It’s been a whole month with
SELCO, and the adage of ‘time flies’ really fits.
I’d like to dedicate this one-month-in
post to a friend at SELCO. This girl called Palak. She works with the Rural
labs in Selco Foundation, which is a department set up to study and research innovation
towards improving livelihood in a rural set up.
She has taken her job to a whole new level by
actually shifting base to a small village in Kalahandi in Orissa. She has been
there for over six months, actually staying with the villagers in their huts. For
a girl who is hard core city bred ( from Delhi), she now lives, eats, breathes
kalahandi. Not just metaphorically; she has been living on the local diet of ganji
( rice and water) for breakfast, lunch and dinner, stating that even a
vegetable is a luxury in those poverty stricken villages; has withstood their
summer of 49 degree c; has adapted to a no toilets, no electricity, no mobile, way of life. She
says there was a day the craving for food got so bad that she travelled all the
way to Chattisgarh for a pizza. From a girl who was scared of cockroaches, she
says now even snakes and wolves don’t worry her.
Kudos to you palak ; your courage, grit, and commitment are truly admirable
!!
Inspiring! thanks for sharing. Palak, wish you good luck with your goal.
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