Postcards from the hinterland...
I love my job! Especially on days when it takes me to some far-away, less-traveled destination. Over the past year-and-a-half, thanks to a project on evaluating the work of NGOs working on migrant workers, I've had the chance to visit several such locations across the country. Each visit has given me the chance to look at our land closely, to see nature at its most pristine. Here's a glimpse of some of these visits... This stretch of desert land comes to your left on the road from Jodhpur to Barmer in western Rajasthan. It's not the whole desert - just a small slice of it - as if nature decided to give you a sneak preview of the real thing that starts beyond Barmer. Needless to say, this came as a huge surprise as the rest of the land around is barren, but not really a desert. Sunrise near a hamlet called Devli in Mirzapur district, U.P. The Arthik Anusandhan Kendra runs a training centre at Devli, which springs at you in the middle of nowhere. I'd spent a n...