#169:From my unlocked diaries: Tale of two field visits - Part 1

For a change today I may sound more like a TV reporter than a writer… !?If you are wondering why…??I am trying to give a sort of ‘ground report’ of the two field visits that occurred in the first week of June ! ?

Again, if you are still wondering what is this ‘field visit’? After weeks of planning & waiting (for resources), the CEGIS (Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States) Karnataka team was finally heading out on the much-awaited field visits. The purpose - to get a first-hand experience of Anganwadi Centers (AWC) operated by the Department of Women & Child Development (WCD), Government of Karnataka (GoK). ?

Before I go any further, let me give you a quick brief on AWC. ???

The AWC are operated by the state governments under the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme).?About 60% of the funding for the ICDS program is provided by the Central Government and the rest from the respective state governments.?AWC focuses on women & child development, with particular focus on following aspects:?

-???????Early childhood - health & nutrition (for children aged 6 months to 6 years)

-???????Pregnant & lactating mothers - health & nutrition

-???????Early childhood education?

GoK operates about 65,000 AWC providing free cooked food, take-home rations (both provided as nutrition supplements) & early childhood education – all free of cost. Each of these AWC are run by an Anganwadi Worker (AWW) with help from an Anganwadi Helper (AWH). While the AWH takes care of cleaning & cooking activities, the AWW is overall responsible for running the AWC.?A designated Supervisor from the WCD department oversees about 20 – 50 AWC in each cluster.????

As part of our engagement with WCD department we have embarked on a plan to visit a few AWC in about 8 districts across the state. The purpose of these field visits is to conduct a diagnostic study in order to understand ground reality, interact with front line staff & officials and few of the beneficiaries of the ICDS scheme.????

It was early in June and we were visiting AWC located in tribal & forest areas of Mysore & Chamarajanagar, and Mangalore district. ??

I was part of the 4-member team along with Anisha, Prutha and Ritu that headed to the tribal & forest areas of Mysore & Chamarajanagar districts.?

While the second team comprising of Pratik, Minal and the ‘kid on the block’ ?– Omkar headed to Mangalore district – to the Land of Kantara !

For this kid on the block - Omkar, it was his Day – 1 at CEGIS; a true ‘On-boarding by a field visit’ it was, as he boarded the flight at Bengaluru Airport … heading to Mangalore !?

Oh, Ok, now back to Mysore road in Bengaluru… ?

After a heavy breakfast of idli, vada & Mysore masala dose at Kengeri (on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Mysore Road), the Mysore team set off in a Toyota Innova taking the Bangalore – Mysore expressway.?I was seated in the front with the driver with the 3 girls in the rear. ?About 20 minutes had passed & I realised the rear had fallen … silent.?It was just me and Narayan, the driver just chatting away. Curious, I turned back to see the reason for the – ‘silence of the girls’ !?The ghee in the Mysore masala dose, combined with the smooth car ride on the expressway had done the trick … the girls were fast asleep !!?

We soon arrived in Mysore at the Deputy Directors (DD) office.?

The DD was extremely friendly and welcomed us.?More than knowing about the purpose of our visit, and what we intended to achieve, he was more curious to find out where we were staying? ?When I told him we were booked in a hotel in Mysore, and planned to travel back & froth daily from Mysore, he was surprised.??

He immediately picked up the phone & spoke to one of his supervisors in BR Hills (forest area about 85 Kms from Mysore).?After that quick call, he smiled at me & said – ‘Sir, just call this number, and she will book you in the forest guest house on top of BR hills. You can stay there, instead of travelling back to Mysore daily’.??

Having visited BR hills about 20 years ago I was excited about a chance to stay on top of the hill, in a forest department guest house, but at that moment I was little unsure about that unexpected offer by the DD !?I just nodded my head, as if to take that offer.?But the looks from my team was clear & seemed to indicate… “Balu, let’s just stick to our plan” !! ?

Soon we were on our way from Mysore driving through the forest.? After an hour, we were at an AWC situated inside the Nagarahole forest. ?After the initial introductions and conversations with the AWW, I was eager & curious to interact with the kids.?The AWW sensing this, asked one of little girl to recite English alphabets written on the wall, along with the related word associated with each of the letters. The little girl was indeed doing a great job, truly enjoying all the attention she was now getting. ?

But, all that changed dramatically when I did something very stupid. In my eagerness to further test her reading ability - I rose up, held the stick she was holding.?Jumping ahead by a few letters, I pointed to the letter ‘P’ on the wall, looked at her and asked her to read it aloud ...?

That act of mine had some very unintended consequences !?Hell broke loose. The little girl was soon in tears.?She was terrified that I not only took the stick away, but also 'robbed' her of her leadership moment !! This was surely not how English alphabets was taught to her. For the rest of the trip my team decided to tag me as the – The man who makes little kids cry !! ?

As we headed back towards Mysore that day, I could not help but stop at a bunch of tribal boys playing cricket at a nearby tribal settlement.??The cricketer in me was quickly awakened.?I asked the boys if I could join them, and they happily obliged.?Soon with a bat in hand I started to try my hand at a long-forgotten skill - batting.?

After a few shots it seemed like my footwork was still intact.?In fact one of the shots was unanimously declared as a ‘six’, even as the ball landed on a hapless sheep happily grazing in the lush green forest nearby !

Perhaps if the legendry cricket commentor and Scottish cricketer Geoffrey Boycott was the commentator that day, he would perhaps say – ‘Caught by Sheep, bowled by Shepard’ !

Ok, now time to go over to Mangalore.?Let’s check out what’s going on in the land of Kantara??

The Mangalore team was now visiting a AWC in Mangalore city.?They were surprised to see the name board placed on a steel almirah, facing the inside of AWC ! ?

But next to that board they noticed an interesting ‘weapon’ – a broom ! Very useful indeed, not just in cleaning the floor, but also to tackle an organism that was soon to invade the AWC – Cockroaches ! ?

As the team sat in the AWC, the cockroaches slowly became comfortable with their presence and began popping out, one after the other. ?The trio tried to ignore their presence as they got involved in discussions about the challenges of the AWC.?But soon their numbers grew to an extent that the AWH had to put the weapon to full use.??

Fortunately, there were no children in the AWC yet, to face the terror of these encroachers.?As the team got busy with the discussions with the AWW, the AWH collected many more ‘dead-bodies’ and put them out triumphantly on full display ! The flying cockroaches in the AWC left the team very distraught, to an extent that it made Omkar even forget the response sheet at the AWC that day.? Omkar had a disturbed sleep that night, fearing the consequences of a foul start on his maiden field visit ! ??

When the team made it back to the AWC next day to collect response sheets, they were again greeted with a few more casualties … aka dead bodies ! The teams visit the previous day had ensured the AWC was cleaned & rid of all cockroaches, at least for the next few days !! ?

For more on what happened in the jungles, hilly and tribal areas in Chamarajanagar district, and Belthangady in Mangalore district … stay tuned to Part 2 of - The tale of two field visits ! ?

Balu

June 27, 2023?

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