It was a Sunday and like most of the organizations, I
expected Sesta to take rest from from the busy field work all week. However,
the Executive Director Mr Aswini had other plans. He was going for a field
visit to check the irrigation possibilities in villages. Since I am stuck in
the 4 walls of the office, I have to grab on to any opportunity that presents
itself. So I called and requested to tag along in the field visit.
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| The countless sceneries along the way |
Along the way, I heard from them about the Tamaranga Lake,
which is the largest lake in Assam. What was even better was, it was on the
way. I asked them to drop me off at the Tamaranga lake and pick me when going
back to other field locations.
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| Lake Tamaranga |
Tamaranga lake was not the largest of lakes Ive seen. But it
was surrounded by mountains which made the view picturesque. I started walking
all around the lake taking wall-paper shots. The locals were wondering if I was
in the right mental state to take photos in mid-day of just water and
mountains. I kept walking and shooting till my legs begged me to turn back. I
even stepped into some personal property in the middle when the owners started
shouting and asking questions. After a while I realized he wasn’t shouting or
angry but his natural voice was a few decibels high. Walking further down I
kept clicking photos of anything I found interesting.
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| It sure was a sunny day |
As I reached back to the
place I was dropped, I was almost dead tired. But when I met Mr Aswini and
other executives, they told me that they just visited 1 village and there were
5 more villages to visit!
Part - 2
We visited the first village which was kind of inaccessible
by car. But still the driver was brave enough to ride the SX4 through
dirt-tracks, potholes and steep terrains. Finally, we reached near the
foothills of a mountain. I was praying that they would say, “ we are going to
climb the mountain”. Though they didn’t say the exact words, but that was where
they were headed. They planned to go up through a stream.
We met a few women bathing in the bottom of the stream and
Mr Aswini asked me to take a picture. I was a bit hesitant taking photos of
bathing women but he said it was to educate them the disadvantages of open
bathing and advantages of water routed to the villages. He spoke to one woman
and asked permission for a photo. She posed as if she was invited to become a
celebrity!
We then headed on top of the stream through dense bushes.
Aswini da was finding it difficulty climbing with his slippers. The moment of
the day came when one person jumped and ran away. I initially thought it was a
bee attack and looked to find cover. But it was a snake! They got so scared of
a snake! I sensed this would be a rare opportunity and captured the snake as
close as possible. The other executives took a detour while getting down and
kept on pestering me to come down. The people here are really concerned over
little things. After a good shot, I came down and we headed back.
We had similar experiences in the other villages, where we
had to walk 2-3 kilometers to find the water source and then analyze
possibilities for irrigation and drinking water for the village. And all along
the way were acres of farm land and mountains. We kept walking along the
mountains, taking photos, checking the water and crossing farm lands.
It was
close to 6 when we finished and returned back to office. If this was how a
normal day in Sesta is, it sure was tough. What was good to see is that even
the executive director goes for field visits, climbs streams on a Sunday. It
speaks about the motivation and dedication of the Sesta employees and the
culture and inspiration set right from the top. I will have to up my stamina
and endurance to the top level if I have to sustain this level of field visits.
Sure the takeaways at the end of two months will not just be in the mind but in
the body as well.
