A traveller's delight, homestays put this remote Madhya Pradesh village on the world map

Performers part of a Bhajan Mandali entertain guests at a rural homestay in Ladhpura Khas village of Nimar, Madhya Pradesh (Photo sourced by C Vinitha)Steeped in native culture, these lodgings in Nimar district’s Ladhpura Khas village draw tourists in for their warm hospitality.Nimar: It’s a busy day for Uma Pathak. She’s being called on to check the consistency of the bathua ki kadhi (pigweed curry) that’s been simmering on low on a mud stove for half an hour, while guests encourage her to dance along with them to the Bundelkhandi folk songs on loop in her courtyard. Welcome to the homespun life of a homestay in Madhya Pradesh, in Nimar district’s Ladhpura Khas village, around 12 km from Orchha, recently recognised by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Ladhpura Khas was nominated in the ‘Best Tourism Village’ category, along with Meghalaya’s whistling village Kongthong and Pochampally village in Telangana, which ultimately received the award from the UNWTO. The organisation had been looking to shortlist outstanding rural destinations that had adopted various approaches to tourism to safeguard their local traditions and heritage.An alternative source of livelihoodAfter the pandemic struck, when most villagers across the state were struggling to survive, the homestays that were set up in Ladhpura Khas gave natives a reason to smile. 'Mahua', 'Shilpgram', 'Sheetal Green', 'Kamla Rekha Homestays' were among the seven homestays that were set up since 2020, the first two began operating just a couple of months before the lockdowns. They enjoyed an occupancy of over 100 days, and the figure is expected to rise further, with international flights operating in full force. These homestays are managed by the entire host family, usually a family of six; supported by more than 30 people in the village involved in the homestays as bhajan mandali, e-auto rickshaw drivers, porters, guides, potters, dancers, mehendi walis, specialised cooks/rotiwalis, artisans etc. The highlight of the homestay ecosystem in Ladhpura Khas is its foundation of shared community resources, such as art, music, dance, culinary skills, pottery, etc. Now, using homestays as their platform, villagers here are promoting their Nimari culture and its beautiful nuances.“We realised that just being dependent on agriculture would not really help us realise our children’s dreams or fulfil their desire to lead a better life,” says Dileep Kushwaha, the sarpanch (chief of the village) who first promoted the concept of homestays two years ago. “So we motivated the villagers to join hands in this initiative because for it to succeed, it was vital for all positive aspects of the community to come together.” Kushwaha credits their success to one Avani Mohan Singh, a good Samaritan who runs NGO Haritika. The organisation has been involved with farmers and tribals in the backward districts of Bundelkhand for 27 years, working to resolve issues such as water scarcity, poor infrastructure and unproductive soil.“The idea is to create alternative sources of livelihood for the villagers who don’t have farmland or are struggling to survive with just a tiny piece of land,” says Singh, whose NGO is based out of Naogaon in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh.Kushwaha adds that Singh and his team had trained the villagers of Ladhpura Khas in various aspects of hospitality “free of cost, and also motivated us to join forces on all fronts for the best possible results”.These homestays are managed by the entire host family, usually a family of six; supported by more than 30 people in the village involved in the homestays as bhajan mandali, e-auto rickshaw drivers, porters, guides, potters, dancers, mehendi walis, specialised cooks/rotiwalis, artisans etc. (Pictures sourced by Vinitha C)“Today, it’s immensely satisfying to see that we have seven homestays in our small village and many more are coming up. But what’s more important is the employment these lodgings offer,” the sarpanch says, beaming with pride.Going into the logistics, Kushwaha explains that it costs around Rs 6 lakh to set up a homestay in the village, of which they receive a subsidy of around