Ignorance VS innocence

Often we tend to confuse between innocence and ignorance. I have come across few cases in my life. I had always sympathized with a woman of my acquaintance. Lets call her Mrs. A. She was born in a remote village in an uneducated family and was also illiterate. She lived in village until her marriage and since then she was in Hyderabad for around 30 yrs when I came to know her. Conversing with her made me believe she was very innocent. One day when it was raining, she told me that the frogs and fishes are dropped from the sky during rains and nothing I said could convince her that it was not the rains that bring the frogs. She did not know the existence of tadpoles. 30 yrs or urban life had no effect on her mind and could not broaden the horizons of her thoughts. Another such woman, (lets call her Mrs. B) was our domestic help at home, she believed that she frequently catches cold because she had once eaten ice in her childhood. And she was not ready to accept my reasoning for catching cold. I gave up on her when my mom told me to not argue with her and said, “She is an innocent woman from village. They lead a simple life.” They led their lives on many whims and myths. They never believed in change and did not welcome modern or better ideas and ideologies. They were like frogs in a well.

I am now left to ponder about the group of women whom I met in a remote village near Anantapur district. I was in college and we had a proposal to help the villagers in and around Anantapur. It was on this occasion that we happened to meet a group of villagers who were entrepreneurs, who were self dependent. They were equally illiterate and located in an equally remote area as Mrs. A and B. But that hadn’t stopped them from thinking out of the box. They had created a self dependent group or body that would collect meager amounts of money from each one of them and lend it to the most needy of their group at a very low rate of interest. This consolidated meager amount would be enough for the borrower to start up their own business. May it be buying a buffalo, goat or cow for its milk or setting a coin box at their village, or buying manure or seeds for their fields etc. They followed a round robin fashion for lending money.

They maintained the records on their own in a ledger and never faced any discrepancies in their accounts and balance sheet. They did not have a bank account either. As I said, it was a self sufficient body in itself. We, the then students had gone to visit them to impart basic computer skills to them, like MS Word and MS Excel for better maintenance of their records. They were leading a successful and contended life. Now I am forced to think what made the difference to these village entrepreneurs? How come they lead a different life from Mrs. A and B? What made them successful? A and B lead a urban life and are out of their villages but yet are as ignorant as the frogs in the well. But the smart entrepreneurs remain in their villages and are yet successful and have a purpose in life and are broad minded. It’s the difference in their thoughts that had made things possible. They have shunned their ignorance and have accepted the fact that consolidated efforts and knowledge sharing is the route to change. Sharing knowledge is only possible when someone at the other end is ready to absorb it. Knowledge sharing is only possible when we have open minded people around. As was the case with the smart entrepreneurs. Ignorance is only a choice.

Ignorance is a choice whereas innocence is a characteristic. Ignorance is not always a bliss but innocence is. Talking of innocence brings back a vivid memory of one fine morning, when I was on my way to office. I was walking from my home to get an auto rickshaw. It was drizzling and I had to lower my head and gaze while walking. I happened to find a small structure at one side of the road. Covering 1 sq ft of area and was about 1 feet in height. It comprised of 2 stones placed at a distance from each other and a tile placed on them, serving as a roof. Basically the structure was sort of a cave. I saw 2 pairs of tiny feet scuttling in front of it. I raised my gaze to find 2 children, a girl and a boy not more than 10 years old in their school uniform. They were apprehensively peeping into the cave like structure. I realized that it had a tiny Ganesh idol in it with few flowers at the God’s feet. The children were making sure that their Ganesh was not getting wet in rain and were jubilant that the haven was protecting Ganesh from the rain. Those were the days of  Ganesh navrathri. Usually people celebrating Ganesh chaturdhi, install Ganesh idol made of clay at home, offer 5 or more varieties of dishes as offering to God and perform the puja. This has to be continued for not more than 11 days after which, the idol is immersed in a water body, usually a pond or lake. Most of us perform the ritual for 1 or 3 days and later send away Ganesha for visarjan. My mom says that Ganesha has a very huge appetite and as long as we are hosting him, we have to prepare as many delicacies a possible to appease his hunger and pray with whole hearted dedication failing which would enrage Godess Parvathi and Ganesha. As this procedure is tedious, we do not maintain our Ganesha for more than 3 days at our home. We do not want to incur the wrath of Gods. These children, on the contrary have installed their Ganesha on the roadside, offered him flowers and little plain rice placed on a tiny leaf. They were happy that their Ganesha was not getting wet and were sure that Ganesha must be feasting on the rice that they have offered him. They were our watchman’s children and had no worries about enraging Ganesha or his mom. For them, God was their guest and they were doing their best to provide him with food and shelter. Congratulating each other, the children headed to their school. It was that day that I had experienced innocence in its purest form and realized that innocence is indeed a bliss.