Kailash Patel is a young boy from the patel community of Karawara village. He is presently pursuing his B.A from Udaipur and is in the final year. He has also undergone training in computer networking and computer hardware at Hyderabad (A.P).He aspires to be an advocate.
Kailash's father runs a small welding workshop in Karawara village. During his vacations, Kailash comes back to the village to help his father in his workshop. His hobby is reading books on the history of India and then comparing or relating the practices of ancient era with those of the present era. He feels that without past, future is meaningless and hence, everyone must know the past of his/her own country and relate to one's own roots.
Kailash's relationship with Sanjha Manch dates back to the day the organization was established. Since then, he has been a very active member of the group.Kailash says that apart from working on communal issues,Sanjha Manch also plays a great role in providing exposure to the village youths which is very necessary in today's competitive environment.
Recently, Kailash along with two of his friends from the village got a wonderful chance to explore himself as a part of Pravah's SMILE internship programme. Kailash was placed at Vriksh, an organization working in the area of youth development, in Mussorie,Uttarakhand.Kailash is very thankful to Sanjha Manch for letting him know about the internship and facilitating the process. He says that the exposure has broadened his view towards life and his personality has also undergone some remarkable changes. He says that mixing with people from different backgrounds, states etc and then sharing one's own thoughts and exchanging information and ideas with them has been an enlightening experience for him.
As a part of the internship, Kailash used to hold classes for the children of the villages in Mussorie.He also did some case studies and carried out some field surveys in the hilly regions of Mussorie. Not only this, he also worked on several environmental issues and completed a project on eco tourism there.
Kailash says that when he came back to his village after the internship, he shared his experiences with the village youths and also encouraged them to go on such exposure trips. He has also participated in several environmental training and film making workshops here at Sanjha Manch.
On the issue of communalism in Karawara village, Kailash thinks that although he urges people from his community to actively get involved with Sanjha Manch, still the people have not been able to shed their communal thinking completely and march forward. He says that there are still some people in both the communities (Hindus and Muslims) who still are opposed to the work that Sanjha Manch does and who time and again try to disrupt peace and harmony in the village( although in a clandestine way).But Sanjha Manch, till date, has been able to foil their any such malicious attempts.
Finally, Kailash says that being a member of the Sanjha Manch family makes him feel proud and he wishes that the organization will always keep working for the betterment of the humanity as a whole.
Interviewed and written by Rohit Singh, a SMILE intern from PRAVAH (December, 2011).
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