With Gandhi as guide, Gates goes to a Dalit village
By IANSTuesday, May 11, 2010
KANDE RAO KA PURWA - After showing Bill Gates a glimpse of the development he had initiated in the social and the health sectors in the Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies represented by him and his mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi took the Microsoft chief to experience life in a Dalit village in Pratapgarh district Tuesday evening.
It was here that Gates opened up to a closer interaction with the locals - men, women and children - making inquiries about their personal lives, their livelihood, education and the general quality of life in this village.
Dodging the media, Rahul and Gates drove off to this village, some 25 km away from the Munshiganj guest house where they were spending the night.
They chose to halt at the Dalit dominated Chamrahi locality of the village where they squatted on a charpoy and entered into a free-wheeling interaction with the villagers, for whom it seemed like a treat with Rahul acting as interpreter between them and Gates.
“We have never had the opportunity to see and talk to Rahul Gandhi one-to-one manner. It was great,” said 55-year-old Siya Ram, a local farmer.
Adding to their delight was Gates’ introduction as the “world’s wealthiest man”, who gave a new dimension to computers.
Excited with the brief interaction that she had with Gates, 14-year-old Asha told this scribe: “I could have never imagined myself face to face with such a personality.”
What had clearly impressed her most was the concern that Gates showed on learning that she had dropped out of school in class VIII as her family did not have enough money to support her studies.
Forty-year-old Rama Devi felt proud giving an account of how as a part of a women self-help group she had succeeded in motivating a number of women in her neighbourhood to create a decent kitty out of small savings.
“The Gora sahib (referring to Gates) listened to me with rapt attention as Rahul bhaiyya went about explaining things to him after asking me different questions,” she said.
AS word spread about the arrival of Rahul Gandhi with a foreigner VVIP, men, women and children made a beeline for the corner where Rahul and Gates were chatting away with the locals.
After spending about 45 minutes in Chamrahi, the two returned to the guest house and then again ventured out to yet another village to interact with more people.
