Immersion, an experience in first person to engage with people

By Raffaella Catani, Praxis Senior Programme Manager, New Delhi

Immersion for Praxis Delhi team meant marching alongside 25,000 landless people from across India, for two days. This has been one of the forms of our contribution and solidarity with the longer initiative of Janadesh, “The People’s Verdict”.

The march was flagged off from Gwalior on the 2nd of October 2007 and was supposed to reach Delhi on the 29th of October, after having covered 340 kms. Which not only it did but also successfully.

At the core of this people’s campaign, supported by Ekta Parishad, was the non-negotiable request of obtaining legal access to their lands and the intent of reminding the Government their constitutional right to livelihood.

Benji, Jyoti, Pradeep, Roma, Sabu, Sharmistha, Srijan, Tom, Vinita and I traveled to Gwalior by train and arrived in the early afternoon of September 30, 2007. At the station we met with some Janadesh volunteers who, in a well improvised stand, were ready to welcome all joining yatrees (march walkers). They showed us the way to the gathering point, the Mela Maidan (Fair Place), which was few kilometers ahead, on the main road. It is then that we somehow started our march! Our bags on the shoulders, with in it the minimum necessary for two days, we lined up on the way singing loudly our slogan, “Janadesh, Zindabad”! (Long life to Janadesh!).

Once arrived, we duly registered and immediately realised the meticulous organisation behind that event. Though the thousands flocking groups, we were expected, right there and at that right time!

Everywhere you could hear songs and voices. And you could tell that peace and resolution were reigning all over.

As first thing, we sat down with one of the organizers, Ramesh, and worked out a plan to make ourselves “useful”. Thing not easy to do, given their total self-sufficiency and excellent coordination!

Some of the “real” yatrees also came to greet the Delhi comers, “Ram, Ram”!

At the end, it was agreed to conduct focus group discussions and interviews with different groups as to understand and document their issues and demands.

We went through the night. People were so eager to talk and share their stories. Nothing really new, especially for my Indian colleagues. Still today, land is one of the most pressing and challenging dilemmas in India. But one thing struck us all, equally, the dignity and total determination asserted by each one of them: women, men, elderly and young people, physically challenged, women expecting or still lactating. All had made a conscious, joint decision: suspend their lives for over a month (putting everything at stake) in pursuit of a better life, forever, for themselves and future generations. A risk? No, a certainty for them. “And if not, better to die” they used to say, reminding me of another popular, revolutionary motto “victoria o muerte” (either victory or death).

That night we had a late dinner, together. But we couldn’t stay with our new friends as all blocks had been allocated and, anyway, another arrangement had been made for volunteers. Few rooms had been booked in a nearby, basic hotel/guest house.

The following morning we got up relatively early and headed to the Mela again. The group got split, this time. Some finished meeting with the remaining groups, others helped with translations (several supporters had come from abroad) and few of us, including me, went around with video and camera to capture the essence of this unique people’s event through its faces, voices, songs and all other possible forms of expression (traditional instruments, dances, colourful clothes and more).

Even that day came to an end quite quickly. It is amazing how time flies when you are absorbed like we were. No tiredness, no hunger. Just by looking at those people, full of hope, resolution and care for each other, we would gather all the necessary energy to go on.

That night being the eve of the march, all groups came together (in a specific part of the Mela) for the organisers to give the last instructions and, somehow, rehearse for the following day. The venue for this meeting was actually the same one where the inauguration of the march would have taken place the following morning. It was definitely a good preview! Thousands of people walking into two parallel lines, forming like a long serpent; so long that you couldn’t tell anymore where it started or ended. However, due to the darkness, I don’t think we did really appreciate the magnitude of what we would have witnessed the following day.

October 2, 2007. Finally, the D Day had come! We joined the opening ceremony few hours after its beginning. Despite the time of the season, the heat was still strong. A stage had been arranged and a vast area before that covered with tents. No fans or AC, of course, but people seemed not bothered by that. So many eyes staring, so many figures one beside each other, composedly sat and holding their flags. Silence was breaking in between speeches. I can’t really recall any other gathering of a similar size, which was so disciplined!

Soon the last encouraging words and blessings were over, leaving the yatrees on the spotlight for the subsequent 28 days.

Each group had got a sequel number according to which positioning itself into the long, human chain. As per rehearse, people formed two parallel lines with enough space in between to allow vehicles and water trucks to move up and down as per need.

Participating for few days and being simply supporters, our group didn’t have a number. Hence, we wisely decided to set for the road as last.

We all knew well that over 25,000 people had joined the march but none of us (I think) had the concrete understanding of what this could have implied. I’ll never forget waiting for hours and hours before the flow of people got over and our turn came.

Then and there only I got to realise what 25,000 individuals mean in terms of space and time!

For the occasion, we had prepared a banner with the following slogan “Na koi nara, na koi sikh bhumi hamara nahi koi bhikh” (No slogan, no lesson, the land is ours and we don’t need to beg for it).