Rs 2 lakh from the central government’s Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan. The hosts and all other stakeholders are trained in the tasks involved, to ensure that guests leave with a comfortable, colourful homestay experience, priced at Rs 2,000 per day. In fact, Singh and his NGO help villagers procure the Rs 2 lakh subsidy from the Tourism Board of Madhya Pradesh, the nodal agency for the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan. “From training staff to presenting the layout of the infrastructure to authorities and filling the requisite forms, we help the tribal community set up and run the homestays in a smooth, professional manner,” Singh says. “The basic idea behind launching homestays in Ladhpura Khas was to fruitfully employ families, not just a few villagers. So we guided and helped train the hosts, porters, e-rickshaw drivers, potters, etc, for a community-based programme.”This community endeavour, Singh adds, is what makes the homestays in Madhya Pradesh unique and different from their counterparts in Kerala, Uttarakhand and Gujarat, where he says they are run independently.Women, the heart of homestaysInterestingly, it’s the women of the hosting families who spearhead the functioning of the homestays. Whether they are running the show as hosts, organising medleys of folk songs, leading dance performances, or creating culinary magic with traditional recipes, women leave their creative touch everywhere in these homestays — a cultural aspect that impresses guests tremendously.“Till date, our village has hosted aroun d 3,000 people, despite three full-blown waves of Covid-19,” Kushwaha points out. “We are sure that the numbers will increase in the coming months as things normalise further on the coronavirus front.”A group of guests having a leisurely breakfast at one of the homestays (Pictures sourced by Vinitha C)A culture-steeped attractionAnother major draw of these rural homestays is the complete Nimari experience they offer tourists. “That’s our biggest strength,” says Pathak, who treats guests to an extra-large dose of Bundelkhandi hospitality, in addition to some inimitable regional recipes that leave them reaching for seconds.“From gud ke cheele (jaggery pancakes) to ras ki kheer (a sweet porridge made of sugarcane juice), bathua ki kadhi and gulgule (fried jaggery and flour sweets) to mehri (a savoury dish of rice and curd), we represent our core strength, and that’s what our guests love,” adds Pathak, a proud mother who’s delighted to be able to fund her son’s hotel management course with her earnings from the homestay.Furthermore, to ensure that guests enjoy the complete Bundelkhandi holiday, hosts organise trips to the nearby Mador village that’s home to skilled potters. Here, tourists shop for mementoes, including terracotta parrots, pots and pans. “Earlier, I earned around Rs 40,000 in the four to five months of summer, selling matkas and surahis. The rest of the year, we’d do odd jobs, or work on people’s farms to earn our daily bread,” recalls Akhilesh Prajapati, a young potter of Mador village. “But now, with guests of the homestays in Ladhpura Khas visiting our village, we earn Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 every month, all year round. We hope for even better sales when foreign guests arrive after international travel restrictions are lifted completely.”As the sun goes down, guests settle in to participate in the bhajan sandhyas, enthusiastically clapping along and even humming to the Bundelkhandi folk songs that are sung to various gods.“These bhajan sandhyas are the biggest levellers. Everyone comes together with no distinction of caste or creed. The thought at the forefront is to showcase the best of our culture to our guests,” says Sappu Pandey, sanyukt van prabandhan samiti adhyaksh (head of the Joint Forest Resource Management Committee) of the village and one of the lead singers of Ladhpura Khas’ troupe of bhajan singers.“As a thumb rule, we don’t ask for money for these musical events, but the hosts always leave us a token amount, which helps us take care of our daily needs,” he adds. “With the lord’s blessings, I’ll soon have a homestay of my own in a few months. I’ve already started building it on my small piece of land.”

