The french connection :)

Being a Lawyer by profession , I hardly get any time to socialize and mingle with people. Thanks to the Indo-French association of which I am a member, I get the opportunity from time to time to meet people from France and invite them home for a cultural exchange thereby giving vent to my passion for France and the French language.

2 French girls Julie and Laetitia had come to stay with me for the weekend. Though I have been inviting French guests since 2000, this is the first time that someone of my age group came to stay with me and what an experience it was. They had come here to do a project on women in India. Since they had informed me of the same earlier, I had already begun preparations by trying to get in touch with and contacting career oriented and successful women. I was lucky enough to be able to get an appointment with my Junior College professor of sociology and the city editor of Indian Express. We met them and Julie and Laeti asked them several questions. They were quite impressed with the plethora of information that they got from these 2 very different women. One was a home-maker and a part-time teacher who very ably could balance both her professional and personal life whereas the other was an independent woman who was so fiercely passionate about her job that she placed her career about everything else.

After a satisfying session of shopping at Big Bazaar, we returned home. The next day was to be equally adventurous. We visited the tribal villages at Ambadi, about 40 km from Thane. Claire Elouard, a French woman in her late 50s has been working for their welfare since last 7 years. She holds a Ph. D. in Ecology & Pathology (Plant) from the University of Tolouse, France, with specialization in tropical plants. Her doctoral studies brought her close to the tropical countries. Claire had developed a love for nature and ecology from the beginning, and dreamt of living in tropics. Her love for and actual work to help immigrants during her high school studies in France was a forerunner of her love to work with people in need of assistance. She, who has almost become a native of Maharashtra except that she did not know the language, has been working in Thane Dist. since 2001, earlier with other non-profits, and finally started her own, called Sukhbhumi India Trust with the theme “Environmental Rehabilitation”. Her dream was – and still is – to plant trees, but she realized that this could not be done without the involvement of local people. And the second realization was that dire poverty and lack of basic resources like water and fuel would never permit these people to think of ecology and afforestation. Claire has a small but dynamic team of social and education workers – all highly committed and full of enthusiasm. The beginning is small, but results are quite promising.

Her area of operation is in seventeen villages – most of them tribal – in Tansa Watershed region of Wada Taluka, Thane District, Maharashtra.

We went to 2 of these villages with no idea whatsoever of what we were going to see. In spite of the dire situations that the villagers lived in, they welcomed us with open arms. A very common resource, WATER which we take so much for granted is a luxury for them. They have to walk about 15 km just to get a bucket of water. They have dug a well about a km away which has water of barely 40 inches. The women have to wake up as early as 4 am so that they are the first ones to get the little water that is left. We were so thirsty but were embarrassed to take out our bottles of water and gulp from them. Despite the hardships and sadness in their lives each of them were so vibrant and happy. They had decorated not only the entrance but the entire path that we walked into the village with colourful rangoli. When I was sitting there and talking to these women, I was suddenly filled with this void and extreme guilt as to what am I doing with my life. When I saw the amount of work Sukh Bhumi is doing for these villagers by fighting for their rights with the forest department and also trying to provide them with how much ever capacity of water that they can, I realized I am so self-centered thinking only about MY career, MY life, MY future. The experience of the 2^nd village visit was equally enriching. They had prepared a tribal dance for us and also served us tea and farsan. Julie and Laeti were equally touched by the large-heartedness and hospitality of the families. At the end of the day, on our way back home the 3 of us didn’t speak a single word, just reminiscing and thinking back of the amazing moments that we had during this day. When it was time for Julie and Laeti to leave, they hugged me and with moist eyes expressed to me how enriching and memorable this weekend was. I in turn thanked them for, if not for them, I wouldn’t have had this life-changing experience.