"A Date with the Darkness"

Had a "date with the darkness" on 17th March 2012; experienced a very romantic time together. Visited a garden, visited a shopping center(did window shopping with hands and nose), rode a boat and then  finally had some cold-drinks in a restaurant. The breeze with its sweet voice, some insects, some singing birds, some barking dogs, the sound of the waterfall and splashing water...all were together with us. 

No..no !! Don't misunderstand it with any girl........ it was the real darkness. 

At Hitech City(Cyberabad) of Hyderabad(A.P), there is a mall in which this Darkness is situated. It is similar the "scary room" situated at Indore(Treasure Island) where i visited with friends earlier; but this was a different and unique concept. 

We six people went inside for the experience, we four were colleagues(my friends Dereje from Ethopia, Kuldeep and Vikram from Jaipur) myself and an young couple  Suri and Bhavya(i liked the name of both) from some local college of Hyderabad. 

When we entered, 'blind canes' were given to us to start the journey in the darkness with eyes open. Our mentor took us inside and guided us to walk by holding the wall with one hand and using the 'cane' by other hand. It was a tunnel at first then things came on the way. Our mentor asked us to feel and identify all the things coming on the way by using our senses, except eyes(which we definitely could not use due to the darkness). We came across a garden where we felt the plants, stones, water spring, heard melodious birds singing and dogs barking, then a entered a shopping center where we felt the things of daily use. We felt the soaps, cereals, water tap, floor mopping cloths, oil containers, spices etc., and i was so lucky to identify most of the things specially the 'Life Buoy' soap{which i am using since hostel days ;)  }. Then we were taken to a boat and had a boat ride, i could sense the splash of water from the waterfall. We cracked jokes during the journey. After the boat ride we were taken to a restaurant where we made to sit after placing the order, i asked for a tin of thumbs up. There we shared our experience being in darkness. After having a nice time we came out.  

For one hour in the darkness i was totally feeling like having no eyes. I realized, how a blind person may feel everyday. Earlier sometimes practiced to walk with closing eyes to identify things inside a room during hostel time...but it was for short period. This experience of being in darkness for about one hour, can't either be express in words or understand by reading; it can only be felt after going there. It was like, listening music with closed eyes or walking in a dream. 

We all were very much impressed by Latha(who is a blind girl) who mentored us inside the dark room all the way. I clearly felt that how she is able to walk freely, even sense that we all visitors are in a proper line or not and guiding accordingly. She was moving so freely in the darkness just like we people, who with eyes walk normally in the daylight. At this young age, instead of the disability, she completed here Degree, PG Degree and Course in Computer application. After coming out, she asked all of us that how we felt using our all 3 senses(touch, hear and smell...except seeing)...we were speechless at first then shared our experiences. 

The skills of Latha actually reminded me of my school time favorite English teacher Mr. Ghanshyam Asudaani, every morning who used to walk to the school crossing a shopping center, a bridge on the main road and climbing stairs up to third floor. He was my one of the favorite  teacher during school time and we all friends of class 11th Arts, miss him so much.

The impressive part of this visit was, after experiencing the darkness, the young couple Suri and Bhavya decided to pledge for their eye donation to enlighten someones life after death. 

A very sincere thanks to our trainer Vickylee from LVPEI - Hyderabad, who provided us such a great opportunity to have that experience; if she wouldn't have taken us for this trip....experiencing the real life of a blind person was totally impossible for us. 

Never being on a formal date, but the first time dating with the 'darkness' is an unforgettable moment of life. 

Good night friends :) 

@mit

The rythm of life in Jhabua - Some experiences of the Tribal kingdom

12/03/2012, Hyderabad

A tribal young man playing flute during Bhagoria fare at Jhabua

Writing again after long time; so why not start with writing about the starting evidences of human; which is called, and existed between the (so called)modern civilization, as "the Tribal"

The world 'tribal' relates to the people/communities, who follows the ancient way of living(It is an another issue that ST is now a category as per Govt. rules for the well being of the Tribals, but nothing great is done for them till date on an average of overall, other than 'perfect paper reports' by the Govt. departments and people/organizations who are working for the Tribal welfare). 

The earlier mankind(Homo Sapien) used to live under trees, caves and open grounds with the mode survivals - animal flesh, water, fruits, plant routes etc. Slowly they gather together and became different from their fellow brothers(other living beings called as Animals now) by developing their way of communication, eating habits and innovating new things for their survival and safety. The progressed civilizations (who left or forgot their traditions during development) called themselves as 'Developed/Modern people' and called other communities who are still following the ancient traditions and living in between nature as 'the Tribals', by categorizing/considering them as backward people. 

Personally, I feel myself very lucky for getting chances to experiences to live between them and feel the brotherhood of the traditional people called as 'Tribal' by the modern society.

                                                                                                                            13/03/2012, Hyderabad

Contd..

The city is situated in Madhya Pradesh and well connected with other big cities like Indore, Dahod, Bhopal through NH 59. Though well connected with the modern world, the natives of Jhabua following their ancient culture and saved it, now their unique identification. Bhill's and Bhilala's are basically the natives of this district. Their is a division of superiority between these two castes, instead of same language and culture; Bhills are considered them as superior to Bhilala's and even they do not face each other or visit each other's villages or participate in any community programs together.