out of the waste material from these plants. The cattle that we tend to, give the raw material needed for producing the gas. Each house has a minimum of ten buffalos. Even in the production of milk we are in the forefront as we have done away with the middlemen, and are trying to work out mechanisms to sell milk and vegetables directly to the markets. They will bear fruit in a short while.
“Similarly, I have a friend in the neighbouring village, who is experimenting with solar energy. We are already using the solar cookers. He aims to make vehicles that run on solar fuel. His efforts at present are aimed at producing solar batteries to run our vehicles for at least three months, if not throughout the year. Our friends are actually collecting donations to fund his experiments.” I thought of the earlier Sandeep who came to my house to ask if he can stay for one day. Now the situation has been reversed and I am depending on his support. It is true time is never the same for people.
While we were preparing breakfast he asked teasingly if he should make something logically. I could not control my laughter.
“It is not just with logic. You have been doing many things here with your intelligence and sensitivity.” I gave him a knock on his head.
He patted his head and looked at me with a broad smile. While we were eating our breakfast sitting on the steps outside, tears came into my eyes unwittingly.
“Life is so good now. After my marriage I had forgotten that life can be so nice and smooth.” Sandeep patted my head consolingly and said, “Your life will be better than this. You will be happier than this. Soon you will get to understand this.”
“Did your grandparents enquire about me? I did not go even once to meet them. They must be thinking of my ill manners.”
“No one will think anything. Till your mind settles down you don’t have to meet any one. If you want to see them they will come and see you, Okay?”
“Okay! But then whose house is this?” I asked looking around the house.
“Till today it was mine, from now on it is yours. From the moment I came here I worked with commitment and honesty, while continuing my studies earned enough to build this house according to my taste. It is yours now.” he assured me.
“Then it is your hard-earned property. I don’t want to take it away from you. Just see if I can get a house on rent.” I said hesitantly.
He appeared to have taken offence for a minute, but said “What is this yours and mine business, vadina? You just gave me a cheque for ten lakhs which was your hard-earned money. I took it happily as if I have a right over it.”
“Oh, I am sorry! From today, it is my house!” I looked around happily. Sandeep just laughed. “Though you are much younger to me I want to start my life anew with inspiration from you. If your support is assured I will spend my entire life along with my daughter here,” my voice trembled. I thought of Avinash as I said these words.
For a while I paused to think of him –how he must be, what would he be doing, I felt sad but I must live for my daughter now. I must give her a good life- that is my only aim in life now.
Sandeep was with me through- out the day and gave me company with his chatter. By evening many educated young people of the village came to meet me. They were all under thirty. There were women too amongst them, and I was happy about it. We all discussed the school and prepared plans for shaping its future. We thought of applying for all the necessary permissions and starting the school by next academic year.
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It is one week since I came to this village. Time flew past so quickly and yet there was no hectic, busy activity. Every single day brought the thought and wish for a return to the previous day. When Sandeep came that day I said to him “everyone in the village is all praise for your grandparents. I want to see the couple who nurtured you this way.”
Sandeep said, immediately in excitement, as if he was waiting for me to say it, “Let’s go!”
“Yes, they also must be looking forward to meet their great granddaughter.”
“Let’s us start then!” he said like a deer eager to take off on a run.
We started at about ten in the morning. It was just a quarter kilometre from our house. We met many people on the way. No one, except a few elderly people, ever asked anything about me. They all talked to me, smiling broadly and affectionately. Sandeep did not stop anywhere. We went directly to a house which had a huge veranda in front of it. I had seen such houses only in pictures, not in real life. “Come in” he took me into the courtyard of the large house. Both grandmother and grandfather were sitting in the veranda and reading a newspaper. They immediately recognised me.
“Come in, my dear! I saw you only in your marriage, not afterwards” she said with a broad smile. Their glances settled on my daughter then. Grandfather called her to come closer. She looked at Sandeep. He picked her up and carried her to his grandfather and placed her in his lap. Keerhti at once was shy and kept watching them sideways.
We all went into the house. We greeted each other, enquiring after each other’s health. They did not mention Avinash and I also did not tell them anything. “You can live freely here, no restrictions of any kind on your movements. But you were qualified in the field of Electronics and the government had spent a lot of money on you. And all that was public money. You should use it for the people. You can run an ideal school; it is okay, but think of what you can do to society around you with your area of interest and expertise ” I was so excited when grandfather said it that I felt inspired to do something about what he said.
I was relieved to see my daughter in their hands. I thought of the time when I was living in the town, earning lakhs; and how I had to struggle to find someone to take care of her when she was sick. Grandmother noticed my change of mood and said “In our village all of us try to put away the sad moments aside and make an attempt to live happily. Even at this age we are so active, it does not mean we do not have any tensions in life. We have problems that we are bound to have at our level but we try to forget these by getting involved in some work. Many people in the world crave for love and attention. Our job is only to give this generously. Then we get in return the love of people around us in abundance. Simply lap it up. Just forget your yesterday’s troubles and try to keep yourself happy. Just one thing I want to tell you. Sugar tastes sweet even when you eat it at a sad moment of your life.”
I understood the message in her words.
“When this young fellow came here he also came with lot of bitterness, hatred and anger. He developed a strong hatred for you unnecessarily and we felt sad about it. Within one year his mindset changed. He used to think of you always but never tried to meet you. He thought by meeting you he would cause unnecessary disturbance in your otherwise trouble-free life. If his brother does not like this contact and this influence, you may get into problems. Not only that he must have also thought that he should meet you again only when he makes something of his life.” grandfather said.
I looked at that young fellow affectionately. Sandeep had grown very tall in my eyes. We spent our time the whole day happily in their house. Grandfather and Sandeep cooked food for all of us and I enjoyed it as never before. This old couple though of a previous generation live with such progressive outlook, especially when you think of the value they attach to individual freedom. I felt like returning to this house again and again. Grandmother said as if reading my mind, “We have given you separate accommodation with a view of giving you some individual space. Otherwise feel free to come here whenever you feel like. This is also your house”
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