nadila baand, shalelapan | dams to river, and to schools as well_ 🌱

moving forward, we met at a dam called "ambegaon dharan." on both sides of the road, we saw a new plantation of trees. we got to know that the panchayat of "ambegaon" had planted them. we saw a child of 13-14 coming from the "dhamani" side. he had a school bag on his back. after speaking with him for 10 minutes, he finally told us his name was datta. he was from "bhorkas", which is still 5 km from where we met him. as we moved, we saw that a small river flooding was blocking our road from the mountainside towards forests from the slope. we held each other's hands and made a chain to cross the river confidently. we did that.

we kept speaking with datta about his school. he said that he walks daily to his school from "bhorkas". very few of his friends come to school due to 'no vehicle.' he also noted that there were wolfs in the jungle that would attack us; better to stay at home. some of his classmates have got a hostel near to the school. he also said that the road we were walking; on was made by people of his villages.

one another person named ganesh had joined us alongside. he added more things to datta's narration. he said he got his relatives' letter after one and a half months. the postmasters do not come without any absorbing (interest) purpose.

rathichi wadi is next to dhamni. "wadi" is an indigenous name to call an adivasi settlement. wasanti taai told us about the wadi with 35-40 families. she has already visited this place while working on one of their surveys. as we were moving towards bhorkas, we saw all the doors of the wadi were closed. on the road to the side, there was a chuck of rice fields planted by the people of this region. the watering to this plantation was coming altogether from the mountain. we couldn't see any electric motors or machines joined to force water into the field. the 'baand" (small canals) stopped the water at various steps.

📑 in the mountains of sahyadri_
🖋 @dnyanesh_____
🌱 read this piece on blogspot, link is in the bio.