Rural Visiting

So we’ve been visiting the different districts in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra in order to better understand the plight of poor landless Dalits in one of the poorest region in India. Despite the fact that nearly 30% of the population in this region live on less than $0.40 a day, these people greeted us with tremendous warmth. The villagers greeted us with multiple gifts of flower necklaces, scarves and coconuts. They crowded our car wherever we went, sang convivial songs and offered tea and meals whenever possible. They seemed ecstatic that foreigners would take the time to visit their removed villages. We swayed and bumped our heads as we drove for hours on half finished or dirt roads that were full of pot holes and blocked by rocks and the ubiquitous buffalo. During one of our village visits, I was moved to tears by the numerous school children who ran breathlessly smiling and waving after our car in their blue uniforms. In spite of being sick with food poisoning, I was revived by my interactions with the village folk and with lifted spirits, forgot about the pain in my stomach. In an interview with the local media, I shouted Jaibhim and zindebad in solidarity with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and spoke of the social disease that is plaguing India. It is not permissible that the majority of the population be oppressed by the powerful few. Women and Dalits must not only be allowed but encouraged to thrive. They should not have to sleep on the dirt, barely sheltered by hay huts, constrained to the outskirts of villages, removed from water supplies and barred from community centers and shops. They should not have to worry that while tilling their land, they may be hacked to pieces or raped. But despite the constant harassment of the upper-caste and the police, Dalits endure with optimism. Their fighting spirit and kindness has refueled my passion and further inspired me to join in the struggle to end caste as well as gender discrimination in India.