A Trip to Nilakottai

 

Nilakottai. That was our destination. This trip can best be described as a mixed bag of experiences. It was enlightening and also brought in face to face with certain realities of life. These were humbling to say the least.

|The importance of protecting and preserving our ecosystem was elcidadted by our project director, Mr.Ramesh, on our opening day. We were taught about various fertilizers andw e stirred their solutions for farm use. Working on the farmland was as exhilarating experience and we all had a lot to think about when we went back for lunch. Our trip to the farmlands and the houses of some farmers was a wake up call. We realized how harsh living conditions were and were astounded by their happiness and contentment with life despite all their travails.

On the second day, we interacted with sschool children from the Villinayagapatti village. The groups prepared activities to entertain them and my team decided to play dodgeball with them. We had a lovely hour of laughter and the children went on to beat us at our won game !after two more rounds of games, these students performed plays about the environment. We sat simply spell bound, for their honest thoughts and tremendous will power to change the world were clearly portrayed. It was remarkable. We all woke up at 5 am on day 3, excitement coursing through our veins, as we wondered what our surprise challenge would be. Our teachers told us that we would be meeting local farmers and helping them. We were split into groups of four and for two refreshing hoursm we collected flowers for the farmers. We settled for the evening after another game of dodgeball and a cup of “chukku kape”.

This trip was in all m a revelation to me. Life, be it in the city or the village is not easy. However , there is a certain magic in this place that sets it apart from the city. Maybe it isn’t for us to faltom what is ism, but the feeling that this trip has left me with are priceless. I shall cherish them for life.

Srinivas Gollapudi

XI B