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 night here, and was greeted the next morning with some beautiful scenery around me.
Kotda block in Udaipur district in southern Rajasthan. I was lucky to be here during the monsoons, and the  verdant beauty around me was simply breathtaking. Kotda is a predominantly tribal land, and the tribal community, I was told, actually encourages couples who are engaged to live-in for sometime before they're formally married! 
Rairakhol in western Orissa has a small railway station, one of those that usually zip past us as we travel on the Rajdhani. I'd actually taken a train from here to Bhubaneswar, and the sunset was just beautiful!
This was taken at Faizabad district in central U.P. Their father, a construction worker, is in Ghaziabad, and the mother works the fields.
Chaita village in Samastipur district of central Bihar. I'd written about this village in an earlier post...hope you've read that as well!

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