HistoryJalamangala village is a small village about 45 miles from Bangalore. My family has a history
of about 300 years in this village. Our ancestors came from Andhra Pradesh long ago and settled here. My grandfather was a priest and post master. He was very active in the Village during his lifetime, active in politics and was a philanthropist. During his lifetime and the years following his death, his 8 sons moved to Bangalore city for livelihood.
My relationship to the villageI had made a few trips to the village during my childhood days. I have fond memories of those
trips. The simple nature of the villagers always touched me. At the same time, the caste structure was something that disappointed me because it put the people of the village at a lower pedestal than my own. For me, we are all humans after all and need to be treated alike. But, being the scared little sissy that I was, I kept quiet!
I came to the US in Dec ’99. Many Indians that I spoke to were disappointed with how
rural/poor India showed on the global map. Some were sad and others were outright critical about the country. This made me angry, but then again I just kept quiet bottling up that anger.
Life smiled on my predicament in the form of a couple of seminars (
The Landmark Forum and
The Landmark Advanced Course) that I participated in through a seminar company called
Landmark Education. These seminars revealed to me in no-nonsense terms that I need not stay angry forever about my country’s state but could actually do something about it. Trivial as this may sound, it was an amazing breakthrough that infused a fresh breath of freedom for me.
In a community project seminar (
The Self-Expression and Leadership Program) that I did immediately, I did a small project of inviting my family members to go on a day trip to Jalamangala. Though this sounds small, the context in which it was created was huge. I created the context of the accountability for my family – we got so much out of the village and prospered but we didn’t give much back to the village. Now it was payback time!
The day long trip had its impact on the members of my family, many of who were visiting the village after 10+ years. They were left inspired by what’s possible for them.
My dad’s return from the USSomewhere in the middle of my seminar, my dad arrived in the US in late 2003. I had just
been laid off from my job. He thought it wasn't a good idea to do some project for my village instead of stabilizing in my career. I threatened a mutiny and told him that I am willing to head back to my village and become a doodhwala aka milkman ;-) My dad got scared like crazy and he proposed that we reach an agreement. Soon enough I found a job and he chilled out. In the following days, he shared with me his own vision for our village and impressed on me the importance of me staying in the US and earning money to help our village. That proved to be a turning point in my life, as money was no longer a tool of the greedy but a vehicle for alleviating the quality of life for mankind. Of course, it also meant that becoming a doodhwala remained a fantasy of mine :-( My dad returned to India much earlier than he planned.
The Project is bornAn Uncle of mine had been active in the village and the area surrounding it for many years. Given the momentum that he had built up already, my dad got together the rest of his brothers and sister and convinced them about the importance of our family’s role in our village. The family decided on starting off by renovating our 300 year old ancestral home. My dad, given his experience as a highly successful executive in the area of project execution, got the home renovation project done in record time. The newly renovated home was grandly reopened to the entire family and relatives. A lot of them reminisced the life of my grandfather. A beautiful flower and fruit bearing garden was also created. The funds for the entire project was raised within the family.
Following the home renovation, projects were taken up that would help the village. The first
area that was identified was healthcare. A few health camps were organized to help people with
physical disability, eye care issues, heart issues et.al. Also, given the value contributed by religious and spiritual activities, visits from RK Mutt were organized.
Project with a life of its ownAround this time, the villagers actually grew skeptical about the efforts of our family and
wondered if this was a short lived “cool” idea. Fortunately, for us and them, that was not to be the case. The medical camps continued. Also, the religious activities expanded with the renovation of important temples in the village that were ignored for a long, long time. Recently, a Ganesha temple was newly constructed and has had a huge impact on the villagers.
The local high school was impacted in a useful way when teachers/experts from Bangalore
city gave useful guidance to the students of 10th class. The school also organized numerous student events that was presided by members of our family and the messages delivered our deemed inspiring.
One of my aunts, who teaches high school students in Bangalore, organized a roadtrip for her
students and the mix of students from the two areas was something very amazing. The children from the city realized how much they lacked in terms of extra curricular activities.
Current/Future projects/statusOur family plans to continue its projects in the areas of medicine, healthcare and
religious/spiritual activities. We are able to manage the financial needs within our family. However, personnel who can participate frequently is what is needed. Currently, only my parents, a couple of uncles, aunts and cousins have the bandwidth to be active.
ConclusionUltimately, the context that would make a difference is what’s said in the movie “Gandhi” by
Gandhi’s character, that India is a country made up of 700,000 villages. If each one of us takes on our respective village, then 700,000 people can make a difference with the entire country’s progress!
