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The Struggle of Development

By Komala Ramachandra '03

Our jeep races down the road, set between vivid green fields of rice, jawar, and castor. Patches of deep red earth peek through here and there, and lone coconut trees dot the horizon. Atop the hills in the distance, gigantic boulders balance precariously as if suspended in the middle of an elaborate dance. Strains of Indian flute music emanate from the tape deck accompanied by the deep melancholy tones of a man’s voice crooning a Telangana ballad for his native land. We suddenly swerve to the left to make room on the one lane road for an auto-rickshaw with the words “For Hire” and “7 In All” painted on the bright yellow exterior; it carries at least seven people on the outside, hanging from the sides and sitting on the top, who block our view of the cramped passengers inside, most likely numbering more than seven. The black diesel smoke of the rickshaw mixes with the smells of the recent rain and manure. We slow to a crawl behind a bullock cart loaded with logs, moving with no concern for the passage of time. This speed matches the pace of life in Manchal, my new village and home for the coming year.

The lofty title of my Indicorps fellowship, “Total Village Development,” can only convey a fraction of the complexities we have faced so far trying to bring about positive change in Manchal. Studying India and development theories in a classroom halfway around the world in broad sweeping terms of infrastructure, population control, potential markets, and the cyber revolution, made me believe that a developed India was close at hand. However, I have started to comprehend the obstacles in development work that are taken for granted in academic settings. Girls willingly chose marriage over continuing education; mothers work, save, and fight to make their daughters dowries as large as possible; men and women continue to abuse alcohol though they are understand it is a detrimental to their community, health, and personal finances; and so on. Also, increasing dependence on the government to provide all types of services has dried up most social entrepreneurship within the community. Development projects cannot succeed unless people start thinking differently, but the challenge of influencing a few hundred people’s mindsets in Manchal, let alone the millions throughout India, is immense. This change must take place at the individual level, which requires us to first understand the people in our community.

Information dispersal is nearly non-existent here. I have had to learn the village dynamics, programs, and institutions already in place and how they function within the society. This would seem a difficult task anywhere, but in the village setting it requires persistence, constant verification of information, and a great deal of luck. We find out about many organizations and programs simply by being at the right place or talking to the right person at the right time. This leads to a chain of questions and conversations with several residents of the village. The outcome of our search is undoubtedly full of holes and contradictions. Luckily, this provides us many opportunities to interact with the individuals in our community, increasing our mutual understanding. Everything from the government and private hospitals, the multiple schools, the local farming patterns and techniques, watershed management programs, and the government’s role in all of this continually keeps us questioning and discovering more. This process of learning and adapting before attempting to implement any of our own programs require us to take into consideration all the local factors that the multiple large-scale schemes cannot.

This challenge is further complicated by doing it all in Telugu, a language I have been essentially estranged from for the last eighteen years. I spoke Telugu as my first language before moving to the US when I converted fully to English. I was four years old and, unfortunately, my vocabulary remains largely unchanged. Being my own translator has forced me to adopt the language again. While I have yet to start thinking in Telugu again, using it as my primary mode of communication compels me to comply with many cultural norms since there are no words to convey it in an American style. For example, you cannot simply say ‘bye,’ but rather that you will ‘come again;’ and it is ‘are you good?’ instead of ‘how are you?’ Not only is it revealing of cultural attitudes, but language also affects my perceptions and interactions in the community. Attempting to make ourselves understood, especially when discussing issues more substantive than the weather, has taken some time but my successes are now more frequent than my failures.

In this environment, personal progress and learning are ever present. A few short months ago, I could not have seen myself in Manchal, but now I am living in the ‘poverty’ that had shocked and moved me on my last visit to India. My perception of what it means to be poor went through an unexpected change; I can no longer see the poverty in terms relative to the west, but more and more in terms relative to this village and those surrounding. I still see the potential for growth and change in this country, but it is no longer in abstract academic theories, but in the people I see and speak to everyday. They are individuals, friends, family, and no longer in the vague terms of gross domestic product and development indices. Seeing them face to face, I am daily amazed at their intelligence, resourcefulness, and awareness of their surroundings.

This understanding struck me one day as we follow the local preschool teacher during the recent round of polio immunizations. Barely standing at four and a half feet, this petite, barefoot woman wearing a simple lilac sari lithely leads us over rocks and around the puddles into to the village. We pass a small pond where a farmer is letting his buffalo wallow in the waters. The sun is beating down with brutal intensity, and I am tempted to join the buffalo. In the distance we hear the beat of drums and trumpet accompanied with many voices, some hollering and some crying. We ask Ailamma, the teacher, what is happening, and she explains this is the funeral procession for a recently deceased elder of the village. As she turns around to ask if we do the same in “Amrika,” her smile reveals dozens of wrinkles around her mouth and shocking blue-grey eyes. I struggle to find an answer because, while there are obvious differences in the customs, I want to tell her that the emotions and intentions of the two ceremonies are the same. The language again poses a limitation to express myself, but she seems to understand what I am trying to say. It is in moments like this that I believe that despite our seemingly innumerable differences, we can use those basic commonalities to find solutions to our shared challenges.

Did You know?

Indicorps offers a variety of programs and opportunities that encourage leadership and civic engagement. While the fellowship focuses on empowering people willing to do whatever it takes to affect change, we also have local volunteer programs in India, an established internship program, an emerging domestic program, an effort to engage late-careers seniors in development, an online volunteer opportunity site, and more....

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Inspiration

If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

- Lila Watson