Village#2- Off 40+ Kilometers from Bangalore- name: Ravu Gondu
We drove ahead on Kanakpura road and took a left turn to get into another village. A few kilometers down the muddy non existent road, we stooped the car. We got down from the car and started walking towards village. We saw a dairy and a hair dresser. This was a relatively well off village. We moved on to come across a college going boy. To our relief he could communicate in english. We explained our intent to know about their village and see if its feasible to promote it for tourism. Soon, a man walked out a house and asked us to meet dairy secretary. he asked a boy on bicycle to lead us to that person's house.
We reached to a huge and muddy house. A man conversant in english stood infront. He smiled at us and tried to understand our intent. There were muddy houses and fields which i could see from corners of houses. The man told us that he was dairy secretary and also the secretary of some political party. He welcomed us inside house. The house had two big square angans. Around the angans were rooms. He made us sit in one of the rooms, which had tv and glass paintings. This village was surely more prosperous that the first one.
The man took us around to backyard which had a wooden carpentry shop. There was an old bespectacled man cutting wood with axe. This looked like a fairy tale backyard to me. :) There were cows tied at back and way opened to lush green fields. Women as usual were cleaning utensils, carrying wood and washing angan. Kids in this village seemed to have a life of their own as there was no kid on street. The man guided us to a field, he showed us paddy, soya bean and ragi crops.
We followed him to a goshala and then to a small house made of bricks. This house is used for sericulture. There were rectangle wooden boxes with mulberry leaves and with velvet silk worms feeding on it. The boxes were covered with nets all around to save worms from flying. We were told that silk worms pass through four stages lasting for about 28 days, before they can be taken for making silk. The silk cocoons were sold to silk board in Kanakpura. This business was up for two months in an year and the village did silk worm rearing for 100 eggs. This yielded a total of 50kgs of silk yielding shells.
After showing us mulberry trees and fields, he guided us to a path which seemed to be heading towards a temple and ashram. This track was surrounded by green fields on both sides. We could see beautiful hillocks and lush green fields. The track was peaceful and an exciting nature walk every moment. We saw beautiful fields and houses spread all around. After walking for about 1.5 kms we saw a scenic stony hill. We trekked up the hill to reach to a temple. The temple had a story of its own. The pujari told us, that lord hanuman's idol came out of rocks on its own.
As i looked beyond the temple, i saw a beautiful natural waterfall. The beauty of this hill can not be described in words. It was an unfolding mystery at every step. We moved to the top of the hill and found a village bawri [ reservoir of water]. The track ahead had three beautiful sivlingas next to which lay some steps. These steps led us to a beautiful abode of peace amongst the hills. The steps were structured and had well organized pots of plants alingned next to them. We moved ahead to enter through a door. We saw our reflection in the mirror, and moved head to find out if someone resided in that house. A lady stepped out and directed us to a staircase. We climbed the stairs to reach to an area which opened to green scenic beauty of that hill. We were greeted by a sweet and fair lady who could converse in english. We entered into a room, which was like a cave, the walls were painted and it had a small window which was covered with a cloth. There was a bed lying in the corner and there was a lady clad in saffron saree sitting on it. The fair lady told us that the place we were in was an ashram, and the lady sitting on bed was guru maiya. The ashram was constructed by Baba Raam ram as a home for destitute kids. She told us that she was spiritual inheritor of baba. She also showed us the meditation room of Baba Raam Ram. Entire ashram was carved out of caves. The ashram was decorated with hand made potteries which were as beautiful as the heart of kids who made them. This place was a house for 22 kids, who have now moved to Dharwad for studies.
The lady talked about spirituality and Baba Raam Ram. I looked at two kids who had found home in this ashram years back. They were young, decent and with a future that this self less service by Baba had granted to them.
We were offered pooran poli and vadas by the ashram, which was a relief to our hungry stomachs. Lady showed us the ashram and we moved back to the track from where we started but with lot to introspect and think of.
Explaining some of the messages by lady would take another blog.
We started back for Bangalore. In the way, we stopped at art of living ashram, a place where meditation is packaged and commercialized for riches, and is freely available for poor. The campus is enormous and beautiful. We meditated for half and hour and moved on with life..........
Outcomes:
- Village has potential and means to grow.
- Needs right networking so that villagers can earn more by eradicating middle men.
- Silk culture can be promoted at a larger scale.
- Women can commercialize their art and craft. They are relatively well organized.
- Given its proximity to hills, this can be an attractive spot for tourists.
- Village needs some improvement on roads.
- People are relatively educated and aware. It makes sense to ask art of living group to enable these people for good.
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