Be the change: transforming lives and ecology of Thar for betterment

Starting in 1990 as a voluntary effort in remote regions of Chohtan, SURE today works in the desert districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, two of largest and backward districts of India.

From the beginning SURE has focused on strengthening rural livelihoods, strived for dignity and well being of vulnerable and marginal communities, especially women and people with different abilities. Interventions in improving agriculture, conservation of Thar Parkar breed of cow, ensuring food, fodder and water security have attempted to sustain a judicious relation with fragile ecology of the Thar. Motivation to pursue our goal, sustain the vision and mission owes a great deal to the acceptance by rural communities who have always reposed their faith in us. They have participated in development initiatives of SURE with a sense of ownership and accountability. We have been fortunate to get support from well meaning and pro poor people in the state bureaucracy and development agencies.

Developing and sustaining of these programs has been made possible by altruistic and relentless work over these years. What began as a voluntary movement of a small number of people is today transformed into an organization with more than hundred staff and hundreds of community volunteers in villages of Barmer and Jaisalmer.

These remote districts of Thar are changing fast. Following the discovery and drilling of oil and setting up of a power generation unit, Barmer is poised for a period of industrial growth. There is an increasing talk about the vast potential of reserves of solar energy. All this modernization is sure to put further squeeze on the fragile ecology and scarce natural resources of the region. This heightened context of resource tapping and use has created its opportunities and challenges before rural communities. The largely survival economy based on fragile natural base and rustic life is volatile with possibilities of change.

At this juncture, we all fondly remember late Magraj Ji who made SURE possible and would continue to motivate us for selfless voluntary action. As in the past, it is my sincere hope that needs and concerns of vulnerable and marginal communities would guide our way forward to strengthen economy of people, and in protecting their basic rights and entitlements.

The ensuing report narrates key features of our programme interventions over the years since the inception of SURE. I am pleased to place before the reader this journey of SURE.

(Lata Kachhawha)

Founder Member and Joint Secretary, SURE

for more on story of SURE click here 

a homage to Padamshree Shri Mag Raj Ji Jain: tenacious desert volunteer

Sanjoy Ghose’s Bikaner and Magraj Jain’s Barmer: harbingers of modern human development for vulnerable and marginal in Thar, Rajasthan

The Indian Thar has the distinction of being one of the few deserts of the world that have had a long uninterrupted human history. This magnitude of time has blessed it with myriad layers of life experiences, pasts and memories. For this reason the ‘present’ of the Thar is so densely embedded that transformations that modernity brings are nuanced, impregnated with immense possibilities.  The region of Thar continues to be a prodigal mass of vast sandy plains and uninterrupted chains of sand dunes merging into limitless horizons. It is well known that the Thar has its own characteristic appeal, a mystique that has its own aura of rustic and majestic forbearance of life in this harsh terrain. Last few decades have been times of radical transformation of the region.

Amidst all this gust of changes and the equally swiftly changing scenario of civil society action it would not be inappropriate to briefly write about two personalities who have had a major impact on the manner in which one makes sense of and engages in social and economic development of vulnerable communities living in interiors of Thar, Rajasthan. Indeed Sanjoy Ghose and Magraj Jain were two personalities who have motivated and would continue to inspire many in the quest for human dignity and well being.

Both of them are better known as individuals who formed two of the largest civil society organisations in western Rajasthan. URMUL Trust starting in 1984 as a subsidiary of the URMUL (Uttari Rajasthan Milk Union Limited) dairy was transformed by Sanjoy Ghose in 1987 into a veritable organisation committed to achieving food fodder and water security and a dignified quality of life for the poor and marginal communities in Bikaner district. Magraj Jain was the guiding spirit behind forming SURE (Society to Uplift Rural Economy) in 1990 to work for a just social order and upliftment of rural economy in the interior regions of Barmer district.

In their characteristic ways both strived tenaciously to bring modern development within the reach of the vulnerable and marginal desert communities. And in doing this both of them led exemplary lives of service beyond the self motivating people around him in the lessons of compassion and empathy for vulnerable and marginalized.   

Sanjoy studied in Elphinstone College in Mumbai and then went on to do an MBA in Rural Management from IRMA, Anand and a strong altruistic desire of service beyond self that made him live in the harsh deserts of Bikaner. Magraj Ji was born in a remote village in the interiors of Barmer district and was a village school teacher and later a district coordinator of Nehru Yuvak Kendra in Barmer. Perhaps it was his frugal upbringing and rustic values of piety rooted in Jain samskaras that made him devote himself towards selfless social service.

