I happened to see a group of such skimpily dressed star women in one of my NGO trips. Let me begin the story….Being the Co-Founder of Cause an Effect Foundation, a CSR initiative of iridium Interactive Limited, I have the fortune of visiting so many such places which normally we so called city bred people can never see, the rural India. I was on an official (CnE) trip to Kakinada to shoot a movie for the Tsunami Victims (through this film we were trying to equip the fishermen with skills which could be used for enhancing their life skills and generate more income for the family ).

It was the hot month of May (almost mid of May) and the heat was killing. Little did I realize what was in store for me when I decided to venture into the sea along with my colleagues and camera crew to capture some mid-sea shots (to give the film a real-life touch). I had turned into a piece of burnt charcoal. Infact in a typical filmi style I could not recognize myself the next morning. Anyway, that apart, one of my friends called me in and when I briefed him why I was in Kakinada, he told me that one of the nearby districts suffered from major loss due to floods.

Thousands lost life, and the survivors have been rendered homeless, those who had homes also had nothing left in the homes to live.

That was quite shocking news to me as I had never heard of such floods in the TV News. Anyway I told him that I would definitely want to visit that place as the news really touched me . I told him that since I had not planned for such a trip, I had very few resources both in terms of money and people to do lot of work but that I would want to give them something that is very essential. He told me that from early June, winters would start for them (as it is a completely remote, hilly area).

We quickly planned for some 2000 sarees and accessories and footwear for the tribal women, around 1000 blankets, utensils and other stuff. The next morning, my friend came to pick me up to drive to the destination. I was expecting a decent AC Car as it was still hot. To my surprise, there stood a rugged, open jeep and he asked me to get in. He checked if I was carrying a shawl or something. I thought he had gone mad, it was scorching heat above the head at around 45-46 degrees and he was checking if I was carrying a shawl. I said I may not need it, but he said better have it with you, you may need it anytime. I thought he had gone crazy anyway my immediate concern was of the jeep ride in the hot sun. Not really wanting to show my discomfort to travel in the jeep for the sheer fact that I had already turned into a burnt charcoal, I got in. Sensing my discomfort he told me that the only means by which we could reach there was the jeep as the village where we were heading to is totally cut off from the world, no roads, no telephone, no electricity and to top it all is in the midst of thick forest … that sent shiver waves in me. I had toured many rural places but definitely never a place like this. After 6-7 hours of exciting jeep ride, we reached a place where we were supposedly going to have our lunch. All that I saw was a tea stall. I thought, lunch and in a tea stall, wow!! My friend re-assured me that food had been organized and luckily soon enough one of his friends had got nice piping hot food for us from his home. The food was absolutely delicious. Then we set out again to resume our exciting jeep journey.

It was around 5 pm and I was shivering. He smiled sheepishly and handed over a shawl that he had. We had by then reached the quite much into the forest which was on the hill. The scenic beauty of the place just mesmerized me. It was breath taking, I had never seen such a beautiful place. Beauty is such a mean word to describe the place. There were streams running between the road, the trees standing tall looked like they were going to touch the heavens and birds singing. Wow !!! I started enjoying the picnic  I said to myself, this is the place where I want to get my family for our next vacation. Anyway I think I will post another article describing that place, may be we can plan a corporate tour there. People will love that place, I bet… Anyway back to the point, we reached there by around 9 pm and the place was an absolute dark spot, no lights, no fan, just one or two candles welcoming us. I heard stories of snakes, tigers etc. We had the fortune of staying in the house of the MLA of that place. His wife and kids received us eagerly. We spent the night talking (in any case I could not sleep as there were snake sized lizards moving all around, frogs hopping in the bed room, and many strange animals/ reptiles happily hopping all around. The little one who was around 6 years old said “Aunty they wont do anything, if u see a snake, wake up mummy, she will take care of it”. I knew for sure I cant even think of sleeping, I was up all night switching on the torch and seeing if there is any snake around me. Fortunately everyone got up at around 4 am and we all got ready to go to the actual village which was around 100 kms away.

This time we set off in another more rugged jeep, they called it some “ Lxxxxx”. There were no roads, we were passing through actually a jungle, wading through many many trees, shrubs, plants etc… The ride bumps actually tempted me to walk , but people warned me against the idea, as that place is a Naxalite infested area. Now I thought this surely is an adventure. First scorching heat, then shivers, then snakes, then darkness, then giant sized lizards and other animals, now naxals, did I want any more adventure in life?????? I had by then actually forgotten about the skimpily dressed women for whom we undertook all this adventure, I am sure even u must have forgotten. The sight of a naked old women (I say naked bcos all that she had on her was a 1 meter towel covering few parts of her body) brought me back into my senses. I asked my friend what is this? He said half of the people in the village were seen like this only. I was horrified. Almost naked that too in this biting cold.. he shook his head saying they were not greatly better before the floods but whatever little they had, they lost all that in the floods. As we neared the village, I saw lot of women not wanting to come out of the houses, though there was a decent stage etc they had set to make the distribution an event. I looked at the MLA accompanying me and thought to myself politicians will remain to be politicians.We managed to convince some women to come out and talk a little bit about their problems and what they wanted us to do… Surprisingly the fact that these women did not have enough clothing to cover their modesty, still very bravely came forward and told tales of how they had lost all their belongings. We asked them what they wanted and they said “we want roads to be laid so that we can carry our produce to the market nearby, they wanted electricity so that their children could read….” No where close to their immediate needs.

Each such woman I met there, had become a role model for me. That set me thinking, how different these guys approach to life is. For us dress/ no dress is such an issue, such a controversy. These young and old women who had nothing on them still think of how they need to recoup into their lives, how they can start producing agro products and how their children should be educated, and back home we are bothered about Shriya’s skimpy dresses. 1000s of protestor, lakhs of cine star’s fans take out processions on street, distributing sweets and bursting crackers for his birthdays, wish we channelise the energies of such people to help the down trodden and the helpless who don’t even ask for help…They are the true role models, they are the true stars and the mission of Cause an Effect is truly to give them a life with a few tears less.