Trimurthy

Dimmipur is a remote village in the state of Telangana. The population of 1000 villagers is distributed among 200 families within a few kilometer away from National Highway. If you miss a road transport bus which comes only once in the morning and returns back in the evening, then there is no way you can reach the nearest town. Thereafter you have to walk 12-15 kms to Highway and take lift from the passing lorries. Villagers were not even sure if the road transport bus would come or not…

With no electricity, everyone preferred to stay indoors for fear of snakes and scorpions as it became dark. Most of the families were depended on agriculture and livestock. Children used to drop out of school after their primary education as they didn’t have a high school in the village. They may require to travel a long distance to reach to the nearest government high school. The closest one was about 8 kms away in another village where children from all the neighboring villages would come.

Lakshmi, a social worker was selflessly working for the betterment of life of villagers in the remote village. She used to ride her two wheeler and visit Dimmipur and help the villagers with all their concerns. After a lot of struggle, she succeeded in getting electricity to the village; a connection to the village Panchayat office building. 

Every evening thereafter, all the villagers would gather at the same place and discuss about their issues. They also had some cultural programs organized to celebrate their achievement. Lakshmi continued her incessant fight for the rights of the farmers and women. The villagers had immense respect for her. She used to bring videos and show the villagers to understand how the world is developing and how it can be achieved by them. 

She said education is the only way to know about everything and achieve the same.  A lot of villagers agreed with her but they had their doubts too. How can we have education when the school is so far. We don’t have any means to reach the school. She suggested why can’t we have evening classes at Panchayat Office for all those who are interested to learn. She offered to help with some of her friends who were willing to help them. Classes started and first few days the attendance was good. As the days passed by, there were hardly anyone coming. Sadly other villagers also stopped their everyday trip to the Panchayat Office area in the evening to discuss for fear of being pushed for the classes. Lakshmi sensed it and informed the village elders that there are a few very bright kids whom they arrange to send to the high school in the neighboring village on a bullock cart. That sounded good to villages and close to 12-15 students who had finished their primary school in their villages started going for their high school education. Narashima Reddy wanted his child to study hard and become a government employee, so he arranged for the cart for the children.

Ramlu, Ali and Suresh worked hard to pass their tenth grade with good marks but rest of them all failed to clear. Three friends wanted to study for higher education for which they had to go to Adilabad. Other than Suresh’s father (Narishma Reddy) other two were not keen to send their kids. They were reluctant for they did not wanted their children to stay alone without any immediate relative to support them. They were the first batch of kids who were thinking to go out of community and stay. Lakshmi left no stone upturned to convince their parents to send them because she knew if these three kids do well in education others will follow. She went pillar to post to get them admission in a Junior college and also arranged accommodation in a government hostel. Parents were quite relieved with all the arrangements without much financial burden on them. 

Hostel life in a big city gave new lease of life to them. With too many distractions and with no one to guide them, Ramlu, Ali and Suresh just managed to pass their junior college. Back in village, the parents and the entire community was very proud of the three boys as they were the first to complete Jr. College from their village. Inspired by them, a lot of other students had started going to High School. All the tree boys felt guilty that they didn’t do well and didn’t keep up to the expectation of their parents and villagers. So they promised to themselves that they will do well in the graduation course. They tried to get admission in Adilabad but failed to secure a seat in any college. Suresh suggested that Hyderabad would be better place with more collages and more options. All their attempt to get admission in a government college was unsuccessful. They applied to private college for Commerce stream and they succeeded.

They also had to find an accommodation elsewhere as they were not eligible for Govt. hostel. Getting a room for rent, college fees & stay was not very affordable by parents; however, they were very happy that their kids were doing very well in life. Ramalu’s father used to rear sheep on their few acres of land. He had sold half of his land to get his son educated. Ali’s father Akbar who was running a tailoring shop in village. To educate his son, he had sold his cows and buffaloes. Suresh's father was running a grocery store.

