A Happy New Year

A Very Happy New Year to everyone. Its definitely happy for me - I'm starting with a very positive outlook on the year, knowing exactly what I'm going to do, and chockful of ideas every day to excite me. The going's good.

And on this new year's day, there was an impromptu visit to nearby village. One of the guys who works in the mess (aka cafeteria) had invited me over to his village (RamswarupJi), and we'd been making plans for over 2 months, but he'd never get off. And so this day, he's like, I'm going. I keep making plans, its been months, I'm going today, in an hour, will be back in 3/4 hours, come with me if you can.

So I did. Along with Pintu ji from the mess (in blue). Here's a picture of Ramswarup JI and I in his little backyard/sideyard/frontyard. They had a few veggies and flowers growing. That's mooli (radish) in my hand. Nothing like yanking a vegetable out of the ground and eating it right there.



So here's a happy new year from the three of us (From L to R: Pintu Ji, Ramswarup Ji and yours truly). I love the expressions that came out in this, especially the variety thereof. And the face that I took this picture with my left hand too.I like taking photos I've realized. Its my only creative outlet, and it keeps me quite happy.



So on that note, a toast to this very new year. May there be many more like the year past, and many more like the year that's to be.

Cheers.

A long awaited update

Wednesday, Dec 27 2006 6:24am IST
Bagar, Rajasthan


Its 6:24 in the morning on a very very cold night (day?). And I find myself sitting in my bed, writing a journal entry after quite a wait.

The cold yes – its cold here! It used to go down to 6 degrees C (low 40s) at night – tonight its quite a bit lower. It rained yesterday during the day, which dropped the temperature. And this morning it is still raining. And the fog has come in quite thick.

This effectively puts a halt to my plans of getting out and finally running after over a week’s break. Well, I could tough it out - the bijli (electricity) will go out at 7, and not much happening this early in the day during the winter times (even the shops start opening at 8 in the market).

I digress – lets get back to the topic at hand – what HAVE I been upto in the last couple of months (I think it has been that long since my last update):

Ah yes, I believe my last late night excitable post was around completely switching my focus area here from computer utilization to solar power. There were quite a few reasons behind that – mainly that in the weeks preceding it, I’d been trying to assess the needs for computer utilization in the community. And maybe it was my lack of skill in doing a needs assessment or applying technology to rural India, but there weren’t too many areas that I was coming out with where technology could be applied to a certain audience to reap some great benefits. And from all my ‘research’ – i.e. looking at papers and cases studies – the greatest need that computers tended to address in a rural setting was that of connectivity. A VSAT link to the Internet can provide remote communities the kind of access to information that can make significant impact on their lives: the weather forecast for a fishing village, the mandi (market) price of agricultural produce for a farmer, ability to quickly and cheaply communicate with loved ones, suppliers, buyers, doctors, government officials, specialists in the bigger towns and the bustling cities.

And for a rural setting, Bagar is quite well connected. On the Jaipur-Pilani state highway, it is exactly halfway between two major town: 15kms east from Jhunjhunu, the district headquarters, and 15kms west from Chirawa. Pilani, another major town (famous for the Birla Institute of Technology and Science – BITS) is another 15km from Chirawa. Buses ply to these cities every 15 minutes or so, throughout the night, and also to Jaipur and Delhi every hour or so.



If road connectivity is decent, telecom connectivity is even better. There are 5 cellphone towers in this town of 15,000, as well as landline phone connectivity. Commercial internet is available at dialup (and a bit faster) speeds via the landline or the cellphone (we use the Reliance cellphone – twice the speed of dialup).

A decent percentage of the populace reads the newspapers quite regularly. It also helps having 3 newspaper agencies in town, as well as a library that stocks 11 dailies (including 3 in English).
Now the picture isn’t all that rosy either – there may be access to Internet, but almost no one uses it. And the nearness to the major towns keeps the local businesses from expanding (there is just better price, quality and choice to be found in the bigger towns).

And computer utilization itself? Surprisingly, there was some. There were 2 computer centres (1 a real permanent centres, another was a guy with two computers, now closed) providing basic computer education. Most of the schools also had computer labs (built when the Rajasthan government made computer education mandatory – and abandoned when it reversed that decision a couple of years later). The private schools do continue to teach computers though. The photo studios, printing and music guys all had computers for their own uses. And by most estimates, there were around 50 private computer owners in town.

What it all boiled down to, in my mind, was that I couldn’t find a burning ‘need’ for computer technology in this town. It just didn’t seem like a development priority – there just were bigger issues e.g. a consistent supply of power in the adjoining dhaanis (little villages).