Farmers in MP village channel rainwater to turn marshland into irrigation pond

Created to harvest rainwater, the irrigation pond also promises to expand the scope of farming in the summer, thanks to the improved groundwater table.Chhindwara: When a group of passionate people in a community come together, they are bound to bring in a positive change not only in their own lives but also in their surroundings. This was proved by the residents of Paradsinga village in Madhya Pradesh – an irrigation pond they dug on a marshland has helped not only improve the groundwater levels in the area but also diversify their farming and turn their fields into a thriving hub of biodiversity.Paradsinga, a tiny village in Chhindwara district close to the state’s border with Maharashtra, lies on the agricultural belt known for its BT cotton production. The village is largely dependent on rainwater for irrigation and as it is on a plateau, the groundwater table here is very low. Even tube wells are not of much help because they dry up much before the summer peaks, making BT Cotton the ideal and overwhelmingly popular crop.Considering the scenario, Shweta Bhattad, a young farmer in Paradsinga, and her friends decided to spearhead a movement that would slowly but steadily bring about a change in their village. They consulted Amitabh Pawde, a civil engineer who left his job with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) 14 years ago to take up full-time farming at his native village, Yerla Pawde, in Nagpur district. He is recognised as an expert on rainwater harvesting in Maharashtra.Pawde said, “When I visited Paradsinga around six years ago, I was shown a piece of land at Bhattad’s farm. It was a marshy patch and considered a ‘wasteland’ because silt carried by rainwater from surrounding fields gathered on it. I was told that much effort was made to raise crops on it, but whatever was sown there invariably rotted because of water accumulation during rains. However, I was sure that it was the best patch of land in the entire village because it gathered a thick layer of topsoil carried by the rainwater from other fields. I told the villagers that it was an ideal location to dig an irrigation pond.”Creating contour bunds around the fields (Photo courtesy of C Vinitha)The villagers joined hands and the process began without further delay. They hired earthmovers to dig a 100x100-foot pond. However, with the absence of springs to fill the pond, they had to wait for the rains. Pawde said, “When it rained, the overflow from the nearby fields did the needful. I supervised the project, and the soil that was dug out was used to construct the embankments of the pond which now nurture rich vegetation. We ensured that the embankments had enough slope so that the wild animals that came there to drink water would not slip and drown in it.”It was the Bhattad family that spent the major portion of the money to dig the pond, although the rest of the amount was provided under a government scheme. A number of farmers in the village also contributed their efforts by stone pitching (fortifying with stone) the inflow and outflow channels of the pond.Ganesh Dhoke, a farmer, said, “This is the first, and till date, the only irrigation pond in our village. The idea was to harvest the excess rainwater for irrigation and the recharging of the groundwater table. The results were immediately visible in nearby wells. The move has inspired many farmers even in the nearby villages. This pond has made our entire village proud.”Bhattad said another major and satisfying result of digging the pond was that it has made remarkable changes in the biodiversity in the area within a span of six years. “A number of trees of indigenous varieties such as Gum Arabic (babool), Indian Jujube (ber), mango, baobab (gorakh chinch), blackberry (jamun), Indian rosewood (sheesham), orchid tree (kanchan), Indian beech (karanja) and Sesbania (agasti) grow around the pond and provide a home to hundreds of birds,” she said.“A few years ago, we were totally dependent on cash crops such as BT Cotton and pigeon peas (tur dal). However, with the improvement of water table in the area, we now grow the desi kapas variety of cotton, maize, sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), sesameseeds (til), peanuts, gram, wheat, flax seeds, coriander, Roselle (ambadi bhaji), French beans, bottle gourd, snake gourd and eggplant,” Bhattad said. This crop diversity also promises to improve nutrition levels among residents. Ripple effectThe pond has inspired farmers in the neighbouring villages, too. Shyamala Sanyal, a farmer in Killod village which is barely five kilometres away from Paradsinga, has also dug a pond to harvest rainwater. “I am an ardent nature lover and was inspired by Bhattad’s pond. I, too, wanted to harvest rainwater. Even though the water levels in my wells were not bad, I noticed a significant rise after I dug the pond in my farm,” she said.Motivated by the success of Bhattad’s irrigation pond, some farmers in Paradsinga are making efforts to take rainwater harvesting a notch higher. They have started constructing bunds in their fields to arrest the free flow of rainwater and stop the erosion of the fertile topsoil. The farmers were introduced to the technique by Tanmay Joshi, a young farmer who learnt the technique from other self-taught experts in Wardha.“We keep drawing groundwater, but seldom make efforts to recharge it. Bunds not only stop soil erosion but also help boost the biomass content and porous nature of the soil. This improves the soil’s fertility and reduces farmers’ dependence on chemical fertilisers. We have planted trees such as mulberry, fig, pomegranate, guava, drumsticks and mango on these bunds to strengthen them as well as to reduce the farmers’ dependence on cash crops,” Joshi said.Ganesh Dhoke, another farmer, said, “Earlier we used to buy almost all vegetables and wheat for our daily needs. However, now we are growing them on our own lands. This saves us money as well as provides better nutrition.”Bhattad’s move has drawn a lot of attention in the area, and it is slowly bringing about change in agricultural practices. She said, “Because they are used to farming BT Cotton which requires less water and brings quick returns, many farmers do not want to raise other crops that would require rainwater harvesting measures such as ponds and bunds. However, our initiative is slowly changing people’s mindsets, motivating them to raise indigenous crops that are not harsh on the soil in the long run.”This article is a part of a 101Reporters' series on The Promise Of Commons. In this series, we will explore how judicious management of shared public resources can help the ecosystem as well as the communities inhabiting it.

