I had heard a little about Devadasi system in northern parts of Karnataka. Often it was in deeper sections of newspapers and was usually about some matters of government policies. Nevertheless I did not know much about the practice. William Dalrymple’s informative story on The New Yorker speaks about the Devadasis of South India, and explores some history and mythology of the tradition. Dalrymple visits some Devadasis and describes their life in the story.
I got a glimpse of the tensions in the devadasi’s life when we arrived in Saundatti. We had gone to a tea shop near the lake, at my suggestion. Devadasis are a common sight in Saundatti, where they often beg in the bazaars on Yellamma’s holy days of Tuesday and Friday. But they don’t usually brave the tea shops on the main street.
Read Letters from India: Serving the goddess
Join expedition leader Manish Lakhani on Chadar Trek – January 2012
This is a guest post from an avid traveller Manish Lakhani. Manish lives in Baroda and works in the telecom industry. He has traveled extensively in the Himalayas, including Ladakh and Sikkim. He went on Chadar trek last winter, and hopes to return again in the coming winter.
Chadar Trek is an unusual expedition of walking on ice. The Zanskar River freezes in winter, enabling walking on the ice sheet along the area that is inaccessible in summer. As you can see from pictures, a warm weather can break the ice, forcing the trekkers to climb over the mountains or walk in the frigid water.
Text and Photographs by Manish.
Mighty mountains and clouds that hide Sun on a cold morning before the trek started. We spent two days visiting places around Leh to acclimatize.
Walking on thin ice? Yes, there is no choice. This is part of day to day trek. A small mistake and you are in freezing water. Porters do this like walking in garden… amazing !
A frozen stream! I was thinking how it must have been flowing in summer. Imagine the temperatures required to make it into ice. There are lots of mineral in the ice that make it look colorful in direct sunlight. Nature is amazing isn’t it ?
It was a very hard day on the way back. After lots of snowfall, there was a shiny day. There was alway risk of melted ice and broken Chadar. A wrong step directly takes you into frigid water. The water is deep, and cold enough to take bring death.
During the return.. There was heavy snowfall, and the next day was sunny. Snowfall takes the temperarte up, resulting in in broken Chadar. We were walking in an ice slurry. I walked almost halfday with my wet feet, a horrible experiense. For the entire night, I was trying to dry my shoes near the fire. Yes i would like to experience this again.
Near Neraks camp site which is near Neraks village. We were wating here for 3 days to get clear snow . These goats belonged to a villager who was staying nears camp site. One day, a fine morning few of the villagers came to my tent to say good morning.
Going Home, a late evening. I was very much tired after after hard day. We walked two days’ distance in one, walking between avalanches. But in the evening, we had some hot soup and delicious food.
The amazing flight. Aerial view of Leh-Delhi route on the way back.
Join expedition leader Manish Lakhani on Chadar Trek – January 2011
When I tried to make a list of things that I wished to do two years ago, working with an NGO was one of them. Having no clear ideas of what to do and whom to approach, I looked up on the internet as usual. I came across a few NGOs listed on the web, and spoke to two-three of them. Of all of them, what quickly came as my choice for association was Youth For Seva(YFS).
YFS had a different model of working and did not work on any projects on their own. It was an organization trying to leverage the power of web to connect volunteers and NGOs by facilitating volunteer registration through their website. Once a volunteer registers, someone from YFS would get in touch and understand his or her interests, and accordingly redirect the registrant to one of the associated NGOs.
When I first spoke to them, they had just started with two people doing all the work. Venkatesh Murthy, the founder, had rich experience in working with NGOs and independent social work. Murthy, along with Akhilesh, one of the early members of YFS, roped in NGOs, counseled every registered volunteer personally and routed them based on interests. But within a year, Youth For Seva was growing too fast and they had to have people working full time. Murthy himself decided to quit his work in the IT industry and decided to work full time with YFS for a few years.
In the course of their growth in the two years, they innovated many ways to ensure scalability. The operations were divided into zones within Bangalore, and each zone had a moderator who took care of the activities in the area. They got college students to spend time working during vacations and help with operations. They also roped in a few people to work full time at YFS.
Over last two years, more than a thousand users registered with Youth For Seva, occasionally making it hard to place them with NGOs. A large number of net-savvy people from the IT industry who wanted to make a difference to the society, but did not know how to, found YFS as a good platform to begin with. Trying to place the growing number of volunteers, YFS decided to take up projects on their own.
Today, YFS works with 3,000 volunteers and 30 NGOs. Besides working with other NGOs YFS also conceives and executes projects on their own. Volunteers are working with 30 government schools independently. The current project they are working on involves sponsoring the education of 1500 underprivileged children who have been already been identified through aptitude tests. The sponsorship costs Rs.500/- per month or a lump sum amount of Rs.6,000/- for the year. Read Sponsor A Child microsite for details. Donors can donate online through bank transfer, send a cheque, or contact coordinators for more details.
If you would like to volunteer with Youth For Seva, register with your details on their website.