(By Imtiaz Ullah) A group of four wanderers from Sarvahitey decided to go to the beautiful valley of Tirthan to find some peace and tranquillity. We wanted to do two things on this trip, the first was to seep in some of the majestic Himalayas into our meandering minds and second were to visit one of the villages there to understand and learn about their lives. It turned out to be an adventurous and in cahoots a magical trip.
After driving for 17 hours straight, we reached the beautiful Tirthan Valley, tired but rejuvenated from the fresh air. As this was a short trip we were full of doubts if we would be able to meet the people we had come to meet, will they accept our help, will there be enough time to really understand their problems.
We woke up early next morning and after a filling breakfast, we took off for Bathad. It is a small hamlet in Banjar Tehsil in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh. It comes under the Chippni Panchayat. It is located 60 km south from the district headquarters, Kullu and 200 km from the State capital Shimla. When we reached there we were told by the locals that a gentleman from another village had passed away and most of the families were away.
It seemed like everything we thought last night was coming true. However, our trusted friend from the village and our Home Stay caretaker, Kapil ensured that we met 10-15 people from that village. Over a cup of hot tea, we sat around this beautiful wooden house and started a conversation which led to everything that happened that day.
We were told that agriculture is their basic livelihood but is now getting supplemented by tourism. They expressed that their greatest source of trouble was communicating with the foreign and sometimes even Indian travellers. We suggested that we can arrange for local/Sarvahitey volunteers to come here and teach them English which will help them in communicating with their customers.
We only had one condition, that every month the batch of guides will gather the community and go on a cleanliness drive. We also expressed our desire to open a Library in the local school here but were told earlier that all the schools were shut due to Dussehra holidays. One enterprising gentleman informed us that one of the local schools was open today to create awareness on cleanliness.
We decided to make our presence felt. We met with the newly appointed Principal of the school, after her inspiring speech to the students. We expressed our desire to help them with opening a Library there – currently the staff room and the library is in the same room! Over some delicious Halwa made by the students, we discussed all possibilities and challenges that we may encounter. The biggest being the non-availability of a room. We discussed the possibility of approaching the government for some help.
The Principal realized that this might take some time and told us to meet her husband after lunch. We met this nice gentleman who deeply cares about his community and offered us his newly constructed room near the school. We agreed to pay the rent and start the project as soon as possible. Starting with no hope and ending up with two projects is surely magical.
On January 27, Sarvahitey inaugurated its library in village Bathad, Tehsil Banjar, Himachal, with an aim to develop reading habits in the locals. 11 members of the organization including Prem Prakash, Imtiaz Ullah, and Sanskriti Srivastava went all the way from Delhi to deliver books and to set up the library.
On the occasion of the inauguration, village Pradhans of the village and adjoining villages were present to welcome the members. They were elated with this initiative and promised to lend their full support in the proper functioning of the library.
The library will especially be beneficial for the students of Sr. Sec. School, Bathad. Sarvahitey has adopted village Bathad and is working towards its holistic development. It was decided that in return of this library that Sarvahitey has set up for them, they will conduct 2 cleanliness cum awareness drives there, every month, to which everyone agreed.
Sarvahitey aims to make Bathad the cleanest village of Himachal. Among various other benefits, the library will also increase tourism in the area and thus per capita income of the residents. This is our journey from inception to the inauguration of the library in Bathad.
