By MASEMBE TAMBWE
One
among thousands or maybe even millions African sayings say that when a
person invites you to their house, they consider you a friend but when
they invite you to their ancestral home, then consider yourself part of
the family.
I
had the immense privilege of visiting Bihar State in India where the
Founder of Sulabh International, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak was born.
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| Dr Bindeshwar Pathak |
For
those unfamiliar with Dr Pathak, he was born at Rampur Baghel village
in Vaishali district of Bihar. Dr Pathak’s grandfather was a famous
astrologer who, believe it not, predicted the death of his own sibling
at a certain age that actually happened.
He
had also predicted that the wealth that his son, Dr Pathak’s father
would be left with would one day all whether away and that too,
happened. His father is an ayurvedic (a holistic healing science) doctor
and so he came from a prosperous, respected family.
Dr
Pathak was the proverbial child with a silver spoon. He grew up in a
sprawling house with a large compound. There were nine rooms including a
prayer room and another where only atta, a flour used to make most
South Asian flat breads such as chapatti, roti, naan and puri was ground. Water too was drawn from this room.
This
house still stands today and though it is in ruin, it all the same
stands. I made a tour of the house and saw the unique well split into
two by a wall. My host told me that it was built in such a way that one
side was used by men while the other was used by women.
The
reason for the split was that men should not catch a glimpse of women
when the latter were drawing water to bathe. Bihar was and still is a
very conservative state.
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| Bihar State |
One very distinctive feature that I noticed was that there was no toilet in the compound.
Dr
Pathak then told me every morning at 4.00 a.m, there was total chaos in
the house as women had to get up early and complete their personal
cleanliness before sunrise.
“Even
though I would be in bed, I was aware of all the activity. Some woman
picked up a bucket, another was drawing water, while some one would push
another to hurry up. In case a woman in the house fell sick, she would
have to relieve herself in a straw basket or a pot lined with ash,’ he
told me.
During
my trip to his home town, I visited the four schools that he attended.
Back in his time as a student, there were two distinctive features, one
was that there were no toilets and two, there were no female students.
As
the tour progressed, I was fortunate enough to pump into one of his
school mates who, when probed on whether he ever saw something special
about Dr Pathak, said that his kindness was a rare trait, but like all
other children at that age, he climbed trees and did other naughty
things.
During
the two weeks, I visited the capitals of the states of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal, Rajasthan State in Jaipur, Tonk, Alwar and Delhi. However, the
memories of Bihar, will linger on my mind for a long while, largely
because of the countryside fresh air, the sights and sounds of the
moving
trains,
the fresh vegetables I mercilessly devoured and the thrilling stories I
was told about the history of this great man who also happened to be my
host, Dr Pathak and the birth of the Sulabh Sanitation and Social
Reform Movement.
I
realise now narrating the whole story of how Dr Pathak became
‘successful’ may take probably forever and so I will give snapshots of
it. By the way the ‘successful’ is in quotes because for two weeks I
tried cajoling Dr Pathak to admit that his work and sacrifices have been
a success and totally failed.
That’s
just how modest he is but does say that, in reference to the
technologies that he has developed over the years and that have made a
difference to millions of people the world over, “You take a seed
planted by someone else and water it. The fruits of the labour are just
as sweet!”
Some
key lessons I learnt from Dr Pathak, a person I am very proud to call a
friend and a great host: Always keep your options open in life. Dr
Pathak started out as a schoolteacher, joined the family of ayurvedic
medicines, was supposed to major in Criminology but ended up being in
the centenary celebrations committee for Mahatma Gandhi and got
engrossed in sanitation.
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| Ayurvedic medicines |
“Our
movement is to restore the human rights and dignity of untouchables
(the lowest caste who manually clean toilets). And to bring them into
the mainstream of society. The toilets, biogas plants, all these are
means to achieve that dream,” he kept reminding me.
Messengers
of God are everywhere. During Dr Pathak’s journey of establishing his
now renowned NGO, he sought a grant from the Indian government of 70,000
Rupees and a 50,000 Rupee grant was sanctioned.
Unfortunately
in 1971, the government fell and he was asked to meet one Rameshwar
Nath. When Mr Nath saw Dr Pathak he laughed for he had expected a
seventy year old man with a walking stick as the Secretary of the NGO.
He told him that he saw that his work would create a dramatic impact in
India but worried that asking for grants won’t have the desired results.
He gave him a life lesson,” Don’t ask for grants, charge money for
doing your work.” This has been the model Sulabh has adopted ever since.
There
will always be hard times in life, keep God closest. Running an NGO is
no easy task when you are not getting any work. During his journey, Dr
Pathak had to sell the little property he still owned in the village and
also had to sell his wife’s jewelry.
“I
remember how girls whose parents could not afford a good enough dowry
cried in their in-laws houses. People would taunt them that their father
has sent them without a fridge or a car - your family has no status.
When I got married, I could not afford to buy my wife the kind of
jewelry which is generally given to the bride and even that I had to sell,” he narrated to me.
It’s
okay to act without thinking twice sometimes. Dr Pathak in the early
days only specialised in transforming toilets connected to the sewage
system into twin pit latrines.
In
1974 the Patna Municipal Corporation Administrator asked him to build a
toilet block in a span of 24 hours. You see, there was a large piece of
open space opposite the Reserve Bank of India where two to three
thousand of men and women used to relieve themselves.
With
20,000 Rupees in his hand, he ordered his workmen to bring twenty
truckloads of red sand. By the time it arrived, it was late evening.
Then he told them to bring as many potted plants, brushes and trees as
possible whatever the price.
Then
a big pit was dug and filled with sweet smelling sandalwood. At 7am
when the Administrator came, he was thrilled with the changes, you see
his superior had wanted something to be done about the black spot and it
was. That was another turning point of Sulabh International.
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| Sulabh International |
I
am currently reading a book titled “I have a dream’ by Rashmi Bansal
that partly features Dr Pathak. His advice to young entrepreneurs is,
“create your own identity and leave your own stamp in whatever you
choose to take up. I told my son to take up some work other than Sulabh
and to be number one in a field of one is a great feeling.”
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