It's hard being a Pratham Coordinator - Part II

This is in continutation to Pushkar's previous post, here.

In Orissa, we (Pia and I) heard of how one Block Coordinator was abducted by the Naxalites. The reason? No, it wasn't that they were against Pratham's work (they are apparently only anti-state), they were simply very impressed with the coordinator's ability to convince and mobilize the villagers. And they decided to show their appreciation by abducting him and making him work for them. The coordinator stayed with them for some 2-3 days, and could make an escape only when they were transporting him somwhere, and made a stop to eat. He ran, and ran until he was a distance away and could flag a ride to safety.

In Punjab, I was told about how one mobilizer was assured by a girl of her participation as a volunteer over the phone. He called her up to fix up some details, and finally before the commencement of the Summer Camp training he reached her house to pick her up. There, her father accosted him and accused him of eyeing his daughter. He took away the keys of his motorcycle, kept him confined in the house and along with his relatives questioned him as to why he had been calling his daughter so often, and marvelled at his gall to now come and meet his daughter in person. The girl had of course not told her parents about Pratham or her wish to be a volunteer. It took many a-call to the Block and District Coordinators (and some name dropping - "ask the District Education Officer, what Pratham is") for the father to be convinced that it wasn't all a large, spread-out lie to trap his innocent daughter, and for him to release the poor boy.
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