Tamaranga - Field Visit

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.

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.

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.

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.