"Kathewadial" Kamaal !!

Small things can make a big difference. At times many things happen around us and we are quite casual in our approach towards it and might never realize the incidence carried some wisdom. After I came by this article I got to know another dimension altogether.
I want to buy groceries and stuff from a general store. I walk in, shop what I need and after paying for it at the counter and collecting my change from the shopkeeper I walk out with my purchase. Now this is what happens normally in our cities and lives. But then great things don’t happen when normality is seen. Great changes are those which deviate positively from normality and affect the lives of millions, bettering them like never before. Here I would share another great change.

In the sequence of events I have mentioned above there is a deviation from normality when it comes to a place, rather a village named Kathewadi, Nanded District, Maharashtra.

Kathewadi is an approximately 700 strength village. The villagers have a single shopping place which houses general usage goods and the entire village buys its daily requirements from this store. The amazing part of this is that the store has no shopkeeper and no human vigil at all! This store is open to all. Any person who wishes to buy from the store goes in and collects his purchase. He calculates his bill and deposits the cash at the cash counter and collects his change if any and leaves!!

What to say about this? This is simply unbelievable for all of us. Living in a world where dishonesty and cheating is rampant, this system at Kathewadi is akin to observing an igloo in Mumbai! The system has till date worked without any glitch. There has not been an incidence where cash has been swindled and the accounts have been manipulated. From a 700 strong "human" village it is a great achievement. Many of us at times berate the villages at being backward and uneducated. I stop to wonder, if they are not more educated than us how come they achieve this? We gain knowledge and are probably better at it due to the facilities we can access in cities but such people are greater human beings as they know much more about honesty and sincerity than the average city dweller and they live so in life.

Such integrity and mutual trust deserves all the accolades that come its way. It deserves praise and recognition. It deserves our appreciation. The village has no landlord. He was ousted a few years back due to the same old Hindi Film story reasons. Since then, there is a committee appointed by the people who carry out the necessary work regarding the functioning of the village. There is a depository at the central location of the village for collecting funds as per requirements. Every villager contributes via this method and does not need to be asked twice. All the developmental work is then carried out under the supervision of the committee. Not a single person in the village consumes alcohol or tobacco and neither smokes cigarettes. The roads and gutters in the village are extremely clean. Hygiene is of great importance and there is regular maintenance in the village. All the houses in this village have been painted ‘pink’ to show unity or it might be that the women out number the men and hence the pink colour!! Still, it shows unity! They want to present the thought that they are one in every challenge and deed. Such great thoughts emanating from some small village just makes me think that it would be even more effective if seen in cities!

My humble pranaam to Village Head Sangeeta Suryavanshi, her team and all the villagers of Kathewadi. Their actions have spoken clearly. I feel proud that honesty and trust at such a magnitude is present in the remote locations of this nation. It strengthens my hope that this nation will change and grow better for the good.

I hope all of us derive inspiration from this story and be honest and sincere in our efforts to build a super power of great respect. Good results can be achieved by collective responsibility and its proper execution. Had any of the Kathewadi dwellers shunned away and asked the question, “Why should I do it? Nobody does that” then nobody would have done it and I might not have got a chance to write about them and their achievement. Had they sat back, the village might never have been as developed as it is now and growing still. What has happened in Kathewadi can also happen in the nation. Seeing an unmanned yet effectively functioning shop is a distant dream but very much possible if a correct foundation is built by us. We have to lay the seeds and water them to our greatest capacity to see the world model of Hindustaan. Let us expand the process in Kathewadi and apply it to our lives. We need to know we have a limited life span and thus a limited and precious chance for a revolution. I am excited at this fantastic opportunity of bolstering my nation and I am sure all of you are too!

“Life’s tragedy is not that it ends soon but that we wait so long to begin it”

W.M. Lewis

Jai Hind!