I boarded the Mewar Express at 7:00 pm on 9 August,
2014 from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway
Station, New Delhi, heading to Piplantri,
a village in the dry, arid state of Rajasthan. The village was scant heard of and
until a few years ago, found its name among the myriad other villages of India
severely and adversely affected by common yet rampant issues of alcoholism, female
foeticide, poverty, illiteracy, and maladministration.
It took all but
one truly visionary man named Shyam
Sundar Paliwal [and the tragic loss of his daughter to dehydration] to
change the village’s fortunes. Over a sustained period of 6 years, by bringing
the village folk together and planting 111 trees on the birth of every girl
child, followed by creating a bank account - on the basis of donations -
amounting to INR 30,000 [roughly USD $500] with a maturity period of 20 years
for the newborn, Mr. Paliwal has
today successfully eradicated illiteracy, alcoholism, and dehydration and has created
economic self-sufficiency by training the village’s women folk in manufacturing
and marketing home-grown aloe-vera products!
I had the good
fortune of visiting Piplantri on the
day of Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu
festival that celebrates the relationship between siblings with the tying of a Rakhi [a traditional wrist-band] and an
exchange of gifts and sweets. In Piplantri however, women tie Rakhi’s to not men, but the trees!
Here is a glimpse:
Here is a glimpse:
Earlier on, when
the revivalist movement had just begun to take shape in the village, women
belonging to Mr. Paliwal’s generation had begun the tradition of celebrating Raksha Bandhan with the trees, as a
gesture of gratitude for protecting the village’s depleting resources. Soon,
children from all corners of the village began to participate in the festival.
Having said
that, Piplantri’s story has inspired
so many across the country, that several people, irrespective of the season,
visit the village in order to have a better grasp of the social transformation
it has undergone and continues to do so in the midst of a variety of problems
faced by its neighbouring villages. Various eminent personalities such as the
social activist Anna Hazare, Salman Ansari, wife of the
Vice-President of India, M. Hamid Ansari,
Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara
Raje, and many others have also paid a visit to the village.
Although the
village is yet to be frequented by foreigners and become an international
tourist destination, Piplantri’s
story itself I hope, is enough to draw attraction as it did for two Danish
girls who chose the village as part of their undergraduate research project and
many others the past 6 years.
Whether or not
formal education is a necessity in order to bring about a positive change in
society is, and perhaps will remain a debatable issue. For Mr. Shyam Sundar Paliwal and the people of Piplantri, it certainly hasn’t been.
If sheer
inspiration, colour, warmth, determination, and unadulterated simplicity are
your ideas of an ideal tourist destination, Piplantri,
Rajasthan, India is your place to be.
My 12 year old daughter and her friends would like to raise money to donate to this village for this on-going project. Do you have any idea if they are set up to accept donations?
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Aimee
Bozeman, MT