Following the slums we drove to the remote village of Ashte to spend Wednesday night and Thursday. We had just witnessed urban distress and were going to the source: a rural area. 

It is dry and the dirt cracks with thirst. It’s pretty right now, but it’s not lush. The green is limited to the tree tops, and the ground is a sad, dusty khaki. I’m told that in monsoon season, the area is a vibrant green, and I wouldn’t recognize the village.

Ashte is a remote village and GPM works with the villagers to provide education, clean water and hygienic practices like their work in the Kalwa. It took us about 5 hours (including traffic) to get there from Mumbai. It was remote, yes, but there are still phone lines and electricity that run throughout the village. Both are spotty, and water is a limited resource, but it was way less remote than I thought. Our guest housing had WiFi that half worked, which was a surprise because I was expecting to be completely cut off and the accommodations were much nicer than anticipated. I thought this experience would be similar to staying in the Bedouin tents in the desert while I was on Birthright.

There are about 1600 villagers in Ashte, and about 7 or 8 subdivisions in the village. There is a school with pre-k through maybe middle school before the kids go off to boarding school.

We took a tour of the village before the sunset. We walked the farm area, crossing paths with all kinds of livestock: cows, roosters, chickens and goats. We saw a small kitchen area and familiarized ourselves with some of the buildings we’d be visiting the next day.

Fortunately for us, there was a wedding set up for February 23 and we marveled at the decorations. 

We had dinner cooked by women in the village. They had to be told that our group is not good with spice heat, and you could tell that they thought it was ridiculous. It was all delicious though. I’m trying all the foods, but knowing if it’s spicy or not helps with preparing myself for the taste. 

At night we watched a tribal dance and and a few of us participated. It was under the coverings set up for the wedding and more colorful than usual. The dance was walking in a circle and then after a few verses, you switched to a foot movement that kind of went like this: right foot in front, left foot in back, move to the left and rapidly but smoothly swing your arms in rhythm with the steps. You’d then do a shuffle and turn around and circle in the opposite direction, and go back to walking. We were told they were singing about a cow, but I’m unsure of the details. 

I gave it a try! I was not good. I could half match the foot movement but my arms were not fluid and I looked like a stiff elephant’s trunk. I had a lot of fun doing it, it took me maybe 5-10 minutes of watching to get the courage to join. Laughed and smiled the whole time! I will post a video when I get a stronger WiFi connection.

The next morning was early. We were all woken up at 4 a.m. by roosters, or as I called them, alarm cocks. 

There was one rooster right outside the guesthouse and another in the distance, but close enough where you could still hear them. They sounded one after another, maybe a minute in between, until we were scheduled to wake up at 7 a.m. to start our day. It took everything in me to not run outside and shoo the one away. 

Our guest house had walls, doors and a roof but there was still spacing between the walls and the roof so the rooster’s crows pierced through. 

Our day in Ashte was spent in more classrooms and it was interesting to see how the skills and ages varied between students in the village and in Kalwa. The students in the village were more shy around foreigners and one toddler even started crying.

There’s also a Sundara location in Ashte to provide the village with recycled soap and teach the students about hygiene. They too had toothbrushes on the walls. The classroom walls were still barren but depending on the age group, there was more color on them.

Before we left Ashte, our trip leaders Ben and Andrea gave us 10 minutes to collect our thoughts and sit somewhere in silence. Seeing the rural village life and how dry it is helped piece together why someone would want to leave it, even temporarily, in search of better opportunities.

Ashte was nice, yes, and walking around the farming area was cool (I had successfully avoided walking into countless farm animals) but I was relieved to leave.

These past few days have been challenging. I’m unsure if I should be feeling guilty or appreciative of my living situation and lifestyle. Both? Is that ok? It needs to be. 

Hindus believe in reincarnation and that your situation is this life must be the result of who you were in your previous life. If you’re a billionaire now, maybe you were a great person then and this is your reward. If you’re in the slums, maybe you were an awful person. So they accept their position. The American Dream concept of work hard and climb up the ladder didn’t really apply here. 

As an outsider, it takes everything in me to not shake them and ask why they keep accepting it. But that’s how it is culturally, for them and me. It’s a massive generalization. I recognize this and that there are outliers. My stay in Ashte helped put pieces together and form a more complete story, but again, there’s so much more below the surface.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position, policies, or opinions of JDC Entwine or Gabriel Project Mumbai.