Darkness in Satpuda and the Reality of Life
Translated from Marathi by AI · Read the original
Jitendra Ghatge writes somewhere, "People who have their hands on their stomachs - while telling the stories of those who live hand to mouth - should feel at least a little shame." Of course, he feels this way for no reason. It is not a rule.
Sitting in an AC cabin in Mumbai and talking big about the world, those who enjoy a life of comfort with a single click on Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato - why and for what reason should they cry out when there is no electricity or school in some hamlet in the Satpuda hills? Often I wonder if we are even that sensitive. Of course, I feel this way for no reason too. It is not a rule.
The way Sandeep is working there, sooner or later someone like Shiladar, someone like Ganesh Pavra, someone like Pravin Pavra will bring the lives of these tribal people and their issues before the world. But friends, those of us who talk big about being a self-declared world guru and the third largest economy must also speak about this.
Seventy-five years have passed since independence, and there is still no electricity in this area. Somewhere near Toranmal there are a few poles without electric wires. The solar power in some homes is a privilege for many there. They say that in World Guru India, free and compulsory children's education is available. Here on the banks of the Narmada, there are no schools for a long way. There is no count of out-of-school children. The people here are voters and have voter cards, but no birth certificates. No Aadhaar. And when there are no papers, there are no government schemes.
Unseasonal rain turns bajra black; small children die of diarrhea; because there is no timely transport or vehicle, a pregnant woman loses her life halfway while being carried to the clinic in a cloth sling; a vehicle falls into a gorge with passengers sitting even on the roof; how a traffic constable robbed whom and how; how people were treated like bonded laborers when they went for sugarcane cutting, how much daily wage they were given and how much bread they got to eat; how whole villages went to Gujarat for work and food; how Ganya's brother Mitesh drives a vehicle around sharp curves; how he spends 300 rupees on petrol just to do a 200 rupee recharge and goes to Toranmal or Dhadgaon - how many such grievances are there to tell. Friends, these must be told too.
No matter how convenient our sensitivity, this canvas will be unfolded sooner or later. We are in debt to the drumstick pods, maize bread, and bajra bread from the homes of Maharaj and Ganesh. The stains of a broken system and the sins committed by power and those in power are also on our lives. This must change, and efforts must be made for this. That is all. Amen.
Lokesh Patil - जितेंद्र घाटगे एका ठिकाणी लिहितात, “ पोटावर हात... | Facebook
