I have always been impressed by the simplicity of the villagers. I recently visited Pal Para, a village of potters on the outskirts of Dhaka as part of a trip along the Bangshi River, and the experience was the same. We were welcomed by a group of old villagers relaxing on the shores of the bank, clothed in simple muslin. They greeted us with warm smiles and made us feel special even as we landed.
We were shown around a hutment. In the first, there was a group of artisans making an idol for worship at an upcoming religious festival. They showed us their work and were also willing to share their idols for photographs.
Next we met a group of goldsmiths hand-crafting silver and gold jewels. There was absolutely no attempt to hard-sell anything to us; they did not take undue advantage of a group of tourists. Instead, they were happy to share their products and explain their craft to us and were not at all disappointed when we did not end up buying anything from them. This is unlike the city folk, who do not lose an opportunity to sell their produce even when we do not need them.
Such is the simplicity displayed by the villagers. Living in cities with all comforts of life, we forget the basic human values. We are not interested in welcoming our guests. We are not keen to share our knowledge or skills. We guard our physical territories as if someone is always looking to invade us. We are commercial in all our dealings and look for economic gain in all human transactions.
We visited the final hut where a potter was making pots from mud by hand. When asked if a motorised process would have been more helpful and productive to her, she replied that she could not afford it and was happy to do it the manual way. We watched how effortlessly she converted raw wet mud into a beautiful pot, how it is dried and then heated in a kiln, before being cooled in sand and sold.
The best part of the trip came was when this woman had kept some mango fruit dried up in an open mud plate. When some of us asked what was this used for, she explained the process of making dried mango papad [an Indian fruit “leather” snack, made from fruit pulp and sugar solution]. She told us that it’s taken by villagers as a side dish, and helped in neutralising the summer heat. She gave us a sample of this tasty mango papad, and did not accept any money from us, adding that it was just a small sample for us to taste.
I left with this realisation: It is time to wake up and remember our roots. I had a new appreciation of simplicity from the village folk.
Ramesh Shankar is Executive Vice President & Head of HR, South Asia at Siemens. He’s worked in HR for 36 years, and in his spare time he likes to write philosophical reflections on life and people on his blog, as well as in his self-published books. He lives in Mumbai, India. Find out more about working with Siemens.
Illustration: Christopher Lockwood
