Kachchh trip by KOJAIN Youths 2003-3004

____________________Comments By: Tanvi Savla of New Jersey__________________

Kachchh is heartwarming, sad, soultouching, happy, innocent, friendly, intriguing, rich, poor, proud, honest and much more. A little paradoxical? Yes. Her people is what gives Kachchh personality and strength. I thought I knew what to expect in Kachchh since I had been there many times before. However, this time turned out to be a totally new experience for me because I was seeing things with a new perspective.

Do you ask why I said a new perspective? Well, I moved to America when I was thirteen and completed all my high school education here (I am now a freshman in college and am 18 years old). While living in Bombay I used to see a lot of beggars; however, while staying there I had become used to them. After living here for five years, growing up and maturing, I became used to the luxuries, the cleanliness, the very low number of beggars and took for granted the hygienic life everyone lives here.

On of our very first sights as we climbed the bus in Gandhidham was of the poor making their living outside the station. It was a very sad sight to see. I was going to see more sad sights in the days to come. I would see a fly sitting at the edge of an eyelid of a child and see that it did not bother the child one bit. I would meet a one and a half year old girl who had a skin tumor in her neck that she had to live with everyday. I would meet orphans who smiled a lot, but whose living quarters were a sad sight to see. I would hear one of the kids present and say that they were studying hard and would aspire to become like us! LIKE US!!!

However, on the very first day, I did not know of the many eye-opening sights I would see. We climbed the bus and began our journey. On our way to Bidada, we passed numerous villages, herds of goats and sheep, rickshaws spilling over with people, camel carts, bullock carts, and women with amazing balance carrying as many as three pots of water on their heads. We were able to experience the quintessential Kachchh just from within the bus!!! The bus juggling us around while traveling on some of the rough roads just added to this experience!

Learning some folk dance from Vasant uncle, going to Vaandh village and meeting the villagers, meeting the Veerayatan school kids, talking with Sushmaben from Abhiyan, meeting the patients from the Bidada hospital, visiting the Research centers, visiting some of the earthquake sites, looking at some of the beautiful architecture of the temples and palaces, and enjoying the sunset at the Mandvi Beach were just some of the few things that made my trip an amazing experience.

I cannot even begin to describe the feeling I got when I saw the excitement and enthusiasm with which the children at Veerayatan and at Vaandh greeted us. I was equally amazed with the hospitality of Kachchh's people. We were treated like royalty everywhere (It was undeserved!) and were always greeted with smiling faces! It is refreshing to enjoy laughter with people who see something to smile about in everything in spite of the sufferings in their lives.

In the end, it was a wonderful trip. I did get sick for a day. Some of the traveling did take its toll on us. The traveling could have been planned much better. I couldn't do much constructive volunteering at the hospital. However, the positives far outweighed the negative parts of the trip. Who can deny the refreshing feel of the coconuts??!! I made some great new friends. It is great to have had shared such an experience with everyone! I cannot say I had done anything even close to similar with my existing friends. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone and everyone!