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Both were on stage at the Bio diversity festival, held at Machanur village of Zaheerabad mandal, AP last month (Feb 23rd).
Introducing them, Director of Deccan Development Society (DDS), P V Satheesh said, 'see the age difference of these two. Ratnavva's farming knowledge is getting transferred by Mayuri through this small film'.
Yes. Mayuri made a good effort by documenting the farming methods of Ratnavva. This film was shown at the national childrens' film festival in Trissur recently and was highly appreciated.
Mayuri hails from a dalit farm laboring family and is studying in the Govt primary school in her village Pastapur.DDS established Community Media Trust and has been giving training to rural women to produce films. Observing Mayuri's interest in still camera operation, Satheesh encouraged her to make a small film with a video camera.
For this, first she prepared a script and marked the suitable visuals for the film. Then with the help of her friends Prithvi, Chinna and Moses, she shot the visuals. Then she sat with editors and finally a film emergedt- 'Dhanvarlo O Avva' (A grandma in Dhanvar).
This film is the profile of Ratnavva, who is still engaged in agriculture by maintaining excellent bio diversity on her 2 acres of farm. She is not using any chemicals for agriculture. Through her crops, she is maintaining the fertility of the soil and produces a yield of a variety of crops.
In this film, Mayuri follows Ratnavva and talks to her. She gets the information about how she handles the farm and home.
Mayuri shows the cooking methods and tells us about the uses of crops. Ratnavva says, 'I used to cultivate five varieties of crops in my field without any investment. Seeds were developed by us and our bullocks were used to till the land. All of my family members work in the field. So there is no labour cost also'.
'By giving a chance to a child like Mayuri, we have identified hidden talent.
There are many significant points to consider here. She understood the crop varieties, she knew the nutritional value of food grains, she got the knowledge about healthy and interesting cooking materials and so on', explains P V Satheesh.
As an endorsement to this opinion, Mayuri ends her film with these remarks: 'Ratnavva does not buy any food from outside, while the rest of us have to buy it from outside. If everyone would be like Ratnavva, how nice it would be..!'
Pics and text:
AnandaTeertha Pyati
E mail: anpyatee@gmail.com