Here’s how that obviously changed. Our team lead/manager/staff person here was convinced that I had zero/zilch/0 motivation to continue with the computer technology area, and recommended I just focus on something of my liking (hence solar power). Two days later though, we had a visit from the founder/director of Indicorps – Anand. He made a couple of simple yet powerful observations (yet again highlighting the power of the outside perspective):

1. We had a lot more resources than we’d anticipated/assumed (it was way comfortable living compared to village life, we were well connected, we had the funds and influence to back us, the population had money to support some sort of commercial venture etc). However, instead of being more empowered because of the resources at hand, we’d managed to make ourselves feel less empowered because of this.
2. There are still tremendous opportunities to develop this town. He put it in a way that still rings with me: “Ask yourselves – would you live in this town? Then let’s work to make this a place that you’d want to live in”. Our task here then was not to take this town from 0-30, it was to take this from 50-100, a place that can compete with the best of India.

These two facts had quite an impact on my thinking about my project – I have the money, I had commercial Internet, I had a basic seed of a computer literate population – let me use it! And yah, there is so much more that I did with computers back in the US, there has to be tremendous potential here for the same. And so what if this maybe something that is not needed – its something that raises the bar. A few weeks later I would come up with an analogy: Just because there are a few students behind in a class, the teacher cannot ignore the ones who are ahead. We can’t wait to only focus on the kids that are behind and bring everybody upto a basic level. We have to continue to move the class ahead, and continue raise the standards for everybody.

My experiment here then was not that of need. It was of potential.

A few things came out of that visit – I decided to stick to computer tech utilization as my project. There was yet another cycle of project planning and proposal writing. As mandated, we travelled to seek answers and much-needed inspiration from other organizations in India doing similar work.

And I managed to make peace with what I’m doing here.

युं हीं (Just like that)

हीरालालजी सैनी बन रहे थे सेठ

हीरालालजी सैनी का मोटा हो रहा था पेट

पेड़े खाए अनेक, जिन पर लग रहा था गुलाब

खाते ही गए भय्या, लग गया जोरों से जुलाब

फिर दूसरा दिन जब आया, तब दबा के खाए पकवान

पेट पकड़ कर बोल उठे, "हाए रे मेरे भगवान"

ये क्या किया तुमने, कैसा यह कमाल,

तेरे ही चाहने से तो हुआ है, मेरे पेट मे यह धमाल

"मूरख", क्रोध मे आए भगवन, यह तो तेरे लालच का है प्रमाण

अपने पेट की ही सीमा को भूल गया, बनने में तू धनवान

 

- आशीष

(Heeralalji is the guy who takes care of the guest house where we stay. He's actually really fit. I'm kind of teaching him how to type both in hindi and english, and I was showing him something. and then ended up making a sentence. and another that rhymed. and then typed this thing up in 20 mins.)



UPDATE - Nov 7


By popular demand, here's the transliteration of this poem. It's really a very simple foolish rhyme, but now you know for yourself:

Heeralaji Saini ban rahe the seth
Heeralalji Saini ka mota ho raha tha pet
Pede khaye anek, jin par lag raha tha gulab
Khate hi gaye bhaiyya, lag gaya zoron se julaab
Phir doosra din jab aaya, tab daba ke khaaye pakvaan
Paet pakad kar boil uthe, “Haaye re mere bhagwaan”
Ye kya kiya tumne, kaisa hai kamaal
Tere hi chaahne se to hua hai, mere paet mein yeh Dhamaal
“Moorakh”, krodh mein aaye bhagvan, yeh to tere laalach ka hai pramaan
Apne pet ki hi seema ko bhool gaya, banne mein tu dhanvaan

- Ashish

So much to write, so little time

Alright - it's 12:58 in the night here (which is really really late for me). And I owe everybody a whopping humungous post (or many many many others), because so many things have happened in the last 6 weeks that I've been here in Bagar. And probably the biggest of all them happenings happened tonight - my project has been completely changed. From looking at computer technology utilization, I'm considering solar power. Again, many many reasons for it (project related and personal).

Anyways - I'm really excited about working on solar power. Really really.

BTW - today is Nov 2nd so, Happy Birthday Alvir!!!

(Alvir is also a fellow this year with Indicorps, probably doing great things in Jaisamand - district near Udaipur - south of Rajasthan, but more importantly, a great guy to meet in person).

Now back to typing up the rest of that documentation

Lots going on this week

Sunday - have to finalize what I'm planning to do as my main project for the next two years (at least for the next six months). Likely that it's going to be around using computer technology for rural/semi-urban areas. Only thing that I'm convinced of so far is no matter what it is, an essential aspect of it is that the computing aspect of it must be in Hindi.

Which means I'm trying to learn Hindi typing. And I think I've pretty much got it down (speed requires a lot, but hey).

