Centre for Social Action conducts village exposure trips throughout the year. This time it was to a place called Yeldur in Kolar which is about 150 kms from Bangalore city. We were to leave on 15/6/2011 at 1:00 PM and return by saturday 16/6/2011 by 4:00 PM. On our way to the destination we got to know our fellow volunteers. We reached Yeldur by 4.30 PM. We prepared ourselves for the village visits as it was about 30 kms away from the place we were staying in.
Before leaving we all were divided into 6 groups as the total strength was 97. This was also done so that everybody would get to know each other,each group visited a specific village. Our mode of travel were mini tempos. This journey with a small group of people enabled me to get to know people on a personal level and make friends. Our group was brimming with energy and enthusiasm right from the start to the end which made the trip eventful.After reaching the place we visited homes of the people living there and spoke to them about their occupation,education of their children, access to health care etc. We were shocked to see the inadequate facilities available to them. We played games with the children and for me to see them smile and laugh was a wonderful experience. Memories such as these will be etched into my mind for a long time. The lesson learnt by me was to find happiness in small things in life.” All good things come in small packages”, at that moment I knew how true it was. I realized that in order to work together as a group i had to interact with everyone so that we could work as a unit. The way senior volunteers took up responsibility is one quality which I would love to imbibe in me.
Like this the village exposure trip came to end leaving me yearning for more. I would like to end by stating a very famous quote “A journey of thousand miles begins with one small step”. Csa has indeed taken the small step towards the progress of our nation.
Hitesh
Bcom
Saptarshi Banerjee
September 23, 2011 at 2:09 am
These exposure trips truly are practical learning realisation. There are things about which books can only give you a narration but the in-depth feel can be realised only by ones physical presence and natural human interactions.