19.2568°N, 75.6070°E

Mategaon is a quaint village in the heart of the Aurangabad city. With a population of less than 1600, a sense of harmony is seen among the villagers. Around 65-70% of the population here practices Islam while rest of the people come from various sects of Hinduism . With narrow streets and trees on either sides of the road this agrarian village is of a golden heart.

Most people in the village earn their livings either through working in their farms or being employed in someone else`s field.

The village has a total of 5 places of worship, where some of them double as community spaces, wedding halls and open porous areas for the kids to play in.

There was a Zilla Prishad school here, it provides for their children`s education and also serves a free midday meal to all its students. since the school only provides education till 8th standard , students travel to the nearby village for their future studies. Along with the school the village also comprises of two kindergartens for kids till the age of five.

The village gram panchayat constitutes if 7 members of which three are compulsorily women. Despite them being representatives of their fellow villagers their voices are often let unheard where their husband make decisions on their behalf.

My group studied and looked at all the institutions(big or small, religious or non-religious, government and non government) the village had.

We identified a total of 12 bodies which had 5 religious institutions, 3 educational,1 health& medical ,2 government and a soft, informal institution by and for the women of this village.

Religious institutions:

 The Datta mandir on the border of the village , the Hanuman mandir in the central chowk , a mosque right infront of the hanuman temple , a buddha temple (which also doubled as an wedding hall for the Buddhist community) and a tukaram mandir in the Maratha colony (which hosted the `gaon jevan` every Ganesh Chaturthi). These spaces were not only places of worship but also were porous community spaces.

Educational institutions:

There was one high school but only till 8th standard and two preprimary schools for the kids till the age of five. The schools not only provided for the kids education but also for their meals and all of this without costing them a single penny.

Health & medical:

The village did not have a hospital, but there lived a doctor who had a small clinic in the living room of his house. Popularly known as the `bengali doctor` by the villagers

He provides for the basic medical needs and health care of the village. The clinic he runs is private and is not funded by the government in any form.

Government institutions:

This village  is looked after by the Gram Panchayat with seven heads out of which three are women. The main duty of the panchayat is to look after the needs of the village, bringing in new government schemes, making new roads and providing for uncut water and electricity.

The second institution is the ration shop which opens every Friday, where the villagers get a certain amount of millets and pulses varying on the basis of their economic conditions. The villagers first have to take a token/receipt as an approval from the sarpanch's house which they submit in the ration shop. this helps the panchayat in keeping track of the local needs.

All of this not free but costs a minimal amount which is affordable for most of the villagers.

Soft institutions:

Women of this village strive to be indepent and were willing their own money. What they have here is something called as the `bachat ghatt`, where any women whos is need of financial help is loaned the required amount with an interest of 8% p.a.  All this money comes from the weekly deposited money of the ghatt members.

All of these institutions somewhat shape the way this village functions, disruption in any of these would lead to misfunctioning of the entire ecosystem .

We further tried plotting all of these institutions ,functioning and their effects on a map.

We also tried mapping segregation and the undrawn boundaries which are set on the bases of caste, class and religion. 

In between all of these things the only thing these villagers really looked up to and were excited for was the weekly bazaar which happed in the central open space of the village. Vendors from the neighboring villages, farmers with their fresh produce, confectioners with their aromatic sweets all came together and created this bustling market.

People from the the houses we would work around would get us produce from their farms, feed us  fresh fruits or at times the most heart warming cup of tea.

Towards the end of this trip all of us had made friends with the villagers, while some of my classmates were the favorites among the schools girls, a few of us really connected to the elders of the village, where in us they saw their childern and grandchildren who lived away from home due to whatever reasons.

It was amazing to look at the kids with their eye all lit up when they would see us come. In those eyes I saw dreams , them wanting to be big in life and doing great things for their family and village.

Coming back to Mumbai a lot had changed in the way I look at things and how I feel about life. It made me thankful of all the privilege's I have. it was interesting how things in our lives which are not even the smallest matters of concern are at times the biggest things in their lives. Making use of these privileges and being able to give something back to the society is what I would like to do.