पर हम रविवार तक काफी व्यस्त रहेंगे, तो मुलाकात होती है उसके बाद।
(But I'm going to be busy till Sunday, so we'll meet after that!)

Yup - so other than that, two or three other pieces of documentation due on Sunday - promise to write up something after that.

P.S. I'll be in Bombay from the 18th to the 21st to meet my mom/grandfather. No cellphone service during that time (roaming doesn't really work with my cellphone plan). Call me on my Bombay home number in that time.

- आशीष

Photo updates

Note - I wrote this on Sep 22.
Note - internet's quite slow. the picture's will come when the come.
Note - just spent a long time REALLY late in the night uploading these pics here. More later.

---

So I guess it's time for a little pictorial update. It's been almost a week since I got to my project site in Bagar, Rajasthan. And it's been a series of ups and downs. Dealing with the heat, but liking the good. Connecting with the rest of the team members, and discovering with the indifference and cynicism of some (many?) of the locals here. Discovering some very peaceful temples, and contending with the completely whacked sleep cycle (maybe it's the heat, I don't know).

Now, this week has been all about going out into Bagar and getting a taste for it. More importantly, there hasn't been any picture taking. So, this pictoral update is largely going to be taking you through orientation.



Saw this pic on the amazing race. It reads, "Technology Japani, Dil Hindustani" i.e. Japanese Technology, Indian Heart


Map that Indicorps put together outlining all the projects Indicorps has done so far. We are the big round circle of red dots in the Northwest (state of Rajasthan).


A close up, detailing all the projects for 2006-2007


So, one of the NGOs that Indicorps is closely aligned to is one called 'Manav Sadhna' that works quite closely with the Gandhian philosphy. The founder, Jayesh Bhai, also happens to be the son of Ishwar Kaka, who is the director of the Environmental Santitation Insitute (where our orientation was taking place). Anyways - Jayesh Bhai had come to give a discourse on a service-related topic. Before starting, one of the Manav Sadhna volunteers had made this 'rangoli' - a traditional Indian thing where you make designs/patterns using colours - with the Manav Sadhna motto - Love All, Serve All. As you can probably tell, they serve all faiths.


Jayesh Bhai and I. This was while he was giving us a tour of HridayKunj - Gandhiji's house at Gandhi Ashram. Most famous as the place where the Salt March started.


Gandhiji's office, with all the original furniture. I remember the place having quite a feel of reverence to it. Maybe it was in my head - still a powerful place to be in.


So, Ishwar Kaka is part of the Ahmedabad Laughing Club - a group of guys who exercise and believe in the power of laugh. A lot of their laughing exercises are really goofy - so if you're not laughing with them, you're definitely laughing at them. Can't question the efficacy of that approach though. Good times, good times


Last couple of days of orientation - a list of all the information sessions we had


This is me with the campus manager of the place - Jaidev Bhai. He can be a pretty goofy character, and him and I really got along. This is us goofing around on the morning of when I left for Jaipur/Bagar.


This is actually in Bagar. I have titled this one "Feast". Sheel, if you're reading this, I'm sure that like me, you couldn't help but think that 'Vando Nathi' has a pretty good life to look forward to.


Sunrise in Bagar the next morning taken from the place we're staying in. I did some sharpening or whatever to the image - the colours are all untouched.


Pigeons flocking at sunrise on top of the water tank.

Heading out for Bagar today

Yay for finally starting the project. It's been an absolutely inspirational month during Indicorps orientation. I was thinking about this yesterday during one of the lessons learned sessions from the staff/founders. If I was running this thing - then my job was almost done yesterday. I would have managed to find and bring some quite inspirational people that just want to serve their country. And I've prepared and provoked and inspired them in the last month. Now it's really upto them.

Anyhoo - that still doesn't take away from the excitement of finally beginning this journey. Although I must admit, right now I do have butterflies in my stomach. Then again, it might be the general Indian stomach syndrome (maybe I could come up with a catchy name for it - like General Abdominal Syndrome (GAS)).

I'm out for now. Will leave you with a few thoughts/quotes:

1.

"Kuch to karo yaar"

Loose translation "Dude, do something at least". Saw this on the t-shirt of some volunteer at Manav Sadhna (an NGO that is close to Indicorps). This has pretty much been my motto in the last week or two. It reverberates with me so powerfully, becuase maybe it encapsulates in 4 words why I came here, and what it is that I want to do.

2.

"Philosophers have interpreted the world n many different ways. The point, however, is to change it."

A 2-yr fellow/staff during orientation mentioned this as his motto. Pretty powerful quote in my mind.

3.

"Fear is not a good enough reason for you not to do something"

One of the staff members, who heard it from Mark and John of friendshipwithoutborders.org. Check out the video if you haven't.