The women of #PaalaGuttaPalleBags have been covered in various fora.
The Hindu, and The indian Express gave them a certian visibility. We got many emails. And queries. The News Minute video and article gave vaster exposure. ANd many other magazines, and online journels.
The Eenaadu Telugu paper gave them another visibility. Through Andhra. That was what mattered most to the women. All their people started calling them up, "Your picture is in the papers." Happiness. A sense of acheivement.
I also got many many phonecalls from all corners if AP. Telugu conversations. Calls of appreciation, calls giving orders, calls asking for suggestions on how to start this elsewhere.
The women went to Tirupathi with a small gift for the god in a bag they had stitched with affection and devotion, after the Eenaadu article came.
Then the Aval Vikatan award they got have them yet another platform.
The ayurvedic shop lady I interact with on daily or weekly basis for our ashwagandha and other medicines, "Oh I saw you on TV. You are all doing so much. You never told me. Very good." The lady in the DTDC courier desk who tells me all about her family as she makes out her bills, calls out to me at the traffic signal. I stop the cycle and wait, "Oh it was so great to see you all on TV. You never told me." The explanation that it was only the village women, did not matter to them. That I was seen on TV was very important to them !
Best was the bank clerk, "Was that you on TV, or your sister. Do you have a sister ? I wondered. You never told us, you come and sit quietly and go." And as I fumbled for words to explain that it was nothing about me, and it was the village and their work, another elderly customer shook her head knowingly, "... these people who serve are always humble !", and shook my hands and wished me well. Anyway the clerk pulled out a coveted SBI diary and gave it to me. And that is what really counts. A free diary !
So many worlds in this land.
The Hindu world, the Enaadu world, the Aval Vikatan world.
The women have spanned all these spaces.
And suddenly I realize it is no mean acheivement. In just 3 years. Failed rains. Back to back droughts. With utter lack of employment staring them in their faces. And their taking the first step. That day, as we were discussing the crisis in the village temple. All the women ...
PaalaGuttaPalle. Dalitwada.
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