At around 3 pm we were on march, holding our banner, shouting mottos and accompanying the songs and slogans of other groups, too. This was how people would encourage each other and keep the spirit of the yatra (march) up.

The stretch scheduled for that afternoon was quite short, given the need to reach before night, settle down, eat and rest for the next day. In about two hours and half, we got to our destination, Jallalpura. There, we all got “accommodated” in an open field just outside the town, beside the main road.

An amazing view was before our eyes: a sea of people glittering with different colours! It was like looking through a huge kaleidoscope. Soon, the sun set and the many lighted bulbs replaced the colourful glitter of people’s dresses. Here and there, some smoke of the food being cooked and served.

Timidly, we approached some of the groups settled on the outside and established our dwelling for that night. After becoming acquainted with our neighbourhood, we suddenly realised that – although being equipped with the best state-of-the-art survival kit (mineral water, chlorine tablets, hats, sun glasses, umbrellas, some pillows, full-fledged first aid kit and more) – we were missing the most fundamental item: plates to receive the food distributed!!

Quite hungry, we quickly started thinking of options until someone exclaimed “oh…we do have newspapers!” So, we laid some pages together and put on it whatever solid food was there: puri (fried wheat bread) and rice. But how to eat such “dry” items without pouring any curry on it? We were still puzzled and deep in our thoughts when the same people whom we had come to “support and help” came to our help! We got some of their plates, which they had cleaned after having had their meals, and a big smile!

Completed the night chores, we sat down all together and - while sharing some jokes and stories among us – we gradually mixed with our neighbours and joined them in their songs and dance. With no idea of the time, we then went to sleep - one beside each other as the temperature had already started dropping down! That night we realised we had forgotten another important item of our “survival kit”: good blankets!!

Due to the cold, the night became longer and our sleep, difficult. Giving up, some of us thought better spending their time chatting and admiring the exceptionally clear sky with its million stars and moon!!

Another challenge of our immersion night – somehow related to the weather - has been satisfying our physiological needs! Temporary toilets had been arranged but in the dark it would have been quite arduous to hit the target without hitting yourself! Similarly “dangerous” was the open-air option, which so many people had already opted for, reducing the surrounding area to a minefield!!

Eventually, the sun started rising and we all welcomed it as never before!

Since few hours earlier, people had begun getting up: some to cook, some to wash clothes, some to wash themselves, etc. By the time the sun was up, all were ready: clean, fresh-looking and newly dressed! On the other side, us: filthy, sleepy and with the same clothes…just a bit dustier!

Some women had also done their laundry and now were drying their saris (typical Indian female dress) under the sun.

I never got to figure out how they had managed all this, women specially! In hindsight, I can only recognise that this too is a skill, which you can only acquire through practice! And we were clearly beginners (I above all).

The schedule of the second day was a bit tougher: walking up to Bamore town, 13 kms away. The sun was already scorching at 7 am. After a light breakfast, everyone lined up within their groups. Each group of 25 people was led by a leader who would in turn coordinate with other leaders of bigger groups and so on. Such coordination system based on the decentralisation of responsibilities proved to be very successful. Moreover, discipline has never been an issue as it was an innate quality of the people.

Around 10 am, the yatrees resumed their march. And we, with them. This time it was harder, at least for us: scorching sun, no sleep, tiredness of the day before. Singing songs, shouting slogans and dancing was easing the fatigue and helping keep us all motivated. However, our strength was clearly fading while theirs was still intact, renewed.

We were supposed to accompany the yatra till Bamore but around noon our solidarity was not anymore sufficient to push us ahead. We then stopped and made return to Gwalior, from where we had booked a night train to New Delhi.

It was not a real defeat but some of us felt so. It is then that I realised the gap between us, supporters, and them, fighters. They were the owners of those ideals, the constitutive parts of that collectivism and the core of that unity. While us – although our solidarity and the most genuine empathy – we were not. Hence, our strengths would have never been the same.

What has happened afterwards?
Once back to Delhi, we kept following their journey through the news, internal bulletins and some members of Ekta Parishad. We also documented the interviews taken in Gwalior and sent them to Ekta Parishad, along with a brief analysis of the land issues related to Janadesh. This material has been used for advocacy purpose.

Some days later, we also sat together to understand what this experience had meant for us and these below are the outcomes of our discussion.

Reflections:

• This experience revived our motivations as development professionals
• The fact of not having any “compelling duty” increased our capacity of mixing, interacting and understanding people and their issues
• Immersions or exposures of this kind should become a regular, internal practice at PRAXIS

Learnings:

• We got to know more about the organisation and management of Janadesh, which turned out to be very effective.
• The mobilisation methodology of Ekta Parishad is an excellent example one can learn from and apply to other contexts.
• We broadened our understanding of land issues and their legal framework in India

On the 29th October 2007, some of us joined the yatra again welcoming its arrival in the capital. There are no words to describe the emotion in seeing those faces again, drained but still very dignified.

On that same day, the Rural Development Minister announced the creation of a National Land Reform Committee within one month, which would have soon started implementing a Land Reform Policy.

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