Being Single

I often question myself, do we really need someone to be loved and feel special? In hunt of meeting that special someone, time and again we miss ourselves in the journey. It’s not just about the chemistry between the two opposite sex or mentality match or how long you know each other for. Many of us waste so much of time looking for a right match that in the entire period we missed to know ourselves more and what we really want?  We tend to see only what we want to and never try to ask ourselves that do we really fit into the box. Let me confess that remaining single has been really fun and it indeed taught me many things in life especially travel all across, working for my own needs, exploring new things each day, pampering and loving myself every day. This is not the end, there are many more good things to come along. Today I completely agree that it’s perfectly fine to be SINGLE.

Place where I completely find myself single

Joy of field work

I am been questioned by many of my friends and colleagues that ‘what I do in the villages? What for I travel a lot in tribal areas?’ my only reply to them is ‘field work’. The word engraved in me since my college days, when I first started knowing the subject Anthropology. My foremost field work was in the village named Raghurajpur, Odisha in the year 2001 where I studied the marriage system of the people in the village. Since then the journey had never stopped, field work has its own charm and the rich experience has its own beuty. I have travelled many parts of the country for field work it indeed has taught me the best things in life. Let me share my recent field work experience in Chhattisgarh and Mayurbhanj 

among the Baiga and Khadia tribes. The villages were distance of where I was staying and there were transportation problem as well. The roads were muddy and slippery I literally had to hold my breath to walk the roads to reach the villages and having experience falling on those muddy roads. It was certainly one of the best experiences with Baiga and Khadia tribes, spending entire day with them and having their traditional food made me feel like one among them. The Khadia tribes in Mayurbhanj taught me their language and food habits. I also took stroll around the local weekly market to understand their livelihood. One thing I learned from both the tribes that weekly market is one of the main source of social networking with people from distant villages, it is also a source of entertainment for many. Most commonly thing observe was people enjoying the weekly market days with country liquor, food and colourful attire. However, festive period is one of the best times to visit the tribal villages one can indeed get to see colourful attire, locally knit ornaments, tribal folk songs and dance. My feet could not stop to join the young girls dancing on the festive songs, though it is the time when the young boys and girls choose their partner, well I got narrowly escape for being someone's bride while dancing with those young girls in Mayurbhanj!! Field work not just remain my research but also a public speaker. Some organization and village leaders invited me to their local village meeting to aware the village people of the things I know and educate them

One of the best moments was of having food in a tribal hut on one rainy day. Yes the food that was cooked whole heartedly by one of my tribal friend named Ranga who was my true inspiration. She had inspired me in many occasion and the bonding I have with her is truly heart wrenching. Nothing tastes best than the indigenous food. Apart from my research work the entire field work has taught me the joy of living simple life. While narrating the experience I long to go back to those villages, my heart goes on singing

The little feet’s of children running to stand in front my camera

The wrinkled old faces smile on funny questions of mine

The young girls shying away on my questions to them

The young boys question of my visit to their village

The smell of drenched earth, green trees, muddy roads

The hot food on veranda of tribal  hut and playing with kids

My heart goes on singing, life is so beautiful!!

Time for a Change!

Being a Ph.D scholar for more than two years in an institute like NIT where life tends to be too monotonous with hectic research works. Many of us have fixed schedule of going to the department on time, working on research papers, and meeting with supervisor, restrict to the hostel dinner and lunch timing. We hardly get scope to mingle with other department research scholars to discuss what is happening in and around the campus. It was late May of this year, some of my female colleagues with strain faces disclose me the nasty sexual harassment going on in the campus. Each word was expressing the pain and injury of the victims that they had gone through for many years from the hands of a security officer.  Next day the person who was a whistle blower of the entire issue gave detail accounts that ignited the entire mass to start protest against the nasty sexual harassment events going inside the campus. With different slogan against the sexual harassment we marched the entire campus and demanding immediate action against the guilt.

The peaceful protest went for nine days with vigorous pressure on the director to suspend the guilt, demand to lodge an FIR against him and bringing changes in the administrative system. Constant hard work in hot summer of meeting media person, local politicians, spreading the words through different mode such as social media, consulting lawyers, meeting women activist and many more. The most heartening task was to persuading the victims to come out to lodge FIR on the nasty acts done to them. In no time with support of woman activist, the victims with full courage lodge FIR against the guilt. The agitation ended with an open house discussion with all the students, faculties, deans and director. The meeting did have a larger impact on many as they were unaware of the issue and reason of the agitation by the students.  Most aspects of the issue were discussed and explanation was given by director. Though many of his explanation was not encountering the questions asked by the faculties and students. The demand of full activation of the sexual harassment cell in the institute and formation of student body was strongly put forth by the students in front of the senior authorities. Although we officially called off the demonstration but our words echoed and reached many ears, on the next day we were called by the MHRD official for the meeting to discuss on same issue. On the same time we observed about 50-60 tribal and dalit women groups shouting slogan inside the director office. This was enough to bring smile on each of our face, my mind was echoing with ‘satyamev jayate’ on the very moment…

The entire protest taught me many things. Being an anthropologist by practice I may have worked on similar kind of issues, but never got an opportunity to experience it so closely, the nine days protest inculcates a new person in me.  I met many new faces they carry similar thought of bringing change in the society. We became like family by spending hours together in brain storming to address the issue. Each day certainly had something to teach such as addressing mass and controlling them, understands legal aspect and its guidelines, facing media person and having control over our speech in front of camera, meeting with higher authorities, preparing appropriate placards for display and most importantly staying united with the group.

Time for change

Such kind of nasty acts must be happening in many educational institutions the victim could be anyone. It’s time for many of us to learn our rights provided to the student and understand the legal aspect before anyone hoodwink us. The first thing an institute should do is to bring awareness of their rights to the students through workshops. There has to be sexual harassment cell for all the students and workers working in the institute. The committee members contact details has to be display in the institute website and in the ladies hostel information boards. Second most important thing an institute like NIT or IIT should have a student union body. May it not be politicize the academia but a body that should be there to hear student voice and work together to bring solution to student problems?

The bottom line is we research scholars engrossed ourselves in the institute curriculum that we keep no room to work for the social cause happening around us. They say charity starts from home, we being responsible and educated citizen must take first step towards evolution. I am proud to say that I have taken the first step for a cause and many more to take!! 

Realization..

Life takes different twist and turns, they say it’s like roller coaster journey. Sometime we commit mistake while choosing the path in the journey. Some path appears easy to take but teaches us the toughest and best things in the journey.  Whilst some paths look tough but gives us the most comfortable journey. My journey of life has been a mixed one, while walking on those paths I have done number of mistakes and learned many things from it. Sometime we tend to ignore our mistake and never realize that it may hurt our fellow passengers. They say the older you grow the wiser person you become. The word realization may appear to be simple and nice but it has a deeper impact in our life. It doesn’t come often, it may take a minute, a second, a day, a month or a year to come but when it comes, it evolves a better and wiser soul in you. It is the most beautiful thing to realize how much you love some people? Realize how much you care for them? Realize you can walk the toughest path along with them…

The best part is when you ‘Realize’ it internalized in you the kind of person you are. I ask for forgiveness to all my fellow passengers whom I have hurt in anyways in my journey. I will always praise and thanks them to make me realize and evolve to be the person I am today.