Wakro – Back to School

“I think I’m suffering from a “Writers Block”, I told my better-half one day.  “Isn’t that something that affects writers. Why should you suffer?” came his reply. I blast at him and prove (once again) that I was, after all, the worse-half.

I knew in my heart that I had been putting away this post for too long. As far as I was concerned, I had very good reasons. How was I supposed to write about home without mentioning my family. It’s difficult, but I had a promise to keep. I’m not going to name them or post a picture of them. But I’m going to write about them,  their schools, their work, their passion and everything else. This post is dedicated to a special ‘Arunachali couple’.

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Wakro: nature fully loaded

In the distance, the looming hills of Kamlang sanctuary seemed to soften with the waning golden evening light. The ghostly swirls of mist added beauty as they curled around the barks of the abundant Hollong trees that stood in creepy silence. Birds kept flapping above our heads, trying to get back to their nests before dark. The road ahead of us was deserted; our Scorpio was the only vehicle competing with itself and trying to get on with the winding path ahead.

When Jayanto da took a sudden left turn and drove onto a mud path, we did not know what to expect. But we knew we were ‘finally’ home. We were in Wakro.

Orange County

Wakro – the land of oranges – something to compete with Nagpur – is a beautiful town in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh. Did we  chose the wrong season to visit Wakro? We didn’t know that the small trees that lined the roads from Parasuramkund to Wakro were none other than orange trees, until Jayantoda pointed them out. So much for a masters degree in Botany!!

The orange orchards that spread across the Mishmi hills and valleys are nourished by the gushing waters of Lohit River. Wakro is also home to the Kamlang Reserve, a dense forest, with rich flora and fauna.  Tezu, the district headquarters, is located about 60 km from Wakro.

Anugraha

In front of us stood a single storey building. This tin roofed  modest structure may look ordinary to the common man. But appearances can be deceptive, as some extraordinary things happen here in this long house that doubles as an office and residence. This building, aptly named ‘Anugraha’, belongs  to an ‘Arunachali couple’  who  run two excellent and innovative  educational institutions and a library under the Anu Shiksha Seva Trust (ASSET) with the graceful blessings of His Holiness Swami Sri Sri Anubhavananda Saraswatijii.

His Holiness Swami Sri Sri Anubhavananda Saraswatijii

Happiness is a state that is envied by those who are not happy and enjoyed by those who are happy. But is happiness really as easy as it looks though? Yes, says Swami Anubhavananda, a philosopher and well followed spiritual saint. The ever smiling Swamiji’s motto is  “Be Happy” or “मौज में रहो “. Both the schools and the library have been inspired by this philosophy.

We seemed to be engulfed by this happiness the moment we stepped into the campus.   Apna Vidya Bhavan (AVB), an English medium semi-residential school and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGVB), a special school for rural tribal girls funded by the  Government of India are located at a stones throw away. Apne Library, the  children’s library coordinated by the Vivekananda Trust and AWIC (Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children),  managed by ASSET, is located across the road.

Pick your school

ASSET has been contributing to the society by  promoting girl’s education in a big way. The school drop-out rates are considerably high, especially among girls, in these parts, and ASSET has tried to  change this tradition by convincing the village elders about the importance of education of the girl child to attain her rightful place in society.

KGBV, Wakro

The schools have come a long way from the days they started as a single classroom for nursery classes to a double storied school building with hostel facilities. At the schools, along with teaching the normal curriculum, the teachers try to inculcate the passion for all subjects. Children are also encouraged to read books and now Suppandi and the Wimpy kid are very much a part of their lives. The schools have also played an important role in keeping alive the traditions by including Mishmi weaving and knitting classes under the pre-vocational training programs, along with capacity building programs, fitness programs, and awareness programs on health and sanitation. The teachers and support staff are also subjected to regular training and orientation programs.

A class at APNA Vidya Bhavan

The APNE Library, the ‘Ranganatha Retreat’, is a tribute to two eminent personalities of the library movement in India, Swami Ranganathananda ji and Prof. S.R. Ranganathan.

Showcasing the Library movement

 Swami Ranganathananda ji self educated himself from a hostel-cook to an international scholar through spirited reading and set up many libraries for poor youth in all of the Sri Ramakrishna Ashrams he lived. Prof. S.R. Ranganathan is the father of Library Science in India.

At the steps of wisdom. APNE Library, Wakro

The girls of KGBV are active library volunteers, who during vacations, run holiday-libraries in their villages.The children regularly take part in library activities and have even formed a reading brigade that goes to other schools and encourages reading habits in other children. The library has also evoked enthusiastic response from the village elders.

