Sangeeta Anand visits Kathewadi village in Maharashtra's Nanded district to see an amazing transformation.
We are finally in view of Kathewadi, a tiny village in the back of the beyond in Nanded district in Maharashtra. It's been a six-hour journey from Hyderabad across two states to satisfy our curiosity about this village and its people, who are in news for having turned their lives around. I wonder if things can change? Is it possible in today's times to run a shop unmanned by a shopkeeper? To believe that goods bought would be paid for without supervision?
When we reach Kathewadi, I pass a woman sitting in the tiny portico of her gaily painted hut and as I make eye contact she smiles and motions me to come in. Smiling, she offers me water and shows me around her home. With gestures, I convey that we are here to visit their village and take pictures. She offers to accompany us and we head off through the main street. We walk through a surprisingly clean village with clusters of homes neatly painted in a uniform shade of soft pink, soothing our eyes under the hot glare of the sun.
The Art of Living has adopted this village and converted it into a model of village life. The teaching of its founder, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is painted on the walls of every home in the village. Says writer Babu Patil Biradar, who has now joined us. "We live by Gurudev’s teachings." Read on: A village from another time
