Impressions of Lalpur
April 2001

During my recent trip to India, I had the opportunity to visit the Asha Center in Lalpur, 
near Lucknow.  The activities being undertaken at Lalpur are described in depth in Sandeep’s
 articles, and the meeting minutes sent by Neeta. This report attempts to give a flavor of 
Asha in Lalpur, rather than a description of activities.  If you have any question about the
 activities, please see Sandeep’s earlier articles on asha-center@egroups.com or send me a 
note.]

My trip to India was planned at the last minute, and I hadn’t had a chance to touch base 
with Asha India volunteers much ahead of time.  But when I found out about the meeting in 
Lalpur on April 7th and 8th, it was an opportunity that was hard to pass.  I changed my it
inerary and decided to spend the weekend in Lalpur, which is a 1.5-2 hour drive from Lucknow.  

I arrived in Lucknow on Friday night and, next morning, and got a ride with Asha volunteers 
going to Lalpur.  
There were seven of us in the car.  I had met Arundhati several years earlier in 1997, 
though only briefly.  I remembered Chaitanya as a small baby from that trip.  Now he is an 
active boy of 4.  I met Neeta again, after a long time.  On the way, I got to know Sheetal 
and Biju.  Sheetal is part of the Lalpur team, but her primary role is as the coordinator 
of a program for young children in Lucknow.  Biju leads a small NGO in Assam (run by 5 
women) that has successfully formed 83 women’s self-help groups, and now intends to 
establish additional activities, including schools.

We had barely made it to the outskirts of Lucknow, when car trouble forced us to stop.  
Chaitanya, who appeared to be an expert car mechanic, jumped out of the car to help figure 
out the cause.  Already it was getting very hot.  A rental car was arranged, and we 
continued on our way.

We reached Lalpur around noon.  Reading the articles written about the Asha Center, I had 
imagined a spacious ferro-cement building, with 2-3 rooms.  On getting out of the car, I 
saw a one-room building, built on a 2 foot platform, with many windows.  Smaller than what 
I had imagined.  Many adults and kids greeted us.  I was introduced to some of them.  The 
kids greeted Sheetal, Biju and Neeta with great excitement.  They were glad that the didi’s 
had come back to visit them.  

It was decided that we would have lunch first, which had been arranged at homes of various 
families residing in Lalpur.  Over the period of the two days, each villager would host 
2-3 guests.  Today, Neeta and I were to visit one family together.  The village is fairly 
small.  It takes about 5 minutes to go from one end to the other.  It has about 60 houses, 
about 100 families.  Not being used to the heat after so many years in the US, I was more 
thirsty than hungry.  But there was no way to say ‘no’ there.  I was served 2 thick rotis, 
rice and daal.  Each roti was like 2 at home.  I had to work hard to finish the entire meal.  
We thanked the family for their hospitality and headed back towards the Center, termed the 
“Asha Ashram”.

The meeting was held under the shade of trees.  About 27 Asha members, 10-15 villagers, 
and several kids were present.  The topic of discussion for the day was “What is Education”, 
led by Neeta.  My goal was to listen and understand.  The minutes of the meeting were posted 
by Neeta, so I won’t include them here.  People introduced themselves and talked about their 
own education and the purpose of education.  One session focused on “What is Education”, and 
another on “My Dream School”.  Many team members felt that the village kids do not need 
“formal” education beyond the 3Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic).  As part of the session, 
the villagers were asked for feedback about the center and its operations.  On the whole 
they were interested and satisfied with the activities.  They did have one complaint  that 
the school had not been running for several months now… 


The school is currently not operational due to lack of an appropriate teacher.  Previously, 
Neeta had spent a month at the center, running the school.  The center provides a 
supportive environment for kids to learn.  There are plans to introduce biographical 
stories about great social workers as part of the curriculum.  But that will have to wait 
till the school starts on a regular basis again.

Later that evening, I got a tour of the center together with Ganeshji and Archanaji from 
Kanpur Center.  Sandeep informed us that no wall was erected around the center so that the 
villagers consider the Center a part of the village, not separate from it.  Next to the 
center, is a large open ‘mandap’ on a 1 foot high platform, the roof for which was being 
laid.  Right next to it, was the kitchen.  On the other side, slightly away were the 
bathrooms, with a biogas plant that powers a few lights at the center.  The center produces 
honey and potato chips that are sold through personal contacts of the Asha members.  
The paper bags for the chips are made at the center, and the bags and honey labels are 
screen printed in Lucknow by Anil Tiwari, a member of Asha India.  The center houses a 
large cabinet of homeopathic remedies, which are disbursed free of charge.  Mahesh is the 
resident homeopathic expert.  There is a plan for the construction of a library at the 
center, using compressed bricks made from a mud and cement mix, which are supposed to be 
stronger than conventional bricks.  The Asha center accounts have been turned over to the 
community.  