Our own library: APNE Library

The schools were closed for the Pooja holidays and the children were enjoying their vacations at home. For the next five days we stayed with Uncle at the APNE Library. The main hall of his modest two room home had been converted into a treasure trove of books. We literally felt like kids in a candy store.  Aren’t we all familiar with that musty smell of books? The trips to the library as a child or that cozy ambiance of a book store….. happy memories.

The library neatly stacked with a collection of more 1000 books ranging from Amar Chitra Kathas to Roald Dahl, and Ruskin Bond to Dr. Seuss.  Decked up with drawings and sketches and poems and photos and newspaper clippings, it was the true altar of the written word. Uncle doesn’t throw away a piece of paper. Every paper is recycled, be it an envelope, a pamphlet, or a calender. Colourful full length advertisements are cut out and customised into posters with peppy and innovative slogans.

Innovative recycling

There is more beyond the books stacked neatly in the shelves. There are frequent book exhibitions, reading sessions, workshops on improving reading skills, cultural and sports programs, environmental awareness and much more. The books in these libraries are donated by well wishers and publishing companies. Though it is Uncle  who co-ordinates the many little details that go into getting these books, the library is run by the “library activists” or “Reading Brigade” as uncle calls them. Come evenings, the  library turns into a hub of activities that include story telling, quizzes, booking readings, and enactments.

Uncle Moosa’s ‘Reading Brigade’

 The APNE Library at Wakro has also been staging small skits on little-known but inspiring personalities like Baby Halder, Dr. Usha Mehta, Dr. Kamla Sohoni, Rukminidevi Arunadale, Sri Aurobindo,  Anutai Wagh, Dr. Varghese Kurien and more recently Dr. George Washington Carver, the legendary black American agricultural  scientist of late 19th century.

George Carver skit team APNE Library Wakro

Each skit has a message. The reader-activists, all girls, perform the skits not only in English and Hindi but also in their mother-tongue,  Mishmi, so that the message reaches the common villagers too.  The girls take all the responsibilities from translating, preparing the script and rehearsing.  More lately, while performing skits in open noisy areas,  they have used  an audio-computer program where the entire dialogues are pre-recorded, and then later played at the venue.

James and the Giant Peach team, APNE Library Wakro

The children are encouraged to write stories too. A lot of their stories, drawings and articles have been published in well known magazines like Children’s World and Dimdima Monthly, regularly. APNE Library has also the honour of receiving several  guests  including writers, research scholars, army and government officials, who keep inspiring the library reader-activists in many ways.

Enacting John Carver skit

The continuous support of the Lohit Brigade and the 2nd Mountain Division of the Indian Army have gone a long way and

they have not only been sponsoring girls students and providing  free education and hostel facilities till secondary level, but have also played an important role in the development and adding new classrooms to the school.

We were also lucky to attend two functions arranged by the schools and ASSET.  The first function was to felicitate Brig Vikal Sahni, Cdr 82 Mtn Bde and Dr. Latika Sahni.   Apna Vidya Bhavan received a gift of Montessori Teaching Learning Aids from His Holiness Sri Sri Swami Anubhavananda Saraswatiji which was presented by Dr. Latika Sahni, Dean, Asian Business School.

Dr. Latika, herself an educator for more than two decades,  appreciated the APNEs and the educational environment maintained by ASSET in this remote rural region. It was so heartening to see Brig Vikal Sahni and Dr. Latika Sahni interacting with the children. The function was not only attended by teachers and students, but also by the parents and villagers. The guests were entertained by songs, skits and traditional Mishmi dances.

The second function was a prize distribution ceremony in which we were made to distribute prizes to the kids who won the Solung/Rangoli competition. APNE Library had organized an Onam-Solung Rangoli contest  with a view to promote eco-awareness and cleanliness consciousness among the Wakro villagers. The contest  with the theme, “Clean Arunachal for a Happy Arunachal” – “Saaf Arunachal, Sukhi Arunachal” drew nearly 100 students from three nearby schools.

We were happy to do our little bit of encouragement by giving away the prizes and the kids performed a few skits, songs and kept us entertained.

A skit on Sri Aurobindo being performed

There are two kinds of people: those who do all the work and those who take all the credit. In Arunachal we met a third kind – those who do all the work and who refuse to take the credit. Our dear Arunachali couple, who refuse to be named, give all credit to the blessings of  Swami Anubhavanandaji for the immense energy, generosity, and discipline under which both the schools and library are functioning. The time we had with the ASSET family, the children, and the schools was well spent. The work that has been done to shape and strengthen not just their education but also the inspirational activities where they get to express their creativity and talent for a good cause is commendable.

 I have always tried to write these posts in such a way that even after many years when I look back, I should be reminded of how I felt back then. Writing about the Arunachali couple, made me happy. I’m sure I’m going to feel that way always.

