Village: Real India, Real Problems

Kalawad and Gali are villages of India but there is no comparison between them. Kalawad is a well developed village of Jamnagar District in Gujarat. It is just two hours distance from Rajkot city. Gali is a beautiful village of Madhya Pradesh. It is situated on Bhopal-Sagar Road. It takes one and half hour from Bhopal to reach there.

The difference between both can clearly understood when you search them on internet. You can easily found the map and the information about Kalawad Village on net but when you want to know about Gali you will not found a single line about it on net.

In childhood I imagined village as a place where river is flowing and farmers are ploughing, where people use lamps and lanterns in the night and wake up before the sun rising in the sky, where the mud houses painted with cow dung and cattle can be found in big chunk. But my perception was changed when I went to Kalawad. I didn’t find a single mud house there before 20 years. In Kalawad the roads are narrow and shops are small. Houses have different structure though it is made of cement and bricks only. It is a small version of a city. Infect if you go to any village in Gujarat you will feel the same.

After marriage I got the opportunity to go to Gali. I was amazed to see Gali. There is only one house in the village which is made of cements and bricks. Not a single person has a vehicle to travel. There is only one school in the village where you can study till tenth standard. People earn on daily bases and spend also in that manner. You can buy milk of 2 Rs. and oil of 4 Rs. too from the baniyas. I have heard about the village which is in worst condition then Gali but to see that and be there for a day is all together a different experience.

As I said there is no comparison between Kalawad and Gali but there is one common problem in both the village. The village boys do not get their bride just because they live in a village. This should be understood that the girls who brought up in the cities do not want to go in the village. But Girls who are living in the villages, do not agree to marry a village guy. This problem is being acute day by day and society is suffering but nobody gives an attention to this problem.

I want to mention one incident here. Patels are wealthy and well known cast in Gujarat. Earlier they lived in villages now they reached to America too. Still many Patels are there in the villages. I know one case where the Patel guy staying at Kalawad was facing the same problem. He got rejected just because he is living in a village. He used his smartness and did the thing which we can’t imagine about. He bought one small shop and a rented flat in Rajkot. He told girl’s father that he is living in Rajkot and doing this business. The girl’s father confirmed the things and he got married with that girl. After six months, he said, “I want to close down the shop and now we will go to Kalawad back.” The girl refused to go there and went to her parents’ house. After 3 months they took divorce.

If the Kalawad a develop village is suffering with this problem then what we say about Gali? The guy from the richest in Gali did not able to find a girl for him before a year. In their Society the Dahej problem is heightened. Boy’s mother was expecting good Dahej for his son but the scene got changed when she faced the reality. She needed to search for a poor girl as there is no girl who is ready to marry her son. Finally she found one. In this case they need to pay money to the girl’s parents. This is the first case in the history of Gali where boy’s parents give money to girl’s parents rather taking dahej from them. These are not just two cases. If you know anybody who lives in a village ask him.

I am worried about the 70% population of India. This is a sensitive issue. Marriage is a social institution. The way we make it and break it is hazardous. Village was being considered as strength of the nation but today the scene is different. In the time of development all wants to grow. The growth is faster in the cities as compare to villages. So everybody wants to catch that speed. This issue is difficult to deal with as we can’t able to change the mentality of the society. We talk so much about complicated marriage life of cities i.e. Increasing divorce cases or unfaithful partners. But we hardly care about the major issues with whom we are not attached. We can’t think that it will not affect us. We have to face consequences of this problem in our nearest future. Get ready for that.