Reflection Eternal (Perspective)

The starfilled sky blankets my thoughts tonight. And the images return. The silhouettes of trees are striking in the dark. The edges of pine blur the lines of these moments. At times like this it’s all just so peaceful. The empty roads during late night walks, it almost seems that I have these hills all to myself, at least in these moments.

There is nothing more but here, there is nothing else necessary right now. The rest is for tomorrow. The music in my head, accompanies the silence, the soundtrack to the reflection. I brush my teeth, head titled upward, inhaling starlight .With that canopy above how many times have I stared up at the sky from different hills, from different villages, across Kumaon? Having established the setting, once more we engage in the reflection, while the lights of Almora remain directly ahead in the distance.

This place has become my world. Nowadays, I find myself so familiar with my environment that often I am unaware of the world outside of this everyday reality. It makes sense I suppose. I have spent the majority of the last year in these villages, amongst these hills and forests. I have spent much more than time however. It’s been the energy, the effort, the frustrations and excitement, and certainly, most certainly the incredible people. The amount of love I have gotten here from people, in the villages I have been working with for the past ten months is something that brings an immediate smile to my face, and warmth to my being. This affection from neighbors, villagers, strangers – one does not easily find anywhere, encompasses me in the spirit of these hills.

When I embarked on the journey that brought me here I left behind relationships, a certain lifestyle, and the domineering culture that, to be honest, had been part of my life for the past many years. To go from that to this, to such a radically different place and state of mind, to struggle, and accept, and eventually embrace. In all of this, there is perspective worth searching for.

From all the things I’ve seen and done and learned here, about this work, about this place, about myself. At some point to go from here to there, to the other side of the globe is a jump that at times I wonder, what will it yield? In trying to understand what this year has truly been, I reckon that that perspective I am seeking will hit me on the other side. When I am back in the world of suburbia, of strip malls, and parkball, and late night freestyle sessions, it may be like, “Holy shit. I just did that.”

And it’s not that I am not conscious of all that has happened here, though incapable of putting it all into words. The efforts I have put in to understand and work alongside rural communities have already been much more than meaningful. As have the challenges I have dealt with and the ways I have had to get to know myself, ways that have not always been the most pleasant.

It’s just a whole lot to try and interpret all at once, especially when you feel unconsciously so connected to your surroundings. The question of perspective is what awaits in that world that had been default, up until recently. Then maybe the people, the struggle, and the grassroots will take on meanings that I cannot even see from my current Himalayan vantage point.

But right now it all remains in my head. Each step is comfortably placed on this ground. We shall save the inevitably continuous speculation, the late night reflection for other nights. Tomorrow will come with new stories and new challenges. And with time further attempts will be made to ponder the meanings of perspective. Tonight these hills are mine.

Loose Pants, Loose Government

“Jaise maire patloon dheeli hai, vaise sarkar dheeli hai (Just like my pants are loose, like that the government is loose)” – Me, irritated.

The days are getting slightly warmer here. I had just made the walk (road by road) to the panchayat ghar in the village of Baret. A leucorrhoea health camp had been organized in conjunction with the local government hospital, the Primary Health Centre in Malla Ramgarh. At the last minute when the folks at the PHC flaked out, I gotta say I was pretty damn annoyed, and I had no choice but to speak on it.

As soon as I reached Baret the words that were slamming against the inside of my head went through the lacking translation factory of my tongue and exited as my utter frustration manifest. “What is the deal?! We’ve been trying to do one camp here with the PHC for like six months. Pradhanji has gone multiple times to the PHC, I’ve gone multiple times to the PHC, and received a confirmation from the doctor and his supervisor that the camp would happen today, and a written proposal has been sent there. And it’s not even about today. The PHC can’t give one day in six months when a Gram Panchayat, the local village government, is asking them to come provide some health services? The government is saying do this, do that. The health committees have been formed, they’ve written out yearlong action plans, they’ve written out formal proposals, now what?” (Yeah… it’s sounds so much better in Hindi).

Throughout my rant as I stumbled over my Hindi grammar, the Gram Pradhan and CHIRAG field workers nodded a long, some serious, others with the amusement beaming from their faces. But I was heated. It’s not just the fact that one camp didn’t happen. It’s a larger issue that has become quite clear, that there is an unwillingness or lack of interest from the local health infrastructure to work directly with Gram Panchayats on preventive health. Last month a proposal was submitted to the Chief Medical Officer of the entire Nainital District, directly, in his hand, on behalf of eight Gram Panchayat health committeees, and CHIRAG, about the need to hold leucorrhoea camps in the vicinity of their villages. Leucorrhoea has been identified as major health problem, cited as affecting anywhere between 50-80% of women in these given villages. While simply treatment won’t solve the problem completely, it will provide much needed relief in the short term. The CMO said he would take this up with the PHC and help ensure these camps happen. Despite attempts at following this up, no word or confirmation has come from the PHC.

“And I don’t buy the argument that this is India. This is how things work here. What is that even supposed to mean? I am not sure I know. What I do know is that the people at the hospital are competent, the facilities exist, and that over the span of five months there is a time to conduct a camp, when the Gram Pradhan, the Gram Panchayat, and the neighboring NGO have all expressed an active desire to organize such activities. Why can’t they come?”

A few days before I was in Bageshwar, another district that CHIRAG works in on a number of issues, including recently with Panchayats on preventive health. After a two-day workshop with health committee members, we had gone to meet the Chief Medical Officer regarding the supply of chlorine tablets, the absence of ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activist) in many villages, and to discuss further coordination. The CMO in Bageshwar was quite straightforward. He didn’t know of any other Gram Panchayats organizing on health, though he knew that under the NRHM they are given a central role. He asked who the members of the health committee were supposed to be, how ASHAs were to be selected, and was all in all fairly clueless about a lot of the process. He called me a Gandhi-wallah, which, given the entire situation I guess was slightly amusing.

“What is the deal?! Sometimes I just don’t get how this is a nationally-devised scheme from the central government, that Uttarakhand is supposedly a high-focus state, and that the program is supposed to be on-going for the last four years now.” And it’s not even to say that nothing is happening, because things are, but sometimes it can be slightly unnerving to see such gaping holes in the system.

But just as my pants tend to dangle a bit, so it goes. And yeah, a letter to the District Magistrate, and the CMO, has been drafted, and hopefully further attempts at coordination will prove to be more fruitful. But, if this is supposed to be something that exists not simply on paper, there needs to be some accountability. The Panchayats are doing their part, as is the NGO, but where is local government?