The Sundarbans People- Finding Optimism in an Almost Hopeless Situation

I had gone to Sundarbans a couple of months ago to look at the shrimp farming practices and mangrove conservation efforts in the world's largest mangrove delta, which is inhabited by hundreds of species of flora and fauna, starting with the ferocious Royal Bengal tiger, to the many species of crustaceans and other water inhabitants. 

This was my first true stay at a backward village. I stayed in an island village called Satjelia in coastal Sundarbans. There were no roadways to reach this Island. The only way out is through hand rowed boats, which takes about an hour to reach Gosaba or though steamers which takes about 15-20 minutes.

The village didn't have any hospital, or post office, or electricity lines. The Island also didn't have any primary school or college. It just has one secondary school, with generally absentee teachers. The rural people still used kerosene lanterns, and a few affluent families of the villages had adopted solar cells.

The standard of living was extremely poor, and the value of money very high. A public ferry took just Re 1 to cross three tributaries to travel from one island to the other.

Public Ferry

Not just that, despite the hardships, I found that the local people there were extremely friendly and welcoming. They live a hard life, waking up at the call of dawn and working literally the whole day, either tilling their land and sowing crops, or mending nets or boats, or rowing to the river to catch fish or collect honey. Every other day, someone is either dragged by the tigers into the jungles, or grabbed by the crocodiles into the rivers, and yet these people have the will power to wake up and fight for their lives and livelihoods, with minimum support from the outside world, including the government. 

During my stay in the village, where I interacted with quite a few people, of various age and occupation, I found that they all have the courage to make the best out of a bad situation, and are optimistic about life. 

I met one of the village lady, who cooks for all the travelers there. Talking to her, I came to know that her husband had been a victim of tiger attack 17 years ago. He used to go into the mangrove forest to collect honey and catch fish. She had been working as a cook for the last 5 years, coming to work from a village, which was about 40 minutes away in a boat. She also gave us honey collected from the mangrove as a souvenir. 

I was truly inspired by these people, who despite minimal formal education, and with hardly any access of modern technology, continue to rise above everyday hardships, and remain optimistic about life. I was astounded by their dedication to live a good life, and find better ways to survive the harsh conditions provided by them. A stay in rural India is a truly eye opening experience, because despite the primitive infrastructure and lack of many basic amenities, the villagers are enriched with wisdom gained from real life experiences. It instills in you a better sense of our country when you see that the millions of the "underprivileged" in our nation have enough optimism and faith in live to bring about a radical change. 

The new concept of housing, brought by https://housing.com/lookup also instills a similar kind of optimism in urban India, with its vision to revolutionize the real estate market in our country.