Between roots and dreams: Journey of Christmas 'crib'-makers of Bhopal

Christmas and other festivals are the main sources of income for these rural bamboo artisans who have been selling their wares in the city for generations.Bhopal: Every December a little tented, 'Christmas town' springs up in Shahpura, Bhopal. It is bustling here once again and there is an air of festivity, thanks to lenient COVID-19 restrictions for the first time in two years. Shahpura is a favourite spot for Christmas shoppers because it is the place where bamboo artisans, also known as Banskars, come from far off villages of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to set up shops, sell Christmas 'cribs' that are used in nativity scenes and other novelty bamboo items.For generations, these artisans have been coming to Shahpura and camping along the streets in tents which also double up as their shops. Each family is comprised of more than a dozen members living with limited means, yet weaving dreams on the cane. Their eyes light up as they deftly make baskets, hand-fans, cribs, stars and many other beautiful objects using thin strips of cane, never bothering about the bleeding fingers that are a usual occurrence while slicing bamboo into strips.One of the veterans in this art, Guddi Bai, even though she is not sure about her age, remembers that she was married off by her parents when she was only five years old. “I had been coming here from Tikamgarh in Bundelkhand for over 50 years along with my husband. He passed away a few years ago, leaving me to fend for nine children – five daughters and four sons. God has strange plans. I lost all four sons, and now I live with my daughters, their husbands and grandchildren. It is my traditional bamboo craft that has kept us going,” she said as she gave final touches to a crib. When 101Reporters asked her how much she earned from selling a crib, Guddi Bai said, “An average-size crib sells for Rs 200 to Rs 350. It takes a couple of days to make one. The peak season for selling the cribs is from December 15 to 25 and we earn around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 in these 10 days.” She, however, said that the money does not last even for a month to feed her large family, after paying for the clothing, medicines, etc. Sadly, education is not a priority for her family because of the limited resources.Most of these artisans travel annually from the hinterlands of MP and UP and are heavily dependent on government subsidies on raw materials to carry on  (Picture credit - Vinitha C)Most of these artisans come from extremely poor homes in the hinterlands of MP and UP. “I have a small house in my village. At present, nobody stays there. Every year I go back to my village in February along with my daughters and grandchildren. We work on others’ farms, as we do not have our own land. We earn some money that helps us come back to Bhopal in April every year. I am hopeful that one day I will be able to buy some land in my village,” said Guddi Bai.The youngsters in the family have also taken up the traditional craft, but they have bigger dreams and pursuits that drive them. Guddi Bai’s 22-year-old grandson Shubham, who left school after Class VIII, said, “I want to take my grandmother’s craft to a higher level and set up a shop in a commercial area. Our family earns about Rs 25,000 in a month, but then, we have to pay for the raw materials and the monthly rent collected by the municipal corporation for selling our goods on the roadside. After all that and our household expenses, we are left with little money. So setting up a shop is still a dream.” Almost every day these artisans have to face thieves targeting their raw materials and their household items. “In the night when everyone is asleep, our products get stolen even though we cover them well with tarpaulin sheets. The thieves even take away our utensils and clothes. We have to live with these problems,” Guddi Bai said.Forty-year-old DL Varma, who came to Bhopal 25 years ago from Khiriya Chhatara village in Lalitpur district, told 101Reporters that even though he managed to purchase a small house at Dana Pani Road, his struggle for survival continued unabated. “I own a house, but I still have to pay many instalments of my home loan along with heavy electricity bills. Currently, poor artisans like us get 50 bamboos every month at