Going Rural = Dead meat!

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Go rural, go rural, go rural! That’s all they said in B school… Made it sound like a ‘cool’ thing to do.. I naively believed them. Now I know.

Just finishing my rural stint and I must admit, I will not forget this trip easily. Never having stayed in a small town/ village like I did for the past 2 weeks, I had a tough time getting my bearings right in this place. Buried in the south of Gujrat, 2 taluks, Kamrej and Kim were the venues for this brutal assault on my senses. There were 2 of us, versus the countryside. A study on the rural consumers, they said.. I think we were the ones who were being studied.. studied for our creativity to kill boredom, to adapt to the same food day in day out, For our skills in communicating by hand signs, for our survival skills while battling the viral and the mighty local transport system! (I may sound a little angry and frustrated here, but need to get it out of my system) I also realized how long 2 weeks can be.. surely time slows down in these places!

Now lets get to the good news.. we had an AC room, but no power for 2- 3 hours a day ( mostly when we were in the room), We had cable TV ( yes we did!), and…… Guess the good news ends here..

But the people here are not ‘villagers’ as we city dwellers tend to believe, as can be seen from the Honda Citys on the road and Pears soaps flying of the shelves. The best part of the stint was the visit to the interior villages where solitary trees sway to the breeze seductively, cows graze in gay abandon, green fields spread out invitingly..( getting too poetic here I guess!) But seriously the above scenario along with the gentle rain was inspiring! Village belles are a myth, not that we went looking for them.. I think thanks to the rural to urban migration, the good looking crowd has moved to the cities.. You will notice many such villagers in cities.. well disguised in Levi’s ( mostly called levees), in Nike shoes ( mostly called Naeeek), and feasting on noodles ( mostly called nood –less).

One good thing here is when you tell someone you are from the city, you most probably will hear someone say ‘oh I know so and so from this city, have you met them?’ haaaa.. What presumptuous people, I say! Are our cities small villages for everyone to know everyone?? You will get many more such examples in my future posts.. till then, keep away from rurality ( if there is a word like that), and guess what! It rhymes with brutality, frugality, frustrationability, Boreability, Dieability

~ by ashish on July 5, 2007.