Superwoman! Yes, indeed she is. Like every other woman, belonging to a village, Ramvati’s day starts with running of quotidian errands. On one such regular day, something irregular took place. It instantaneously dawned upon her that this should not be the only thing she does with her life. Therefore, Ramvati, belonging to a small village Patara of Madhya Pradesh, urged to bring a change.

In order to do this, she used the most powerful weapon of all. Her voice! She could easily while away her life, veiling, just like the rest of the woman of this village. Yet, she elected to give her life a purpose, and eventually bring refinement to the life of others neighboring her.

This impecunious woman, belonging to the Sahariya tribe of Madhya Pradesh, held a radio in her hand and a vision of change and empowerment in her mind. Being associated with community radio station Dhadkan 107.8 FM she was avowed as ‘Dhadkan radio woman’ in her village. Covering five villages of Madhya Pradesh through her program, this tenacious lady travelled across these villages performing field reporting to indoctrinate the people of her village about cleanliness and other basic necessities. There are areas where radio signal don’t reach, in which case Ramvati plays the informative programs with the help of a pen drive. She says, “Without information, change is not possible”, which makes her pay a call at all the five villages on foot, to take interviews of the people residing in her village.

Her beautiful and highly galvanized journey as a radio jockey was covered on a documentary made on her which bagged third price at UNESCO-CEMCA video competition. Her success also brought home the point that community radio is bringing consequential amendments in the lives of many.

Watch this documentary by Shawn Sebastian, Fazil NC and Tejasvi Dentaluru, that encapsulates her life.

Here’s hoping that each woman of every tiny village in this world, is struck with the ingenuity of bringing upon potent changes to benefit the society and their own lives.

Vibhushi Patwa

For mptravelogue.com