subsidised rates from the forest department, but it is not enough. Especially during festivals or wedding seasons, we need to make more cribs, stars, baskets, etc. We cannot afford to buy bamboos from the open market, because of the high prices. If we get 100 bamboos at subsidised rates, we will be able to improve our production,” said Varma."There are hardly any employment opportunities in my village, but I still go back there at least four times every year. My family has five acres of land and my younger brother stays there. I go there for sowing and harvesting every season,” he added.Golu Dhanuk, a 29-year-old artisan from Nayagaon village in Tikamgarh said that five generations of his family had been coming to Bhopal to sell bamboo goods. Making cribs is something that he looks forward to every year because it fetches him Rs 150 to Rs 500 per piece while Christmas stars are sold for Rs 200-Rs 250 each. “Throughout the year, however, it is the bamboo baskets in all shapes and sizes, priced at Rs 15 to Rs 150 that fetches the money,” he said. Golu’s family of 17 members, including his parents, three brothers, their wives and children, earn around Rs 30,000 per month, which includes the wages he receives from odd jobs that he takes up.Despite working long hours every day, savings are meagre, but Golu has decided that he would educate his son Hemant, 7, and daughter Nandini, 5, come what may. “I do not want my children to suffer like me. I will do everything possible to see that my children get a decent education and do far better than me,” he said. Golu’s grandmother still stays in the village where the family has one acre of land. They harvest barely three to four sacks of wheat and lentils, which are consumed at home. “It is a dry patch of land. There is no well or any other means for irrigation. We have to depend solely on rainwater. Still, I go there once in every four months either for sowing or harvesting because I cannot stay away from my roots,” he said.

Women in rural Chhindwara give green hues to Diwali, spreading life instead of pollution

Packaged to look exactly like firecrackers, these ‘seed crackers’ made by rural MP women contain vegetable seeds instead of gunpowder; their popularity has given the women who make them fresh agency in their lives.Chhindwara: With Diwali only a few days away, a group of women in Paradsinga village in Madhya Pradesh are busy mixing some unique ingredients at one of their homes as film songs play in the background on a radio set. In this tiny village, located near the state’s border with Maharashtra, this is a time when the multi-tasking womenfolk take time out from making Diwali sweets and faraal to prepare 'seed crackers'. Where normal firecrackers spread noise and air pollution, these crackers do not explode. Instead, they contain vegetable seeds that can be planted in the soil to grow various green plants.The practice of celebrating the festival as Beej Parv (festival of seeds) was started by a local artist and farmer named Shweta Bhattad, who formed an informal self-help group last Diwali as an extension of her six-year-old Gram Art project. The group initially had around 30 women from Paradsinga and three neighbouring villages, but today it united over 100 members from seven villages under the cause.Bhattad told 101Reporters, “There is a huge tree on our farm where hundreds of birds have made their nests. A couple of years ago, we were celebrating Diwali on the field and village children were bursting a lot of firecrackers. I was shocked to see that each time a firecracker goes off, birds fell down from the tree due to the shock. That forced me to think of ‘seed crackers’ which neither harm the environment nor the animals and birds. They are packaged exactly like different firecrackers such as anaars, chakris, ladis, and bombs but are loaded with seeds of coriander, radish, chilli, fenugreek, spinach, tomato and golden shower tree. People are encouraged to plant them either in pots or in their kitchen garden so that they can grow fresh vegetables in their own homes. This initiative is all an extension of our green endeavour, which started with kapaas rakhis, seed papers, seed balls, etc. From providing training and material for online marketing, we take care of everything.”These 'green crackers' have turned out to be popular gifting options this festival season (Picture