As a part of the curriculum at
MICA, students of PGDM-C course recently went for their
Rural Immersion Program in different parts of the country. The rural immersion program aims to educate the students about grass-root level issues faced by villagers and gives them a platform to engage with organisations working towards the betterment of these communities.
Here is a detailed experience of the Rural Immersion in Jaipur shared by
Richa Nevatia, a second year student of MICA.
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As you enter the village of
Aaspura, you will be faced with a few pukka houses, perhaps with goats tied out in the front. Quite a normal village on first glances. Although, having never seen a real goat before, I was a bit surprised, I took it to be like a stereotypical village. But when I peeked into the houses, I found a sight to break my traditional stereotype of a repressed woman doing household chores. I saw women weaving on looms just like a regular 9-5 job.
Aaspura is one of the leading weaver villages under
Jaipur Rugs. In over 40 looms, more than 100 women weave carpets every day. But they are also the homemakers of each of their houses. They wake up early, around 5-6 am on an average day, do the household chores, send their kids off to school or college and then start weaving from anywhere between 8-9 am. They have to wake up even earlier if there are special occasions like festivals or weddings in the village. I spoke to several of these women, all of whom seemed to love their work and were willing to adjust regardless of the extra hours they had to spend working on these looms during these occasions.
The women keep working on the looms till lunchtime, when they make lunch for everyone in the house, eat it and have an hour’s rest, only to begin weaving at 3 pm again. In fact, I noticed in quite a few houses, books lying around the looms. On probing further, it was revealed that they make sure that their kids are studying by keeping a near-constant eye on them, to the point of making their kids sit near them with their notebooks and going over what the kids are doing even though they may not be very well educated themselves.
These dedicated women keep working until it gets dark, sometimes even after it gets dark, under the light of a dull incandescent bulb. After resting for a bit, they have to make dinner on traditional chulhas lit by firewood. The interesting thing to note is that most of these houses have LPG cylinders, but prefer to make food on the chulhas as they prefer its taste- which I definitely agreed with during my week’s stay at Sumitra Devi’s house.
Dinner is eaten together in most households, when all the family members are present. Post that the women like to spend some time with their family, talk to their kids about their day, and even call up relatives for a long chat. Their day comes to a close at anywhere around 10-12, and the whole cycle starts again the next day. The astounding part of the lives of these women, (something we probably can’t even imagine) is they have no ‘Sunday offs’. They keep working every day of the week, week after week. There is no entitlement of vacation days. They do take breaks when they get tired, or get sick, but their dedication to keep working parallels none that I have ever seen.
One of the most interesting observations I made from the weavers is that there is no complaints in their life. They prefer to live their life happily, without any fuss. This is what Sumitra Devi had to say on my observation:
“Abhi kaam hai toh hai. Ro kar kya hoga? Usse achcha kaam mann laga ke karenge toh hassi-khushi ho bhi jayega”
- Sumitra Devi, 41, Resident of Aaspura
I believe this is something that we all can learn from these wonderful women. The happiness with which they live their lives can be easily emulated within all of us, if only we learn to be content with what we have in life. In fact, studies have shown that it can prolong your lifespan too, while increasing the quality of our life too. The smiles on their face can indeed be yours too.
I stayed for a week at Sumitra Devi’s house as her guest along with 3 of my classmates at MICA. She fed us, sheltered us, entertained us, and more over, taught us things which we can never learn from any MBA book ever. Over the week, I learnt a lot from all these small insights. Reflecting back, I can definitely say that my life was much more peaceful there. Sitting on a khatia in the garden and under the stars when the electricity went away, having heart-to-heart conversations with my fellow mates and Sumitra Devi, made me really think about the kind of disengaged world we live in these days.
Sure, we may be ‘connected’ to people from around the world, but the happiness to be gained from living the simple rural life, interacting with these women, and learning more about one’s dedication to working in the unexpected setting of a rural village made me really open my eyes and broaden my horizons.