Navi Mumbai: Rahul Yelange of Bhogaon Budruk village in Raigad district had climbed Mount Everest in May 2012 as part of Pune’s first civilian expedition to the world’s tallest mountain.
Today, the 30-year-old has hit a low in his life due to a boycott faced by him and his advocate wife Pournima (27) in their own village.
The problem started last March when the newlyweds decided to go back to their village to start dairy farming and train youngsters interested in rock climbing. “Initially, the womenfolk used to taunt my wife for not wearing the sari but sporting jeans,” Rahul told The Times of India.
They used to question why Pournima wore no mangalsutra or the bindi. We were also not invited to village temple functions. All this was strange for both of us,” Yelange, who stays in a tiny hamlet, he recalled.
When the couple started dairy farming on their ancestral property, the villagers did not allow them to fetch water from the village tap for the buffaloes.
So, the Everest climber has to trek uphill for nearly 20 minutes daily to fill water from a reservoir for his cattle.
“The breaking point came around two months ago when around 38 families wrote to the gram panchayat that they should not be held responsible if my buffalo shed catches fire. To safeguard my dairy farming, I also wrote a letter to Poladpur police station stating that I was concerned and disturbed by the letter written to the panchayat,” said Yelange.
He added, “Apart from Mt Everest, I have scaled 16 more peaks as a mountaineer. However, I find it much more difficult to deal with the people of my own village. Why should we be isolated only because we are an educated and modern couple trying to go back to our roots and our interests?”
Pournima, who is basically a Pune girl and specializes in cyber law, added, “Even when my clients used to visit our house with various cases, the villagers used to pass snide comments, which I would ignore. They did not even allow us to put up an artificial wall where youngsters interested in rock climbing can be trained. With so many hurdles, we sometimes wonder why we ever moved back to our village.”
When contacted, Raigad district collector Sumant Bhange said, “There was some internal problem and misunderstanding amongst the villagers which we will definitely resolve. It is a matter of pride that a person who scaled the Everest hails from Raigad.”
Reportedly, since Rahul and Pournima had a registered court marriage in Pune in January, 2014, before moving back to the village, some locals mistook it for an inter-caste marriage and so did not approve it. “Only after I came back to my village did I come to know of things like social boycott. I also know of another family that has been unofficially boycotted for more than 10 years now over some superstitious reason. All these social problems can only be resolved through education and scientific temperament,” said Yelange.
Meanwhile, the group gram panchayat sarpanch at Poladpur, Rakesh Utekar, said, “Some small misunderstandings and miscommunication have led to this situation. I am more than willing to quickly resolve this issue. In fact, we had earlier also felicitated Rahul for climbing Mt Everest, but incidentally he was not present at the felicitation function at that time.”
Meanwhile, in Roha taluka of Raigad, some 22 families of Dongri village had faced a boycott for various reasons. However, the district officials personally sat down with the villagers and recently resolved that as well.