courtesy of Gram Art) Last year, the group made 15,000 crackers and they were completely sold out. This time, with more hands joining in, the women have made 50,000 crackers, of which 35,000 have already been sold through Gram Art’s online portal. “From individuals to schools, banks, corporate houses, resellers and those selling organic products, there are many takers for these ‘seed crackers’. They want to ditch the polluting firecrackers for these green gifts during the festival,” Bhattad said.The endeavour, even in its nascent stage, had given hope to several families during the pandemic. For Geeta Keskar (45) of Khairi Taigaon village, a mother of three, the seed crackers are a means to partly fund her children’s education. “My husband works in a nearby factory, but we struggle to manage our expenses,” she said, adding: “My son has completed a course from polytechnic, but he is yet to find a job. My elder daughter is pursuing a course in radiology at Nagpur even as the younger one is studying in Class 11 at a private school in Sausar. Education is expensive, but I will not compromise, because I do not want my children to struggle as I do. Hence, I was very happy when I got a chance to make seed crackers last year. I earned Rs 6,000, which helped me pay my younger daughter’s school fee. In August this year, I earned around Rs 20,000 making seed and kapaas rakhis, which helped me pay my elder daughter’s fees. I am aiming to make around Rs 8,000 this Diwali from seed crackers.”Most of the villagers in this region are either farmers or labourers working at the nearby Raymond factory and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated their struggle for survival. Bhattad’s enterprise came as a solace to young women like Vaishali Raut who said that her family had moved to Paradsinga village a few years ago when her father and mother took up jobs in a nearby factory. However, because of prolonged illness, her father lost his job and the Rs 6,000 a month that her mother was earning was not enough to make both ends meet for the family. Vaishali, who is pursuing her graduation, said, “Last year, I started making seed crackers along with many others in our village and earned Rs 13,000. This year, rakhi-making helped me earn another Rs 16,000, which helped me pay for my father’s treatment and my education. I hope to earn around Rs 10,000 this Diwali, which will help me take care of many small expenses at home as well as pay my college fees. The best part is that I get to decide my own working hours. Because I have classes from 7 am to 12 noon, I work after that.”The initiative, which started with 30 women last year, has grown to include over a hundred women who are learning the joys of being able to provide for themselves and their families, especially during these difficult times (Pictures courtesy of Gram Art)The women also involve their family members in making the seed crackers so that they can increase production. “At times, we manage to make 250 to 300 crackers in a day with the help of our family members. This helps us earn more money. Mostly, we either work at Shweta’s home or at any house in our locality for eight hours every day. Work is fun because we enjoy tea and snacks together, have chat sessions and also share our lunches,” said Neelam Patel who earned Rs 20,000 from making both seed papers and seed crackers last year. She said it was a moment of immense pride and satisfaction for her when she was able to contribute to the construction of her family’s new house. “From bricks to cement and iron rods, I spent the entire money on construction materials,” she said. Akanksha Kumeiya (21) of nearby Kabar Pipla village, a farmer’s daughter who is pursuing her graduation, is using her earnings from the business to help run the kitchen for her joint family of 15 members. She said, “Farming is not a very profitable profession, and the pandemic has aggravated our financial woes. I had to borrow Rs 10,000 to manage some basic expenses. In August, I was able to repay the loan with the money I earned from making seed rakhis. I earned Rs 15,000 from making seed crackers this time. I used a part of the money to pay for the groceries and have kept aside the remaining amount to buy gifts for my family members during Diwali. This will be the first time I am buying gifts for them with my own earnings. The thought thrills me.”