Magraji had a working career of more than six decades in this region and was a son of the soil par excellence and was a trailblazer for voluntary action among local people. Sanjoy Ghose coming for an upper middle class urban background actively worked in Thar for two and a half decades and has been and would remain a role model for anyone coming to work with Tharis from outside.    

Both of them aspired for striking a delicate balance between the rustic yet resilient traditions of survival of desert communities and modern science and technology. This involved shedding or acquiring as the case may be a balance of tradition and modernity in their own lives. Magraj ji though born in a traditional context in an underdeveloped region had an unflinching faith in modern science and technology and strived for integrating it in his life as well for the benefit of the common humanity in the backward region of Barmer. Sanjoy born and groomed up in modern urban life toned down and consciously de urbanised himself to come at a comforting level with traditional lived context of life in Thar. 

With respect to traditions of Thar both these personalities had a faith in the ability of these traditions to respond to challenges thrown up by the transformations entailed by modernisation processes. This belief in the intrinsic ability of these traditions got manifested in the love for common mortals which they both had and displayed with vigour. 

Understanding ‘cultures’ of pastoralism and modern development in Thar: deciphering contemporary History of ‘present’

The French historian Marc Bloch who was a pioneer in mastering anthropological insights into studying history of rural transformations argues:

“…history is the study of dead and living. The faculty of understanding the living is, in truth, the master quality of the historian, who does not love the past but loves life”.

The present ongoing discussion strives to seek answers to understand changes in the complex social formation, especially the aspects of engagements of communities with each other, with the state and its institutions and the natural ecology of which they are an integral part. What interests us here is the history of the human and livestock communities of the Thar and the physical territory in which they were inscribed, the deciphering of the relations, multiple, intertwined and elusive, between man and biosphere in Thar.

It would be of interest to decipher the fast changing contemporary realities that seem to shape up a present that is eager to throw away, shake off the heavy lethargic weight of past as a obscurantist legacy. It needs to be said that in the midst of this noisy clamor for ushering in a new present it is important that we do not loose sight of this remarkable ability of past to persist at the level of mentalities as well as a ‘prodigal inertial mass’.    

 

The Indian Thar is a hot desert and ranks among the few deserts of the world that have had a long human history of settlement. This history has been made possible by the unique attributes of the complex of eco systems and their natural endowments that make the natural setting of Thar. Equally ingenious and resilient have been life practices of different communities, mobile and sedentary, who have displayed remarkable forbearance and endurance in populating the region.

It would not be very off the mark to suggest that pastoralism, along with the ways of life associated with it, has been one of the core elements of human history of this region. From early on it became an indispensable part of the combinatory of survival practices that included subsistence based sedentary farming and hunting- gathering. Pastoralism represented one of the significant patterns of mobility that was a phenomenon characterizing much of pre modern life in Thar. Mobility of pastoral groups contributed to urbanisation as well as the emergence of settled clan aristocracies, mainly of the Rajputs. The variant of pastoralism that was typical of this region was a diverse range of semi nomadic pastoralism that evolved in interaction with agriculture.

The agro pastoral region of the western and north western parts of the state of Rajasthan has been home to different pastoral communities nested within the overarching hegemonic dominance of the Rajputs. The Rajputs, Jats, Raikas, Charans, Bishnois, Meghwals and a group of Muslim communities are some of the major pastoral communities. The livestock rearing practices of these different communities are specific adaptations to distinct ecological niches negotiating a middle space between sedentary agriculture and free ranging pastoralism, relying on commons pastures and grasslands. These regions have their localized and hereditary customs, social ties, inter dependencies and practices relating to natural resource use and traditions of music and craft. The realms of the anthropological and the natural were articulated in specific ways for these distinct ecological regimes.

The pastoral way of life was majestic, given the frugal and rustic ecology where it had originated and thrived over centuries. It had come to represent a substantive holistic experience and was innovative in the sense of having capability for a range of adaptations devised to survive in the long periods of harshness, and bloom in the brief spells of abundance in the region. The sway of pastoral way is evident in the dexterous everyday work ethic of rearing animals to aesthetic pursuits of exquisite creations of music and rustic textiles and other crafts. These life-sustaining practices weave the complex of cultures of pastoralism. They are intimately linked and draw upon each other profusely in terms of their relation with nature.

Pastoralism has been increasingly relegated to margins of settled existence and indeed of the development discourse. The ecology that sustained it over centuries has dissipated fast having fallen prey to radical transformation by modernizing impulses of modern development.  

Notwithstanding the almost fatalistic present prophecies justifying the contemporary ‘sedentary turn’, long term historical sensibility urges the need to situate the historical roots of pastoralism as a resource use strategy and a way of life more firmly into our existence. This is considered necessary, because such a perspective is often found wanting in the numerous prophecies (like nomadic pastoralism will / must / should disappear) on the future of pastoralism and pastoral communities in Thar. Far from assuming that contemporary pastoralism is in an inevitable crisis and should/would give way to agro industrial complexes in the rapid on-going transformation, there is sense in learning from this remarkably resilient and frugal way of life.

