A Week in Tadikonda Village

This is about my experience staying in a backward tribal dominated village, Tadikonda located in Gummalakshmipuram mandal in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on a hilltop and is surrounded by hills and has a very scenic view. The village is around 12kms away from the mandal headquarters and share a border with Odisha. The two major tribes are Jatapu’s and Savarah's (PTG).

It was during my village immersion as part of the PMRDF training, I was allotted this village. My knowledge on rural life was very limited except that I was told by my colleagues that tribals are very friendly and also several “do not do” things such as don’t drink water, don’t sleep without a mosquito net and so on. 

Finally I got to the village at about late noon and it was peak summer then. I was put up in a school that barely had a few rooms. I pretty much spent the evening to myself wondering what is in stake for the next coming week. Next morning I was woken up by the sounds of talking by a few tribal womenfolk who were on their way to the farms at about 5:30 AM (sunrise). Frankly I am not a morning person but I thought not going back to sleep would be the best thing rather than being woken up again and again. In about 30 -45 min a group of people (mix of youth in their early 20’s and teens) come to the school ground and play cricket. After watching them play for a while I gathered the courage to go and ask if I could join them play. They welcomed me in and were very anxious to know who I was and details of why I had come and what not. Here I was reminded of what I was told about tribal people before I came here that they are very friendly and generous.

Followed by the game here comes something unique and what I would call a “community bath”. Most of the men or young adults take a bath in a natural pond. Here I was accompanied by the youth to the pond (around 20 or so), initially reluctant but later I join them. I later enquired to find out if this was only for fun but was told that it was something they have been doing all their lives.

Later at noon it was either resting or going around the farms and also at times practice archery with the boys. The evening was the time I used to spend interacting with SHG’s or conducting an house hold survey usually enquiring about their livelihoods, their take on delivery of government services and to understand their way of living. Once back, it was again time with the boys. This was like a regular routine for the week and I really and thoroughly enjoyed my time in Tadikonda.

I really could connect well to the youth and over the course got to know more on their lifestyle, ambitions and dreams. Just to give an idea about the group of youth, two of them have graduated with a degree and were with no jobs, 7 -10 of them have completed 10^th class and the rest below 10^th class and they were currently working under NREGA and since during at that time no works were undertaken they were completely free. Some of them secured a job through Rajiva Yuva Kiranalu scheme but could not sustain it for more than a month or two. They had returned back and reason that low pay scale, cost of living and staying away from their family and village are the main factors in quitting their jobs.

Most of the youth were ambitious and wanted to work respectable office jobs. In fact one of them even told me he wanted to be a banker but had no idea or information about how to get in. I was convinced that apart from providing a good education or an opportunity of a job there is a need to hand hold them and counsel them in choosing the right kind of job and provide the necessary information or training for them to qualify. Also interacting with the other youth I feel there is a need to create more jobs in rural areas rather than asking them to work in urban places, which is quite a distance.

To conclude I would like to say that one week in Tadikonda was truly memorable and a unique learning. I also take the impression that tribal youth in particular are very generous and kind and in particular make what we call “true friends”. It’s been close to eleven months since then and till date they often call and enquire about my wellbeing and keep wishing me the very best in life.