Deoghar, Jharkand

 

This is Jasidih train station, where i get off going to Deoghar, Jharkhand. Train is India's major transport 

system.

Why I cried…..

Last May 2009, as I set foot  in the rural town of Deoghar, Jharkhand,  somehow remote and random place …I cried so hard for weeks!!! ..almost everyday while riding their manual rickshaw going to my new office.
Deeply saddened  due to change of  environment? being alone? a total stranger ? change of lifestyle? Is it the manual rickshaw ride? is it the severe hot weather condition? is it the  cleanliness of   surroundings? So many  changes that  I have to adjust----wondering who can help or   initiate  for everyone go to the next level of  cleanliness….litters along  the road ,  the market area, the neighborhood  and  everywhere.

The feeling was like i went back to the  PAST--- about 50 years back...and asking myself, " why am i doing this ? for the love of what? it's like i have almost forgotten my real objective of  "sharing my skills and changing lives " motto of  VSO...

I'm not blaming myself for these reactions since my  orientation during our  In-Country briefing for almost a month  was that I'll be posted  in Kolkata--- India's oldest  city  -- so I was not really prepared to live in a somewhat  remote  and isolated place like Deoghar.

The manual rickshaw...

Sites you can see along Tower Chouck -- Deoghar's commercial area.....

  

in Tower Chouck, Deoghar-- men cooking their favorite street foods--

In Jamtara Village-- one of the villages(barrios)  of Deoghar...

...these are cow's dung!!!! the villagers collect them for various uses...

a tribal village house made of clay...

In Jamtara village(barrio) with one of  the woman leaders/ volunteers   working on health / hiv issues.

My  3rd flat in Deoghar!!!! located at the ground floor of this 3-storey building--- i decided to transfer to this flat just in time for hot season starting April 2010 up to the time i left Deoghar on September 18, 2010.

 

 my dining room and receiving area as well........

Some of NEEDS staff and the 3 VSO volunteers- me, Sangita and Jim during send-off party for one Program Manager, Niladri. Photo taken inside compound where our office is located.

More pictures of Deoghar...

vegetable market along the road....

 this is where i buy my chicken....

 one source of income for the poor...

 a meeting with the village ladies...called self help group(SHGs) one example of women empowerment...

 they like sugar-cane juice...an example of  ingenuity...

 delivery  of goods ...via manual   carriage...

 palm tree.....

this is the process of how they construct  houses or buildings...shown are their bricks...