Situated in an incredibly idyllic, serene and enviously beautiful location the hostel makes one imagine what a ‘Gurukul’ might have been back in the day. It is hard to believe that such a place exists merely 40-odd km from the chaos that is Mumbai!
My mother and I tagged along with Rajashri and Victor Bansiwar to visit Sanjivani, in Oct. 2005. The 35-40km. drive from Kandivali (northern suburb of Mumbai) to Virar (Thane district and the last station on the Western railway line) took only about 45 minutes. Most of the travel was on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and was smooth sailing. The drive from the highway to the centre was a completely different story. The 4.7 km. ‘pucca’ road that leads to the Sanjivani complex is frequented daily by an assortment of State transport (ST) buses, bullock carts, and in particular by commercial trucks ferrying sand (processed for construction) from the Vaitarna river. Despite the high traffic this road gets, its state leaves a lot to be desired. The condition has worsened after the July ’05 flood. Those final 4 km. took a very bumpy 25 minutes to cover!
We drove by a sand factory, and 2 small villages and a 2-room government school. The Bansiwars of course knew the locals and we stopped to exchange hellos and wave to children on their way to the school that we had driven by. Onward to Sanjivani.
The hostel sits on a 2392 sq.mt. plot bought through an endowment from the Dorabji Tata Trust. Barely 200m outside the complex is another 2-room government school that is in the works. The site was buzzing with activity when we got there, and this was at about 9:00 am. Local women and men as well as private contractors (staying on-site) were busily working away.
Total length: 4.7km
Although outside workers had been brought in to work on the building, it was good to see that the locals were also being employed. The 2 women (only women there) sifting sand were completely aware of what the construction was for, who would be living there once finished and also that they could send their children there for schooling.
Three 2-storey (ground + 2 floors) buildings connected sequentially by a hallway form the structure of the hostel. The C-shaped main building has rooms on the upper floors that will serve as classrooms during the day and as dorms after hours. The lower level will have a common room, an office area and open up into the yard as an auditorium. An ideal location for future VOICE Balsabhas! Building 2 houses a large common kitchen, a guestroom and a couple of sick/spare rooms. Building 3 holds caretaker’s quarters and office. This last building is flanked on 1 side by a well, naturally well stocked with an abundance of frogs and dragonflies! Also on site is a most unusual example of symbiosis, a large old banyan with a fruit-bearing toddy palm growing on it! There is a small shed towards 1 corner of the plot. VOICE plans to use it to house livestock (of the 4-legged kind), if possible, after the centre is up and running.
At the rear of the buildings are a bore well and areas reserved for water harvesting and septic tank (not in close proximity).
As of March 2006, all major construction has been completed. Sewage arrangements, solar paneling and water harvesting are the only other larger items left on the agenda. A NOC (no objection certificate) from the District Collector’s office is pending on account of the absence of sewage facilities.
VOICE has gone over budget and still on the lookout for funds for the 3 last tasks. Donations from WAH 2003 have gone towards Sanjivani. Also matching and very generous donations from the Maharashtra Foundation were used on Sanjivani. Maharashtra Foundation’s 2005 donation was diverted, with clearance from MF, to VOICE’s on-going projects in Dadar and Andheri. An emergency with respect to space made it necessary to use the donation towards rent and post-flood repairs, etc.