Wakro – a Prelude

Let’s first put a few realities on the table. Not many tourists have Arunachal Pradesh on their travel agenda. Which is just as good for those of us who want to keep their special discoveries all to ourselves!

And if you felt that there is a Tawang, that does catch a few tourists in the peak season, the truth is that there are many more such pearls tucked away in a green oyster that takes more than a touristy attempt at discovery. Scouring for the most popular North-east travel itineraries from the net or walking up to the travel agent office, down the road, will not yield much more than the West Arunachal  circuit of Tawang and Bomdila. Which is why we headed to the North-East – to the East of North-East.

Racing across the map

So what do I now have to offer which I haven’t already shared with you. We spent a few moments at the War cemetery at Digboi, drove up the  Stillwell road till the Pangsau Pass at the Indo-Burmese border, played with the butterflies and dodged a few leeches in the woods of Namdapha, crossed the Lohit to reach Tezu, headed all the way up to Walong, reached out to distant Kaho and Kibithu and almost caught the first sun rays to fall on the Indian subcontinent.

Wakro, Arunachal pradesh (Google Map)

There is still something left to be told, something really substantial and special that was, in fact, the reason that had us pack up our bags and head out to Arunachal in the first place – Wakro.

For starters, it happens to be one of the realities that we placed early on the table. Seeing it on the Google map is the stuff that gets the traveller in you to sit up. Typing in just Arunachal Pradesh on Google maps and without zooming in any further, you realise that Wakro is the furthest east that you can get anywhere in India. So much so that half of Burma, including Yangon, lies to its west. So, when we drove into Wakro in Jayanto da’s jeep, we knew we were in the east…seriously east.

As we climb down the mountains – Lohit river

Descending the last few bends in the ghat from our long drive from Walong, we passed the Demwe point where one road went on to Tezu and the other headed to Parshuram Kund. We took the latter and, shortly, reached the new bridge that sprawled across over the Lohit. All along the climb up to Walong and down it, watching the river from the IB at Walong and crossing over it on the hanging bridges, we had seen Lohit in all its many moods. But this was different. We were staring down at it from really up close and from the ‘comforts’ of a concrete bridge.

Parashuram kund bridge

Ahead, the famous sight of Parshuram’s axe embedded in the river bed heightened the drama that was already quite dramatic. We parked our Scorpio at the base of the bridge, climbed a few steps till we reached a temple. There were a few men dressed in saffron sitting around a Banyan tree.

Walking to the ghats

We walked further, passed another temple, and a few more smaller shrines,  and proceeded to climb down the steps that were built to accommodate the thousands who flock here every January during Makarsakranti to take a dip in the freezing waters of Lohit. For now, we were the only people around.

The temples, shrines and holy men on the way to the kund

Every year, Parshuram Kund Mela is organized  in the month of January from 13th to 15th. On Makar Sankranti day, large numbers of devotees come here to take their holy bath. Legend says that when Parshuram killed his mother with an axe at the behest of his father, the axe got stuck to his hands. In order to get rid of the axe, and the sin of killing his mother, he came to Brahma Kund where he took a dip in the holy water. Magically, the axe immediately fell from his hands. He picked up the axe and threw it as far as he could into the mountains. The axe split the mountains, and the spot where it fell became the Brahmaputra River.

The axe seen from the Parasuram Kund bridge

Beyond the Parshuram Kund, the Lohit River is known as Brahmaputra.

Jayantoda told us an interesting fact about Parshuram Kund. During Makarsakranti, only those whose parents have passed away can take a dip in the Lohit River at the Parshuram Kund. The rest take a dip across the Kund in the Brahmaputra River.

The iconic ‘axe’ at Parasuram Kund

Down at the last few steps just above the river, we felt the naked fury of the Lohit as the blacks, the dark greens and the frothy whites all tossed up as if in a super strong blender. In front of us, the “axe” with its jagged edges protruded resolutely over the swirling waters.

Close encounters with the ‘axe’

Wakro was just 20 km up ahead. A brief stop for a cup of tea later, we were crossing the Kamlang bridge and waiting with bated breath for the first sight of Uncle Moosa’s ‘home’ town. Uncle, an Arunachali at heart and by the sheer fact that the last 30 years of his life have been spent in Arunachal and among its lovely people, currently works and lives in Wakro.

From here on Lohit is known as Brahmaputra

For the next five days we would be with Uncle, sharing or rather encroaching upon his space, spending time with him at the Apne library, with his books, with his little patrons from Apna Vidya Bhavan and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, with the wonderful staff of these fine two schools and, never the least, the two remarkable people who started and run these excellent institutions under the Anu Shiksha Seva Trust (ASSET) with the graceful blessings of His Holiness Swami Sri Sri Anubhavananda Saraswatiji.

Well, that will need a whole lot of a chapter.