It may hold insights and cues for transition to a sustainable world.

Noor Mohammed Haji Ahmed Gamthiwala: Mesmerizing tales of vibrant colours of textiles by craftspeople of Gujarat:

Every time an old man dies it is as if a library has burnt down –

An African saying

Noor Mohammed Haji Ahmed Gamthiwala or simply Ahmed bhai as he was popularly known was a gifted connoisseur of craft traditions, a creative and successful businessman with a compassionate camaraderie with printers, dyers and weavers whose creations he sold to the world. Having known him as an encyclopedic repository of knowledge and insights on textile traditions of Gujarat and their makers, the news of his having succumbed to a cardiac arrest was bone chilling and sent shivers down my body. For some moments did not quite know how to face up to this morning trepidation aggravated with numbing thoughts of having lost the company of a radiant presence that had profoundly influenced the manner in which one understood, shopped, talked, wrote about handicraft traditions and products. And, more significantly, how one worked with craftspeople for their dignity and improved quality of life.         

To recuperate from the terrible news of his sudden demise, mind plunged in desperation to reach out to the recesses of memory about several meetings with him over all these years. The imposing gates of Teen Darwaja continue to serve as an entry to the crowded market complex and street shops of the old city of Ahemdabad. What is striking about the hustle and bustle of these busy market roads, where men and women children from different communities jostle with each other, is their ability to woo you with fragrances of past periods particularly of the colonial times when the market place grew and the older medieval times when the grand monuments, that give the space its soulful reverberation were made.

From exquisite tessellations of Persian motifs on stone jalis which illumine the walls of this medieval monument of Ahmed Shah’s tomb emerges Ahmed bhai with his characteristic smile and warmth greeting you into the tiny shop called Gamthiwala. Who could imagine that this tiny shop tucked away in one corner of the gate of the Badshah ka Hajira Complex would be a ‘happening traditional textile point’, the mecca of lovers and buyers of traditional textiles. Gamthiwala shop can be barely seen as it is the last among the row of tiny glittering shops lined on both sides of the street that lead to the Badshah ka Hajira built in 1440 A.D. Grand monument of the fifteenth century famous Gujarat style of Indo Islamic architecture is the resting place of the founder of Ahmedabad, Sultan Ahmedshah and his sons. The lit of shehnai and nagara from the naubat khana on the parapet above the gates of the complex transports one many centuries back in time. Indeed this music was ordained by no less than Badshah Ahmed Shah himself to punctuate the passage of time. The family of Amir Sheikh and Sheru Sheikh has been playing this music for over six centuries at the tomb of Badshah ka Hazira.

 Ahmed bhai had amazing story telling abilities and could engross you for hours with his thick descriptions of crafts and their makers, a wide repertoire ranging from queer anecdotes, tales of creativity and improvisation to empathetic reflections on lives of craftspeople and their traditions. “Ilm roshni hai (knowledge is light) as he often used to say and would go on to unroll yardage of different textiles, colours and patterns and with his beaming face  and  intimate poignant style begin expounding  on mashru weaving, block printing traditions, resist printing and mordant dyeing techniques of Kutch.

His aesthetics flowered in companionship of block printers of Jamalpur and Pithapur, bandhani, ajrak printers from Ajrakpur, Dhamaka, Bhuj in Kutch and mashru weavers from Patan and was further honed by a keen study of the changing tastes and preferences of the market that grew around handicrafts not only in Gujarat but even in other parts of India.    

“Mujhme seekhne ki talab thi, baat shauk ki hai” (I had the keenness to learn, it is all a matter of interest) as he once said at the end of a long conversation, tells you about this man who has left his firm imprint on the textures and patterns of vibrant textiles of Gujarat.


Ahmed bhai’s life long engagement with hand crafted textiles was a rich journey of creative entrepreneurship contributing  to the famous handicraft market of Gujarat, of passionate zeal to contribute to knowledge generation about crafts and design. And a robust reminder of the rich contribution of musilms in in contributing to sustaining diverse textile traditions of Gujarat. 


Photo Credits and References: 

 http://tybarchhistory.weebly.com/gujarat-style.html

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/shweta_w/4514664672/

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/undying-love-for-music-in-their-veins/1/179297.html
Ahmedbhai Gamthiwala: Sustaining Marvels of Textile Traditions through creative entrepreneurship, Swasti Singh Ghai, Dsigned, NID, Ahmedabad, 2009