Strolling in Veerappan's lands

During the course of this trip, I met many students, heard their different stories - inspiring, saddening, brave, shocking - all kinds of stories. I met some really beautiful and wonderful people. People in dire straits still living with such dignity! Those stories will come out by and by.

One highlight of the trip was a visit to erstwhile Veerappan hinterlands. Most of the Soliga inhabited areas fall under this category. When I went to Ponnachi, Huchaiah took me to the primary school where he studied. This is an Ashrama Shaale, a residential schools for tribal children.

I started talking with the teachers in my broken Kannada and was pleasantly surprised that some of the teachers knew Tamil. Suddenly the conversation veered towards Veerappan and I was all ears. One of them told me that Veerappan was a friend of his brother and attended his wedding! Another told me how he had seen him strolling around the forests of Ponnachi when he was a teen. Just as the stories started flowing, Huchaiah mentioned that I was a journalist.

Suddenly puzzled looks were exchanged. The topic of conversation changed and before I could do anything about it, I had to leave to meet some people. I told them I was keen to listen to their tales and promised to come back and talk to them.

That evening, a teacher came to me and said that everything he told me was one big joke! It was so sad! They just did not want to talk to me after that. Later Huchaiah told me that the locals are still petrified of the police and fear harassment. This, so many years after Veerappan's death!

Shobha S.V.

Education or livelihood?

I was travelling to assess the impact of the work by the Kanasu team among rural and tribal students. I met students who belonged predominantly to the Soliga tribe. Almost all of them were economically backward. I had to see whether they were studying properly and providing desired results academically. It seems like a simple exercise. Except that it isn't quite simple enough.

Soligas have a great culture of their own. They are highly educated people; their culture equips them with an intimate knowledge of nature. Their culture equips them to know about medicinal plants in the forests by the time they are 3 or 4 years old-something we learn only if we do a BSc in Botany. Yes, they weren’t literate.
But then, the education these kids receive is quite poor. They do not receive any special kind of education which opens up their mind. They are learning things that totally disconnect themselves from their surroundings.

The current education is not helping them be creative and thinking individuals. As is the case everywhere, there will be creative and thinking individuals not because of the system but despite the system. But yes, I am sure it is successfully killing the creativity of many kids there and also creating various other problems in process.

Early in my travels, it became clear that we are not helping them be “educated”. We are only providing them with tools to earn a decent livelihood! That in itself is a big thing, considering for various reasons including globalisation, their decreasing right within their own forests have rendered them totally helpless. They just don't have a choice but to join the larger national economy. And education here helps them. It helps them to secure a livelihood; it helps them to earn money so that they don't starve and die.

Shobha S.V.