As a city kid, I read books, work all day (from home, of course), drive around for my errands and social life. For me, my life is quite simple. I have never been exposed to what truly is simplicity; and how, with simplicity, also comes hardships. My parents always took care of the tough times. A week ago, I had the good fortune of being introduced to Rajshri Deshpande; a passionate and immensely hardworking individual who founded and runs the Nabhangan Foundation. I was given the opportunity to interview her, to be able to understand better her work with the foundation and all that they achieve. Read on to know why I was so pleasantly surprised and very deeply inspired to be more than just a ‘city kid’.
Anisha: What is the Nabhangan Foundation?
Rajshri: Before we get to that, I will give you a slight background of my life. I come from a farmer’s family. My father was a farmer. We see villages today as the poor man’s land, and nothing more. Villages have the power to be mini-cities, if one puts in the right kind of effort. I visited Pandhari in 2016, and saw that the river that used to flow through the village was dry. I worked with the locals tirelessly to clean up the debris in the river and build back the farming practices around. One year later, we had gushing water in the river. It was a small step, just the first step. I had then decided I wanted to take up this village and build it to its potential.
The Nabhangan Foundation is my cry to the world about how villages can be made self-sustaining too. It is not an easy task, but it is not as difficult as proclaimed either. Why should we live in a comfortable world and look down upon villages? They can reach our level too. And I wanted that for them!
Anisha: Completed Projects & upcoming goals?
Rajshri: Goals will always be too many, and once we achieve one off the list, we will always add another to the list. As of now, I have managed to build back the river flow in the village with the help of hardworking farmers and locals. I have also been successful in having 200 toilets built in the village. This was a special experience. We were sitting in the temple of the village – in the open courtyard of the temple. Men around, women around, everyone; discussing menstrual cycles and the difficulties women face.
Now you see the catches here: temple, men, period-talk. But I was pleasantly surprised that the men took as much of an interest in this discussion as women. One of the younger farmers decided to build a private toilet for his soon-to-be wife and this is how the process began. Almost every home in Pandhari now has a toilet dedicated to the women of the house! Did you ever think a village can achieve that? I did, and I made it happen. Educating people goes a long way, and I realised the best way to help them achieve any progress is by being patient and getting them up to speed about what is going wrong!
Anisha: How do you create funding for your projects?
Rajshri: We are an NGO, so no salaries! (Haha, I couldn’t help but chuckle with her on this; it is a very honest thing to say, and I loved it). No, but really, we receive a ton of honorary help. I will explain this with a story, one of my experiences while helping Pandhari. When I was young, I would go to a municipality school. Sitting on the floor, leg on leg, no books, no windows. Just a teacher, screaming words into our ears and expecting us to learn them. I did not want this for my children, the children growing up in Pandhari. So I took to finding out how to improve the schooling quality at the village. The Zilla Parishad was not quite helpful, because the government & aid, never really went together anyway. So I decided to shoulder this one myself.
I decided to rebuild a school from the ground up. A friend of mine, who is a successful architect, was kind enough to design the school and its elements entirely for us, on an honorary basis. We had chosen a piece of land that was dotted with trees in difficult places. I was not willing to have these hacked, and so we designed the school AROUND the trees. An architectural marvel, smack bang in a village. You have to believe it. So, when I first arrived in Pandhari in 2016, the heat was at a simmering 45 degrees celsius. The schools had to have a cooling element. We decided to do this by deciding to build the school with clay – a naturally cooling element.
When it was time to request funding from the cream and near-cream of society in various cities, we received criticism. “Why don’t you just build with cement like we do here. It’s cheaper and less time-consuming!” or something like “Why don’t you just erect one straight building; it’s certainly going to save you a good amount of money!”. I did react at first, but then after a wholesome amount of explaining, I got my near and dear ones also to understand my effort. Soon, I collected enough to begin the groundwork for the school build.
My close friend, the director of the blockbuster movie “Masaan” promised his award funding to our project if he won the Debut Director Award. And what do you know? He did. And he funded a major part of our work! Slowly, but efficiently, we are working towards receiving as much funding possible for our work. Villages need us, they are what define India. Why should we let them rot?
Anisha: Yes, I also attended my friend Richa’s Cooking Class during lockdown, and I heard you raised almost INR 40, 000/- for your project through it.
Rajshri: Yes! I am so happy with the way that turned out, that too smack dab in the middle of lockdown. Richa is a wonderful person, a great friend, and very very helpful. She is also working on a cookbook to raise funds for us.
Anisha: Yes, the AtHomeCookBook. Is it going to be featuring on any portal or selling independently?
Rajshri: I am not so sure about it. But I had a look at the cookbook while she is still working on it, and it looks excellent. Some of the village women put together a recipe to add to her book too. They were very excited about how she is working on a cookbook with simple regional recipes.
Anisha: When would you say that Nabhangan has achieved it all?
Rajshri: There will never be such a time, because work has to go on. Rebuilding is a long process, and village by village, I hope to achieve as much as I can in this life. Someone once called me from the eastern part of the country and asked me to visit that side of the country and work on a village and its aspects. All I said was, “Why do I need to come? It can be done by anyone. You can be me, in Eastern India. Work can happen anywhere, not just by me, but by you and many others like you!”.
I want children of villages to experience beautiful childhoods full of airy classrooms, libraries full of books to read, playgrounds to stretch in and sports to get better at! I want farmers to get their fill, without having to compromise due to official rules and middlemen. Villages have a right to be supported and uplifted. If you can donate funds, you can also take time out to personally help out. I urge everyone to take a step. These are our villages. We should look after them!
My experience, on this weekday morning, just before beginning my official work for the day, was inspiring, educational and touching, at best. It is as exciting as it is motivating to know that Rajshri, who comes from the film industry, has such a major impact on a village. A village that she is rebuilding – by herself, with help from locals and near and dear ones. It takes a lot to leave everything in life, and devote your entire time to something that has a possibility of ‘may not work out’. Her perseverance, her determination, her encouragement and her resilience are an asset to this country we call home. Her belief that we can bring villages up to the speed of our cities, is a freshness our social circles need!
This morning interaction, over a cup of coffee (and, Zoom) has me thinking every day about how we treat our cleaners and our servants. They work harder than many of us, to sustain their families with the little income we give them. What we can do instead is: support their childrens’ education, and perhaps offer them rations for the month. This is a small start. It can go a long, long way for someone who only works hard to prove food and education to their family.
2020 is a year full of looking back, of calculating what we have done, and what we haven’t. Let this be one of the things you decide to DO. The time to help out will always be NOW. So, start today. Get in touch with Rajshri, if you want to know more about how to go about making a difference. She is a true village soldier; fighting for a brighter future, not for herself, but for those that cannot even dare to dream!
Week 42, October ’20