By the time the tour was over, it was already evening and it was time to begin the scheduled 
village meeting.  Over 30 adults and many kids were present at the meeting.  The Asha Center 
team has worked hard to inculcate a sense of involvement and ownership among the villagers.  
Though there is still a long way to go, the attendence and participation at the meeting 
demonstrated how far they have already come.  The village meeting started with evening prayer 
led by Paramita for the kids.  The agenda was announced and additions invited.  Meeting topics 
included finding appropriate vocation for a villager who is slowly losing sight, organizing 
village street cleaning for next morning, accounting for villagers’ contributions towards the 
construction of the library, etc.  Everyone participated constructively.  There were some 
issues around a couple of watches that were taken from the center building. Though some 
villagers were offended that this topic was brought up for discussion, it was made clear that 
everything should be discussed in the open.  Arrangements were made for cleaning of the village 
streets by the village ‘yuva mandal’.  One such previous attempt had failed a week earlier.  
This time, a convenient time was set so that the youth are not delayed from going to the fields.  

After the meeting, my dinner was arranged at Kalluji’s home, along with Ganeshji.  I hadn’t 
been feeling well since the meeting.  I ate little, but learnt a lot by listening to the 
conversation between Ganeshji and Kalluji.  It was a beautiful night lit by a full-moon.  
After eating, we all sat on charpais.  Kalluji’s house was designed with a typical large 
open courtyard, surrounded by rooms where the multiple family units live.  Ganeshji asked 
Kalluji about the village and their situation.  Most families have several kids.  In their 
household (3 joint families) they had total of 17 kids  5 boys and 12 girls (if I remember 
correctly).  About one third of the land in the village is owned by a single landlord, the 
rest is villagers’ property.  The landlord doesn’t live there.  [By the way, the Asha center is 
built on land donated by this landlord].  The villagers grow mostly wheat and some rice.  When 
I asked if they felt any difference because of the Center, Kalluji said, “There has been no 
benefit and no harm from the center.”  After thanking them for their hospitality, we left for 
the Ashram.  

I had several informative discussions with Paramita and Sheetal about the center and their 
involvement.  The Lalpur team is planning to develop a history book/curriculum, which will 
have biographies of great social thinkers and activists, instead of political leaders and 
revolutions.

I spent some time talking with Ganeshji about the Kanpur center and their activities.  
There are total of 12 people, 8 engaged in the center activities full-time, 4 part-time.  
They plan to first become self-sufficient themselves, to show that it can be done.  
Currently they are providing education to children of migrant construction workers.  
Their income generation program includes production of honey (branded “Amrit”), 
chyavanprash, ayurvedic remedies, and other items.  These items are sold to local families, 
based on one-to-one relationships.  The goal is to build relationships with 1000 such 
families, through which it is estimated that the 12 people will be able to generate enough 
income to sustain themselves and the center activities. 

Sleeping arrangements had been made for all visitors at the center.  Most slept on the open 
mandap floor, a few in the center building, and a few on the roof.   Next morning, I came 
down with a temperature, but more or less recovered by the time the meeting started again.  
The showing for the street cleanup was very poor.  Only 2-3 youth showed up.  By the time 
enough brooms were gathered, the sweeping was actually done by one village youth, and Asha 
members Sheetal and Neeta.  

After a hearty breakfast of delicious chai and poha prepared by Paramita for all, we 
headed for the meeting grounds.  Everyone talked about the work they are doing, which is 
covered in Neeta’s minutes.  During this meeting, a question was raised about amount of 
support to Kanpur center vs. Lalpur center vs. Ballia efforts.  The Ballia team felt that 
if the goal of the group was self-sufficiency then why are so much funds being sent to 
Lalpur and, especially, Kanpur. At the end of the meeting, I made a brief announcement 
regarding the Asha10 conference in Berkeley, and invited comments from the Asha India 
members regarding the topics under discussion.  Sandeep will be collecting these comments 
and they will be read out in appropriate session(s).  

By now, it was time to leave.  I looked back at the Ashram and the village.  What has been 
accomplished here, is amazing.  Obviously there is room for more.  The school needs to 
start running again.  The community’s sense of ownership of the Ashram will grow slowly.  
As the self-reliance programs gain momentum, outside funds would no longer be required.  
As I headed back home on the train, I could only imagine the potential this center holds.

Here are a few things to think about.  I mention them here only briefly.  If you’re 
interested in discussing these further, send me an email…

1.      School -- obviously, we need to ensure that the school is running.  Is there 
anything we can do to help the Lalpur team find a suitable teacher?
2.      3Rs -- is it enough to teach these kids the 3Rs?  What should the curriculum 
include?  How much history?  How much science?  Etc…  
3.      Income Generation -- How do we ensure that there is enough variety of skills 
offered to kids, and that the villagers do not become dependent on Asha’s contacts and actually 
learn how to run a full business (from design, to manufacturing, to marketing, sales and 
distribution)  

Best,
Richa