One experience that brought together a lot of the facets of the journey in India was the visit to a village, Bhanpur, to get to know the rural reality of India, where more than 50% of its population still lives.
As Jayeshbhai told us, India’s villages are the divine reality, places where natural, communal, social riches shine…
With their challenges and limitations, India’s villages still have much to teach, and that is what we experienced on our two-day visit to Bhanpur.
In Bhanpur we experienced the Indian saying: Aditi Devo Baba, ‘the guest is god’, in all its splendor. The village had prepared a reception for us with music, performances by the village children, an evening party with community dancing included… Incredible. They had also organized themselves among 8 families so that we could stay in pairs in different houses, and get to know how they live and what their daily life is like. They also showed us their milk cooperative, their drinking water source, and other mechanisms and places in their beautiful village.
Vinay tells us about it in detail in this article (pdf below). A wonderful experience in which many of us felt overwhelmed by the beauty and generosity of these people, who showed us a hospitality beyond words. A seed for life.
And here an amazing video ESI offered us after the experience!
