On 26th July, I was supposed to go to Sunderbans but couldn't! I was down with food poisoning....
However, adequately rested and charged up, I was ready to head back to a place, of which by now, I have some very fond memories .... Sunderbans...
We carried 7000 kgs of Rice, 2000 pens and lots of paper to distribute amongst the villagers of Lahiripur.
We distributed in the following seven villages, groups of villages:
Lahiripur Santigachi EDC
Lahiripur Chorgheri EDC
Laxbagan, Parasmanee & Bidhan Colony EDC
Jamespur
Sonaga
Dulki
Rajatjublee & Anpur EDC
In each of these places we gave 1000 kgs of rice.
Additionally, we visited the ONLY two High Schools in the area:
1. Rajatjublee High School (Up to Class 12)2. Santigachi High School (We met a teacher who came to the ghat to meet as we did not have the time to go into the interiors to the school
We distributed the pen and paper equally in these two schools.....
This Sunday was different in many ways.... there was a lot more calm in these villages..... not to say that they were as good as pre AILA days, but somewhere deep down, they have reconciled to the fact that:
1. They CANNOT grow anything for this season atleast, and by the looks of it, even the next season...
2. They CANNOT expect the government to help them in the short run. They are looking at ways to earn and feed their families. There have been some promises by the government about helping the villagers in making capital expenditures such as - rebuilding houses, desalinating public ponds etc..... We really hope, this translates into measurable action :)
