#shepherdsofindia

[theshepherdproject]

Event Planners?

Until now, organizing events to me has been synonymous to long hours of work, intense planning and many lists. All this, generally, culminates into a relatively well detailed visualization of the upcoming event. 

The experience of hosting the shepherds was the absolute opposite. Even on the morning of the event, I had only a 30% certainty and an appalling 70% of unpredictability about what would happen that day! Of course, this wasn’t a choice! It was a necessary evil.

We wanted to ensure that both, old and new participants of The Shepherd Project to interact with the Nomad’s Edu-Kit and each other as naturally as possible. So we could not tell them that they would be the ones conducting most of the ‘meeting’ (as they call it) while we merely facilitated. Thankfully, they asked us no questions as to why they were invited with as many friends as they could bring!

I could only prepare a rough framework which would ultimately take shape on its own based on the community’s interactions.

It wasn’t just the itinerary of the ‘meeting’ that was vague. There was much more that was unsettled, from start to end.

- The last few days, every time there was a spell of rain, I’d be left wondering whether we would have to cancel the ‘meeting’. (The families from Wai were to start their migration with the onset of the pre-monsoons itself as fodder was scarce.)

- Until a day before, I did not have a total count of the number of guests coming.

- During the event I realized that the names of those present did not match my list of expected guests!

Well! I have accepted unpredictability to be a norm in The Shepherd Project and my motto to go with is,

“Prepare to feel unprepared!”

[theshepherdproject]

A Meeting of Old and New

Meet my celebrity guests! 

I have often been hosted by the shepherds in the last four months. So I was very excited to invite them and their guests. The shepherds we have been interacting with brought along their friends to share the Nomad’s Edu-Kit experience! 

It was an exciting day of showing each other how the Nomad’s Edu-Kit is used and what they have learnt. After the first few moments of hesitation, it was an environment of mutual learning and teaching with no barriers of age, region or formal education. Each one simply wanted to help the other learn!

(As almost always, I am behind the camera!)

[theshepherdproject]

I have made goody bags out of the Nomad's Edu-Kit this time! #theshepherdproject #nomadsedukit #shepherdsofindia (at J.P Naik Institute for Education and Development)

[theshepherdproject]

An Encouraging Nod

Bhagyashree looks up and smiles at her husband as he encourages her to read the words on the cards. Jivan Kolpe had earlier told her to cook later, this is more important at the moment. 

It is heartening to see husbands encouraging their wives to learn to read. 

Not because they are the ‘men’of the family. Simply because all encouragement is essential and welcome when you set out on a new path! 

[theshepherdproject]

Let them die?

(This is not a very good photograph as I could not bear to see it nor or get a better photograph of the other 149 odd animals.)

This is the story of the dead animals as narrated by the shepherds.

These cattle were not being herded by anyone. We think they belong to the ‘adivasi’ (tribal) community which lives here. There is a common practice among them to set their cattle free in the summer months when their is a dirth of fodder and hence money to feed their own families. The tribals earn enough to survive by taking up odd jobs in the village for these few months  when they are unable to cultivate.

The stray cattle unknowingly entered the fields and ate some of the crops infuriating the farmers who took revenge. They sprayed and injected the crops with Thimet, a poisonous chemical. Soon, there were animals found dead all around the village with nobody to take care of the carcasses and there are no omnivores left in the region to naturally cleanse either.

(A hypothesis we have is that these could also be cattle abandoned by shepherds of Gujarat as they can not afford to keep them anymore after the beef ban. I have no opinion on the beef ban but I do know that if the cow is such a precious animal, we should also be making efforts to provide it with fodder and care.)

I know I am working towards the empowerment of the Dhangars within their culture and traditions.

Yet, I am often to be found incessantly questioning Dr. Nitya Ghotge why we are preserving this culture, where and when did it begin, what if it dies out? She has been kind enough to answer my questions from various aspects as applicable. We talk of how shepherding began historically, how the political structure of India has (and continues to) affect it, the social structures and relations built around it, the economics of it as well as the environmental impacts.

One question I would keep returning to was

“Why do we need shepherds other than to provide for human consumption of the animal products? Why can’t these animals just live on their own in nature and get absorbed into the natural food web of that ecosystem?’’

This question was answered not though the medium of social rules and laws of the State narrated by Dr. Nitya but the sight of that dead cow.

Over the centuries, through all our development, the environment we humans have created is far removed from the natural environment there once was. These animals can no longer be left astray, they need their guiding human shepherds to breed them sustainably and save them from the wrath of our development goals.

The Dhangars and other shepherds of India can not be a culture which has lived its time and phases out as we need them more and more every day. We need them to feed our teeming millions and to save the earth on which we wish to grow and prosper.

[theshepherdproject]

Let’s try again?

Enveloped by the chores and responsibilities of shepherding, these women have had no time to use the Nomad’s Edu-Kit.

I was disappointed, but what was worse, my disappointment soon grew into sadness.

The women in this family are solely responsible for all the tasks of being a nomadic shepherding family. Yes, generally, the entire family shoulders the burden but not in their case. The older of the two men often visits the other son to help with farming. The other man, is a school drop out with no specific job and uninterested in shepherding. (This is also the reason, some of them are wary of schooling.) So, the women take care of the lamb, collect water and wood, cook, graze the sheep and pack to move. 

As the heat of the summer is increasing and it is not yet time for the monsoons, there is a grave scarcity of fodder all across Maharashtra. The women from Narayangaon have been severely affected by it as the farmers here use chemicals and do not care for sheep’s manure to be able to use that money to buy fodder. Their farms are mostly devoid of much grass and these Dhangar women are forced to shift their ‘wada’ (abode) not weekly, but daily!

So where is the time to learn?

Product designers work towards creating experiences, they work closely with their users, often attempting to step into their shoes. Yet, surprisingly, when we discuss plausible reasons for failure (or delay of success) we envisage high production costs, technological errors, manufacturing delays, competitor products and other such jargon. 

Here, at The Shepherd Project it is humbling how basic and human my reasons are! Weather, unavailability of food, personal relations, survival, all of which gets encapsulated in one phrase,

‘‘Amala vel nahi bhetat” (‘‘We don’t get time.”)

[theshepherdproject]

My First Notebook

At age 24, Balu Kokre proudly holds up his first attempts at writing! We visited the shepherd to play a matching game to see how much he could read since the first phase was shared with him. The first phase had been an introduction to just 5 everyday words and we intended him to merely learn to read those specific words. What we saw was incredible! He could not only read those 5 words but​ also new words made from the same letters. He could deconstruct each word into sounds and the letters associated with them. He had identified each word as a form and practiced writing them! He had also learnt to write his own name and his village's name among other words. In a corner, he had attempted to write his name in English too! Its as if all he required was one little push of encouragement! Now the sky is the limit to what all he can learn on his own!

[theshepherdproject]

Banu bai learns to sign. | Anthra livestock development & ethnoveterinary group

ANTHRA is an organization of women veterinary scientists working primarily on issues of livestock development in the wider context of sustainable natural resource use.

I am collecting the feedback for the first phase and this is my first success story!

So happy that it has been written about and shared by Dr. Nitya Ghotge. She is the director of Anthra, an NGO which is supporting me in this project. I’m ever so grateful for all they are providing, space, financial aid, mentorship and expertise in interaction with the community.