'She' directly from Mayanagari Mumbai. The house is located in Dombivli, a neighborhood of Mumbai. Father's shop sells weights and measures. A modest allowance at home. She is so beautiful, nose-eyes neat. Anyone can be easily fooled. Smart in studies, parents thought, she her would learn a lot, go to a big position or would not even that, she would go to a big house with a big position. He went to Nagpur. His body was crippled. He was barely visible. Eighteen worlds of poverty at home. Tired of poverty, my father long ago left the small village of Buttibori and settled in Najul Colony in the Jaripatka area of Nagpur.
Father and mother also used to work here. He used to read the dreams of the swaying Sugi in his mother's eyes... but something else happened.! She and he... 29 years ago, both of them left to tread the malnourished streets of Melghat. Now both of them have left more than half their age behind. Both of them are sharing the sorrows of tribals who are tired after going to the villages of Melghat. Their presence does not mean that Melghat's suffering is over. However, the two hands that wipe the tears from the eyes of the tribals are working in that forest unhindered. One of those two working hands is named Bandya Sane and the other is Purnima Upadhyay!
Poornima Upadhyay, known as Didi in Melghat. Didi was born in Mumbai at the age of 73. Father from Lucknow. He used to work in the prison department in Lucknow Jail. But for some reason, I had to leave the job. I started a weighing and measuring shop in Mumbai. Purnima passed on the 12th. Her father was diagnosed with cancer. Her first year of B.Sc. was wasted nursing them and her father, who had big dreams, left her hand and went to Devaghar. Due to the death of his father, the license for the scale shop was canceled. But she fought against the system.
The license was not canceled, but forced to transfer. Later, the brother got another new license and the car was on track. But gradually, the train of social service began to rumble in her head. She directly attended Nirmala Niketan's College of Social Work from where she obtained her BSW degree. Baba Amte, Prakash Amte, Abhay Bang, Rabindra Kolhe, Nirupama Deshpande of Mendha Lekha Melghat started her rounds. But social work gained real momentum from Medha Patkar's Narmada rescue movement. Now determined to leave Mumbai and work for Ranjlya Ganjali, she took the car and drove straight to Melghat…
Bandya Sane…original name is Bandu Sampatrao Sane. In the forests of Melghat, people know him as Bandya. He never feels bad that the whole world is calling him by a single name. On the contrary, if someone mistakenly calls him a rebel, he quickly replies, "Hey Bandu, what are you saying?!' Bandya Nagpuratla. Six siblings. Father used to work as a guard in the village, mother used to stay at home and make bamboo sticks, baskets and many other things. Bandya also used to go to school, but when he grew up, he started taking tuition from the boys in the slum. All the same age.
There is no one to say 'Sir'. All were rebels. He wanted to do that too. But from there on, this band became a 'rebellion' forever! Meanwhile, Bandu Sane completed his B.Sc. with good marks. It was during this period that he came in contact with Anubhav Education Mission. In 1991, he moved to Melghat from this institute. The terrible situation in Melghat started to give a heavy blow to his mind. He also spent his days in poverty, but the desperation of poverty where people could not get food and die in it, started to upset him. And this man wrapped his head and got lost in the forest to relieve the suffering of the Korkus in Melghat.
Both Bandya and Poornima have established an organization 'Khoj' and continue their work in Melghat. Both of them got to know each other through 'Anubhav Shikshan Mission'. In the very beginning, five people were formed, namely Bandya, Purnima, Prashant, Aruna and Jayashree. Later, Prashant, Aruna and Jayashree went their separate ways, but the questions of the tribals did not bring Bandya and Purnima back home…
Bandya-Poornima was saying that in the past there was endless abuse of the forest department. The Forest Department had its own custody. In it, the officials of the forest department stopped the tribals. Once a tribal died in a forest called Raipur. But the forest department officials hanged him falsely to make it look like suicide. Both Bandya and Purnima got suspicious about this. He presented the whole case before the court and proved that it was not suicide but murder. The court sentenced the then forest officials and employees. Importantly, the court closed the custody of the Forest Department. Now, if the forest department wants to detain someone, they have to inform the police and hand them over to the police for custody. This happened because of Bandya and Purnima. The epicenter of the forest department's atrocities is the incident in Ghana village. In this village some poor tribals had sown on forest department land. The forest department issued an order to put elephants on the farmers' land and trample the crops.
Bandya and Poornima came to know this news, they directly reached Nagpur High Court. Court is closed on weekends and holidays. But these two knocked on the door of the judge on Sunday morning. Told them the situation. On a holiday, the judge adjourned the proceedings from home, so he called the collector. Even the elephant that came to the outskirts of Ghana village had to be taken back by the forest department with a smile on its face. The disbanded administration tried to make them Naxalists. Even though legal preparations were made, Bandya-Purnima remained silent. But the administration could not find any evidence against them despite their best efforts. As a result, the administration eventually had to abandon that effort.
Later, the rebellion held many protests in Melghat. Once the statistics of malnutrition were presented to the government, he started a protest at the collector's office in Amravati. His demand is that the collector should come forward and make a statement that malnutrition is a serious issue, and be a little serious. But when the collector ignored Bandya and went to see the dam, Bandya got angry. Along with hundreds of his supporters, he ran towards the then President Pratibhatai Patil's house in Amravati. The company was shocked. Gradually, the rebellion surrounded Pratibhatai's house. The news hit Delhi.
And the collector who went to see the dam had to turn back in doubt. The Collector had to come in front of Pratibhatai's house and respectfully accept the statement. Bandya continued to protest. Purnimatai has always been fighting court cases. Today, his house in Patrawada is filled with papers. There is less space for people to live there, so much space is occupied by paper. Due to the efforts made by Bandya and Purnima, roads came to Melghat, electricity, schools came, Anganwadis started, buses also started regularly. Even today, when government officials start thinking of making a mistake, they remember Bandya-Poornima. These two have created so much fear here!
When will these people who work together for the tribals fall in love with each other? How could you have gotten married?' There was only one answer from both of them. Simple.! If we want to continue this work for the tribals, we have to get married, and with this straightforward decision, we got married and started a life of vertical life right at the doorstep of the tribals under the witness of the trees. Bandya-Poornima's life has been more than 20 years today. A beautiful bud has also blossomed on his vine. Taking her with him, his Yagna for Malnutrition Mukti and tribal service is going on. The two-storied building of his 'Khoj' organization is situated some distance from the town of Patrwada towards Melghat. Even today, this building wakes up early in the morning. Before the rush, the trains start and the Bandya-Purnima leaves towards Melghat. To meet a new challenge...
