{"id":1280,"date":"2009-03-03T08:01:43","date_gmt":"2009-03-03T03:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/?p=1280"},"modified":"2009-03-03T08:01:43","modified_gmt":"2009-03-03T03:01:43","slug":"the-visit-to-orissa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2009\/03\/03\/the-visit-to-orissa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Visit to Orissa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>the last 6 weeks have been a kind of blur.<\/p>\n<p>the visit to Orissa disturbed me more than i let on. i have nightmares about the place. of waking up, being stuck there with no way out. There is a part of me that shakes with fear, and there is a part of me that burns with anger &#8211; i can feel the physical burn. There is stuff that i do in mumbai that seems unreal .i really haven&#8217;t&#8217; reconnected on a human or a social level yet.<\/p>\n<p>it is not that i havent&#8217; seen poverty. when you film in the back of beyond &#8211; you are going to see deprivation on a scale that you aren&#8217;t use to in a city but, this was on a different level. I told a friend, that for the first time I understand why Naxallism happens. And, if someone like me, who believes in non violence as a philosophy starts making excuses for violence .. then there is something fundamentally wrong.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gargi\/3320292578\/\" title=\"P1236725 by calamur, on Flickr\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3625\/3320292578_0e25d3dcf6.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"P1236725\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>the problem is not just with the abject levels of poverty &#8211; 72% of the state is Below Poverty Line &#8211; it is with the complete lack of hope in the eyes of those we met. Elsewhere, there was depreviation, but people generally looked forward to a better tomorrow. Governance seemed to have caught up with them. But, here was something else. there seemed to be no tomorrow, just yesterday happening over and over again. something like a perverse Ground Hog Day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gargi\/3320272058\/\" title=\"P1236652 by calamur, on Flickr\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3588\/3320272058_42d0aac9b7.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"P1236652\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n( <em>a house that collapsed in last year&#8217;s floods. people use the stagnant pool next to it to fish<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>When i came back, it took me almost a month to transfer the pictures from my camera to my hard disk. I didn&#8217;t want to see the images. It just disturbed me too much. As i am writing this post, tears are flowing down &#8211; i can&#8217;t stop them. It is not sorrow. I don&#8217;t cry when I am sad. I cry when i am hopping mad &#8230;. as i was telling someone yesterday the anger melts something in my system that gets expunged as tears.<\/p>\n<p> i had a exchange of ideas with <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/themaanga.com\/\">Nilu <\/a><\/strong>on FB on how important it was to vote&#8230; i defended the need to vote, and he had contrary views &#8230; i felt like a hypocrite &#8230; voting or lack of it hasn&#8217;t changed a shit in this state&#8230;.it has in a lot of India, but not here&#8230; and, in the course of our conversation i asked myself, are you convincing him or yourself !<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gargi\/3319430565\/\" title=\"P1236719 by calamur, on Flickr\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3643\/3319430565_c7b5734097.jpg?resize=375%2C500\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" alt=\"P1236719\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I would like to line up every person involved in governance in Orissa from the President downwards and get them to stay in one of these villages for a week, with no escape. The solution will crop up by itself. But for now, people are malnourished, children are emaciated, the system is corrupt, the land is rich in minerals and disaster is a cottage industry. Everyone from the Government to the aid receiver is responsible for this mess. There are people &amp; agencies  doing good work, but that kind of intervention is a drop in the ocean of deprivation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gargi\/3304433426\/\" title=\"A portrait of Shefali Hansda by calamur, on Flickr\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3549\/3304433426_28cb1b25d1.jpg?resize=500%2C444\" width=\"500\" height=\"444\" alt=\"A portrait of Shefali Hansda\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am not from Orissa. I have a choice insofar as going back is concerned. For a lot of people there is no escape. When i see faces like that of the boy below, , with eyes bereft of hope &#8230; i wonder what will happen &#8230;.<br \/>\nwill there be change, or will that boy pick up a gun ?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gargi\/3319298199\/\" title=\"The Boy by calamur, on Flickr\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3638\/3319298199_a04d2a22bf.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"The Boy\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>the last 6 weeks have been a kind of blur. the visit to Orissa disturbed me more than i let on. i have nightmares about the place. of waking up, being stuck there with no way out. 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