As they finished their graduation, some people suggested to join computer courses that will help them get good jobs. Some others suggested to prepare for government jobs and bank entrance. A few others even suggested to do higher education in abroad. They had passed their graduation with good marks but they could not get through the personal round in the interviews. However they decided to stay in Hyderabad for one year to try their luck. Meantime they wanted to join computer course to add up to their technical skills to be more eligible to try for a Govt./Public sector jobs. For all of it, they have to depend on their parents for their additional one year stay without income. So they requested for more financial assistance to their parents. They could see their parents in trouble to fund them when they pleaded for further support for one year. An year passed, they studied hard however couldn’t crack many of the exams. They were rejected at various levels of the recruitment process for the exams which they had cracked well. 

One evening Suresh was very upset, reasons were unknown to his friends. They enquired, "What's the matter?" 

"Father refused to give any more financial assistance and suggested to come back immediately to take care of his agriculture & business.... If I was to be entrusted the same work, why was I made to go through all these struggles for so many years...." Ali and Ramulu knew very well that next would be their turn. To counter such orders, Ramulu sought Lakshmi's help in getting a job. She led them to a Supermarket chain and all three of them got job. Ali was appointed in the Stock Division, Suresh as Billing Clerk and Ramulu as an Accountant with a fixed salary of ten thousand rupees per month. Few months went by and they were happy as they didn’t have to ask for money from parents and they had surplus money after taking care of all their needs. Since then higher studies, entrance exams and Govt. jobs had taken a back seat. It had been more than a year after their last visit to village. Dasara was approaching, so Ramulu suggested to visit home. They purchased a lot of gifts for everyone in their family and also bought a gift for Lakshmi.

When they got down the bus at their village, they found everything to be same. The same village well where ladies were fetching water, men walking to their farms and kids playing. One major change was each house had electricity and television in each house. First two days they were busy with their families. 

The village Sarpanch had organised felicitation for three boys who were the first graduates from the village… and working in big city. In the evening when three met, they saw a group of kids returning from school from nearby village. Suresh recollected their school days and his friends nodded  their head. 

Suresh saw his father cycling back to his shop after delivering groceries to a customer's place. Suresh stood up, he was visibly very upset.

"What are we up to? What is the difference between my father's work here and my work as a billing clerk doing there? We have also gone to do home delivery!!Today we are educated and qualified. Although we studied about agriculture in science I don’t know to take care of the lands I own?"

"So many years and we have not been able to make a small difference to our village…"

"We all know Subbu, our classmate in tenth, who had failed is making more money than us by selling milk. He is a happy man with his family and kids whereas we are staying in a small room in a big city, unable to afford a good lifestyle."

"What did we achieve with these qualifications? We turned ourselves to become labors for the big corporates in big cities in the name of job. Instead we should have used education as a mean to develop ideas to make opportunities in our own farms."

"Nothing has changed…"  

With the thought they returned to their respective houses… After the festival it was time for them to get back to their city job… Before returning to city they decided to meet Lakshmi and thank her. She had become a big time leader in their panchayat. They gave her the gift that they had got for her and got her blessing. She was very thrilled to see them and asked, "What are you guys planning to do? With that kind of job and money will not take you anywhere, what are you planning?"

They didn’t say anything…but it hurt them. Now they understood that she had taken advantage of the villagers lack of knowledge and outgrown herself as a leader. When they reached their village, Ali said, "I am not joining with you guys tomorrow to the city. I will do something here and help my father. Other two were surprised, not able to understand their thoughts, they sat down under the same tree where they spent their afternoons during childhood.

Suresh thoughtfully said, "Ali, you are right, there is no point in working for a big corporate as a slave for 12 to 14 hours a day. During which we don't have time to think either about ourselves or our family. Not only that in the process to get qualified we lost whatever little land we had. Today we are neither suitable for the city nor for the village. We should have got educated rather than running to qualify for the big corporate. I will also help my father in his business…"

All the while Ramulu was quite, deeply thinking something. After waiting for some time Ali asked Ramulu, "What do you say, are you with us or are you going back….?"

Ramulu replied, "I am thinking something else making use of our education and qualification. Instead of being burden for our parents let us bring about some changes in our life as well as help our villages grow with development...."

He continued, "All major corporate malls wants vegetables, fruits and other products which are procured from villages only. We know our village and other remote villages which has some highly nutritious and health-benefiting rarely available produces. If we establish contact with the malls and plan chain of supply of regular and seasonal produces, we would be making a big change not only in the life of our villagers but also for all the surrounding villages as well."

Thereby three friends started a company called “Trimurthy Supplies"....................