Hello, I’m Shahrukh. Nandwal village is known as the “Second Pandharpur". There is an ancient temple here that is a central place of devotion for the villagers. Every year, in the month of July, the festival of Ashadhi Ekadashi is celebrated with great enthusiasm. On this day, lakhs of devotees visit the temple. Every household in the village hosts guests, and the entire family gets busy in welcoming and serving them.

During this time, around 150 stalls are set up in the village, selling food, various items, and household goods.

After the ARC project began, I was given the responsibility of working with the village youth. Since I’m from a similar age group, it was easier for me to connect and communicate with them.
After the Ashadhi festival ends, the stalls and food vendors leave behind a lot of waste, covering around a 5-kilometer area. The next day, the Gram Panchayat and Health Department jointly carry out a cleanliness drive. Every year, the Gram Panchayat invites the village youth to participate, but they never join.
After SALT activity started in the village, I began asking the boys during discussions, Ashadhi Ekadashi is celebrated with such enthusiasm, but the next day only a few people come for cleaning, and the youth don’t participate. Can you do something about this?
Initially, their responses were, We don’t have time, This is not my job, If other boys come, only then I’ll come, or That’s a particular political group, so we don’t go. But in some SALT conversations, the boys gave very thoughtful answers. Some said, Through these discussions, we feel that somewhere we are not taking responsibility. We feel like doing something, but we hesitate to take the first step.
I followed up with these boys for a week and continued engaging with them in conversation.
Before this year’s Ashadhi Ekadashi, I again had a discussion with some boys on the same topic. Through the SALT conversation, they began to realize that this village is theirs too, and youth should participate in such initiatives. Over the next week, we sat together and discussed how to involve other boys.
On July 6th this year, the Ashadhi Ekadashi festival was celebrated with great enthusiasm. The Avani organization also set up stalls to sell various types of plants and items.
The next day, at 7 a.m., the cleanliness drive started. The Gram Panchayat, Health Department, Avani Smile Team, and 3 boys participated in the drive. Due to some reasons, other boys could not join. But those who came worked until 12 noon. Although the number of youth was small, it was a beginning because until now, the youth had never voluntarily participated in such initiatives.
Since there was youth participation this time, the Sarpanch was asked how he felt. He responded, I felt very happy because the youth had never participated in such an initiative before. Even though only a few boys came this year, I am confident that next year more will follow their lead and participate.
Two days after Ashadhi, I met those boys and asked them, “Why did you feel like coming and why?” They said, Every year this festival is celebrated joyfully, but the garbage left on the streets is thrown by us. And expecting someone else to clean it is wrong. We are the future of this village. If we do this work today, younger children will automatically follow our example. We understood that this village is ours, and the responsibility is also ours.
When the Gram Panchayat or others ask us to participate, they speak very harshly. That hurts us. But when we had conversations with you, we genuinely felt like helping. We realized that even cleaning can be joyful, and the joy we felt while cleaning that day and after it was done, we can’t even express it in words.