An Interaction With Subhana: Lessons Beyond The Classroom

* Every year, at the start of the fellowship journey, during their induction program, the facilitators discuss about single stories and ask the fellows to go out and talk to people in the campus and see what surprises them – about themselves! Here is what Tanvi encountered, in herself.

Subhana, a tribal woman from Dhanau which is 200km away from Udaipur, was engagingly excited to talk to the three of us in Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Udaipur district. She spotted us immediately as we wandered into the tabela (cattle shed) premises. She initiated the conversation and led us into a comfortable place; we all were evidently eager to know her story. Her openness and confidence were charming.

At 40, she looked younger than she said. While chit-chatting normally, I discovered that she had been staying in Krishi Vigyan Kendra since her childhood and was away from her family, husband, and three children who lived in Dhanau. There was a pause in the conversation, and excessive affirmative head nods, to showcase the fact, albeit aloofly. But what is it that motivates her to stay apart and disconnected from her ‘own’ people? Her articulation seemed to say more than what just words conveyed. She was there for work. Bur her words seemed heavily placed through the silence, like a sense of recluse that was so evident in her matter of fact way of narration.

Immensely proud of her tribal identity, as soon as I said namaste,  she announced “I belong to the tribal community!” We nodded to this declaration and resumed our chat. She had a lot to say to us about her life. I wondered later on about why she presented her talks in this rather declarative tone? I wondered if that was a disclaimer instead of a declaration. Like she wanted to give a disclaimer before she could interact with us about her caste identity? About her living conditions?

Subhana talked about how the caste system is futile and how equality is something that needs to be adopted by everyone. She mentioned the Prime Minister and his endeavours to help them (the tribal community). She was also well aware of local politics. But when asked about the children playing around us, she said “oh, they are Gujjars, they aren’t my children.”

She told us that all she has known in her life is farming. How she sows seeds and digs holes in the land. But soon after that, she defensively mentioned that she was uneducated. I replied that she might not know how to read and write but she knows everything about farming and seasons, a skill that is not possible to possess without cognitive ability. Education, I think is such a broad term. If thought about this deeply, is there anyone at all who is uneducated. Education is understanding of the world around us and skills to navigate it. The fact that someone knows to understand complex situations, isn’t that enough?

Subhana understood very clearly that outsiders were seasonal and random, as she spoke to many throughout her stay at KVK. Students who met her sometimes asked her very absurd and silly questions about the cows and the cow dung … she laughed as she narrated. She argued that someone interested in knowing about farming and agriculture would observe, not question. She had picked up farming without undergoing the process of learning? Untrue. How else could she have made such sharp observations about the visitors in KVK? I am not sure if the formal educational system can just be the sole marker of literacy, but her knowledge of agriculture sure seemed literacy.

Another interesting thing happened with me and my co-fellows during this interaction. There was diversity among the three of us in terms of skin color, region, and background which was completely evident. And as soon as she picked it up, she prioritized Rahul to speak to, who had similar features as her own. Now this selective operation happened by default from her end, we took a while to understand this, but we soon saw it. She kept talking to Rahul as if he was someone who would understand her troubles, she started sharing her miseries and was very open with him. She even clicked photos with him with her arms around his shoulder and enjoyed putting her point out in front of him. But what made her uncomfortable with Deepanshu?

The confidence could have been due to the eagerness for action in Rahul, or the fact that he wasn’t getting technical with his questions which she had mentioned she disliked earlier. Rahul had a casual approach to his conversation when he spoke to her. He was there to know her, not interview her. After a series of prompts from us, she expressed openly to Rahul that he looked similar to her as they both have darker skin tones. This distinction alienated Deepanshu (fair skinned) completely; true, he was always left out of the conversation. I was still in the middle ground as a woman who had the scope of connecting with her through gender, and eventually she did open up to me after I had pointed out her skills of farming being a legitimate education.

There after, she invited us to her house, made tea for us, and talked to us at length. Her house was a small room with stone shelves on the wall. She smilingly pointed out to the two things she loved possessing, her small black table fan, and a slightly shattered television set which she beamingly said she watched serials on. She was very good at observations and knew a lot about the current affairs of the world and about the technologies that are up and coming in the agriculture sector.

When I think about this meeting now, I am so rich with information and viewpoints. Her excitement, a sense of hospitality, and just the fact that we could share a cup of tea and laugh together, really broke my single-story, which makes us view certain groups to be just one thing – tribals, almost a homogeneous entity.