Bhopal: In a bid to help youngsters develop an understanding about lives of people in rural India and problems faced by them, Ekta Parishad and Ansh Happiness Society organized a five-day camp – Ruban – at Bhimkoti, a small village in Budhni district. Twenty youngsters attended the camp and spent time with 29 families of Bhilala tribe.
One of the participants Anupama Sarathe said “We used to get up at 5 and participate in morning prayers with villagers. It was the best way to start the day. We then worked in the village. We neither had power supply nor mobile network. Interestingly, we didn’t even miss it. The happiness and satisfaction on faces of villagers gave us a sense of belongingness and we did not feel any inconvenience.”
Sharing their experience, theatre artist Sahil Khan said, “The level of energy exhibited by villagers is unmatched. We will get brilliant players if we can encourage them to take on sports,” Gargi, Roy too joined in, “Not a single house has door. We had laptops, cameras, etc and we left them in open without the fear of theft. I personally learnt to trust people and experienced the way of leading a happy life without any interference of technology.”
The group comprised of youngsters from the field of photography, journalism, engineering, theatre, etc. “The village has just two solar panels to light up areas of public meeting. It does lag behind in education. It has only two public toilets. The best thing we found there was cultural values. We found that they appreciate and follow value-based thinking. We too will inculcate it in our life,” said Preetam.
