Yeah, I have been again missing from the blog scene (this missing act has become too much of a regularity though). I have just had the most incredible two weeks of my life. A time to practice what I preach, so as to speak. After harping on the necessity of financing the grassroots in my earlier blogs, it was time to hit the road & actually assess the impact of micro-finance in the grassroots. And so we did- penetrating the heart of rural India. An India most of us have heard only in Amrita Pritam/Premchand books or seen in Shyam Benegal movies.
The ABN AMRO India Foundation gave 15 of us the opportunity to study the impact of microfinance on the beneficiaries (rural women), through one of its MFI partners CASHPOR India (Cash & Savings for the Hardcore Poor) which has its major operations in UP & Bihar hinterland. And so, 15 of us from the length & breadth of ABN AMRO offices aided by 7 local boys acting as interpreters, gathered in Varanasi to cover approximately 25 villages across 4 districts of UP- Varanasi, Mirzapur, Ghazipur & Chandauli.
It was an experience by itself getting up at 5 am most of the days, hitting the road by 6, traveling through dusty, cold roads, walking through muck filled kaccha roads, finding houses spread apart over 10 kms, facing lack of sanitation facilities, eating invariably Rotis and Aaloo-Gobi sabzi in roadside Dhabas and above all grappling with Bhojpuri & Khadi dialects spoken in the region. Really a world apart for a true-blue townie like me. But boy, did we ever relish this experience...beautiful countryside, refreshing pollution-free air and above all warmth seeping through the simplicity of the village people. And all through-out we had Mother Ganges to guide us through our journey!
Village tableau
Interviewing the people was an altogether amazing experience…at some places the village folk assumed us to be representatives of Electricity dept collecting bills! But once these people heard the name of Cashpor India & were made to understood that they were not being interrogated for any financial reasons, they were only happy to help. These people are really amazing: loss of livestock is a far monumental problem than death of children in the family. Most of the people struggle to earn 60 Rs. Per diem, but don’t think twice before spending lacs of rupees on weddings/death in the family (mostly through borrowing from the moneylender on interest rates as high as 15% per month!). We met both sets of people: prosperous villagers supplementing their seasonal agricultural income with various industries started with money borrowed from Cashpor- Animal Husbandry, Saree weaving, Grocery stores, etc & also the poorest of the poor lot; people who could barely feed their children because of illness, loss of livestock, effect of flood/draught. But what stuck us the most was the ever-present smile & the warm welcome accorded to us wherever we went. I can truly say that inspite of being poor, these people are far richer than us in the happiness quotient.
It was a revelation to understand the implications of micro-finance. For a corporate banker, a small ticket loan of 20,000 would be something unimaginably insignificant. For a city-bred person 20,000 would mean monthly shopping expense. But for a villager 20,000 Rs would mean annual income for his huge family. And therein lies the whole difference. But it would be really churlish to ignore the commercial aspects of the microfinance business, especially the almost non-existent NPAs. And I could actually see why. The self-respect and discipline micro-finance has installed in these people is a phenomenon seen to be believed. It was really heartening to see women walking as far as 10 kms every week to their centre, whatsoever weather, ailment, financial disaster etc to repay their weekly loan instalment. The seriousness by which these women swear their commitment for repayment in their concluding meeting prayer is an absolutely heart-touching experience.
Microfinance clients
Many things left us completely stunned, speechless. Here we could understand the true implications of the social problems of the country. For eg a family we visited in Mirzapur had 21 children, but even they were stumped in actually counting the no. of children in the family and where they are located! Child marriage is extremely prevalent here with the system of ‘Gauna’ practiced rampantly- in which the girl is married off at a very tender age but resides at her parental home till 15-16 yrs of age. But the severest problem we encountered was the caste divide. When finding out the location of a particular family, we would face difficulties on account of the fact that the villagers would be ignorant of families of another “Biradar” (caste). Imagine living in a small village for decades altogether, still not knowing the other residents because of the caste divide. But certain things made us smile too…people may/may not have electricity in their huts, but onething you would find frequently is- a mobile phone! Another incident which put a smile on my face was a household I encountered which was not educating their daughter, but was sending their young 15 yr old daughter-in-law to college…truly something really appreciable in these parts.
The RBS Team along with the local student-guides
The team had loads of fun too…by far the funniest of the lot were the evergoing discussions on differences between a ‘Cow, Buffalo, Bullock & Ox’ and ‘Tattoo nd Khacchar’. Boy, the theories surrounding the demystification had everybody in splits. (Ahem. Anybody interested in knowing the same can contact me off-the-line). Also a visit to the holy city of Varanasi is incomplete without a visit to Kashi Vishwanath temple, seeing the Ganga Arati on the Dashashvamedh Ghat nd the majestic Buddhist seat of Sarnath. I had my share of embarrassing moments too. When I was interviewing a lady, I found that there was a crowd of 25-30 people observing the whole interview keenly. When I asked what was going on, the lady’s son replied cheekily “Madam, sab aapko dekhne aaye hai” That point of time, I really could empathize with the tiger kept in a zoo peered at by everybody! But the crown..err.. has to go to the Bhojpuri songs I encountered on the trip. “Saniya Mirza Dhoniya pe chance mare re” takes the cake, hands down!!!
The Ganga ghats awash in lights
Buddha's shrine in Sarnath
An image which will stay with me forever is the swaying yellow tinged Mustard crop in the dew-laden sepia-tinged morning. Reminded of those famous Daffodil words:
“For oft when on my couch I lie,
In a pensive or a vacant mood,
They flash upon the inward eye,
Which is the bliss of solitude”
This image will be the one which will always remain with me whenever I think of my incredible Varanasi sojourn.
