Boarding our bright yellow campus bus, we headed out Saturday morning to tour a local village and one of the nearby slums. After traveling on the highway for 45 minutes, the bus turned off onto a dirt road. While the paved road had some occasional potholes, as we reached the dirt road, the bus had to slow to a crawl in order to avoid the huge chunks of missing road. The program director explained how this was the only road in and out of the village, with only one bus departing in the morning and one bus arriving in the evening. If anyone in the village had to reach a hospital, this would require them to us on of the cars in the village and travel for 30 to 40 minutes down the dirt road. As we continued on to the village, we saw vast areas of farmland that the village men cultivated. This included various fruits and vegetables, but most surprising was the huge number of flowers being grown, as these were much more lucrative than growing crops. The village we had entered was one of the many local villages that is sponsored by Christ University. A woman who was appointed by Christ University to facilitate the University’s involvement in the village greeted us and began to tell us about the village. Through Christ’s efforts, the village had gained a bus route, funding for their local school, power and water lines, and soon a paved road. We were allowed to look around one of the homes in the village. Each home had one cow for dairy and a couple of chickens. As we entered the house, we observed the how the people were living. The house had five rooms including a storeroom, a kitchen, a living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom. While basic, the villagers had all the basic essentials that allowed them to live a fairly normal life. We then visited the schoolhouse and met some local children. Taught mainly in Kannada, the local language, the children gathered each day in a classroom that was only slightly larger than my dorm room and took elementary level courses. Older kids were provided bikes by the government and would bike to a neighboring village which had a middle or high school. As we entered the schoolhouse to greet the children, the children expected us to sing a song for them. After singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” the children giggled at us, amused. We were then greeted with a chorus of voices adorably singing local songs along with happy birthday and the ABC song. The kids then demanded we play a local game called Kabbadi with them. In this game, a combination of tag and red rover, we gathered on two teams and took turns attempting to tag a member of the other team and then making it back to our base without being pulled back to theirs. On the condition that the big kids couldn’t pull the children, we joined in. By the end a number of us ended up with scrapes and bruises from being pulled across the dirt field we played in, but most importantly the children were happy and having fun. Before we left, a number of students wanted to get photos with the local kids. As we pulled out phones and cameras, the kids quickly became fascinated, snatching them out of our hands and pushing every button they could see. One kid in particular took about 50 selfies on accident using an iPhone he had grabbed. Having to leave, we pried the electronics out of their hands to their disappointment and waved goodbye, having enjoyed our time with the children.
We then moved back into the city and visited one of the local slums, which was only a 15 minute walk from our housing complex. Also sponsored by Christ University, the slum was just off of a main road, however was noticeably different than its surroundings. The houses became more compact, crammed into the small area. The roads were riddled with potholes and were under major construction. The cleanliness of the area also declined with some sewage in the roads as well as a considerable amount more dust. While conditions outside were considerably worse than the surroundings, the interior of the house we visited was cramped, but clean. Invited in, we sat on rugs and listened to our host tell us about the village and the initiatives that were occurring. Along with a daycare and an activity center, the major initiative was a migrant school. In the slums, conventional schooling is not always possible as students may not remain in one location for a long time as their parents try to find work. The goal of the migrant school is to provide temporary schooling for these children in a way that encourages them to enjoy school and potentially allow them to transition to a full time school. Overall, the experience in the village and slum was encouraging. While the conditions were poor, there were many signs of progress and the people seemed to be encouraging change.
On Sunday, we journeyed to the Nandi Hills, a 2 hour car ride from the city. The hills towered over the nearby villages and was covered in fog. Driving up in our car, we reached the top and immediately felt the difference in temperature from the warm climate of the city. Having to put on jackets, we walked around the complex on top of the hill. As the fog covered area, we walked around old ruins of cave shelters that had been built into the hill. The walls had been covered with writing and stone seats and enclaves were carved into the rock. Feeling vaguely like Indiana Jones exploring ancient ruins, we walked around further discovering a number of these dwellings built into the hill, some branching into fairly large caverns. Further along the path, we reached a temple, still being used by visitors and the small group of people who continued to live in the hills. With the fog all around us, the area felt mystical, making what would’ve been just a simple temple seen extremely meaningful and powerful. After having a cup of tea and admiring the beautiful view of our surroundings, we returned back to the city.
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