 | | | Venu and his sister Naveena
(Photo courtesy of The Society of the Divine Word) | |
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It was nearly dusk in the forests of Andhra Pradesh, India, and Venu, 10, watched eagerly as the shadows of the brown buff aloes he was tending
grew longer and longer on the grass. “Time to go!” he crowed, springing to his feet. One lone buffalo turned its head, the spread of horns, dark eyes, and large snout expressing world-weary disdain.
“That’s enough grazing for you,” Venu teased. He herded his 20 stout charges toward the house of his employer, a family of a higher caste than his own that lived in the neighboring village. As he walked, he hummed a tune popular among his tribe of the Gothi Koya. He remembered singing that same song five years ago, while walking with tired feet alongside his parents, brothers and sisters, and all their animals from the forests of the state of Chattisgarh to their new home in Andhra Pradesh, where they, along with others, hoped to start a better life away from fighting between Maoist extremists and the civil government.
Animals have it a lot easier than people, Venu thought, resting his hand on the warm flank of one of the buff aloes as he walked. Unlike Venu’s family, the animals had not had to learn a new language in Andhra Pradesh, or look for jobs in the nearby villages. If they were hungry, there was grass to eat; Venu was lucky if he ate three meals a day. If the animals got sick, Venu would tend to them; if Venu fell ill, he would have to be carried for miles on a cot to the nearest doctor. And animals didn’t have to work like Venu. The family that employed Venu was not unkind, but Venu didn’t enjoy pending all his days as a domestic servant.
Was there anything more out there? Venu had begun to think that there might be. The Divine Word Missionaries and their friends had persuaded his family to allow one of their children to attend a school run by the missionaries in Bayyaram, 18 miles away. His parents had chosen his sister Naveena, 7, to attend, and Venu began to wonder what school would be like. It sounded a lot more exciting than watching buff aloes chew grass all day.
“Venu!”
Venu blinked in confusion as he saw the very sister he was thinking of walking toward him.
“Naveena! What are you doing here?” Naveena’s delight at finding her brother turned quickly to embarrassment. “I ran away,” she said. “After lunch a group of us left and walked all day to return to the village.” She fell silently into step with her brother. “They’re nice to us, Venu, but I don’t like living away from home.”
“There aren’t any other schools nearby, Naveena,” Venu said gently. “How will you learn?”
“I don’t have to,” Naveena said, sticking out her lower lip a little like she used to when she was a baby. “Like Mama and Papa say, it won’t matter when I am married. Besides, I like helping out with the animals.”
“You want to do that for the rest of your life?” “Maybe. Mama and Papa do.”
* Based on the story of Gundi Venu. Research for this story was conducted with the assistance of Father Luke Mundackal, SVD.
