The solar home lighting system project is to ostensibly provide lighting to the village of Khati, Kumaon Himalaya, India. In the initial stages of the project it was calculated that 58 solar units would provide for all Khati households, however a second audit conducted by PEAK staff members going from house to house to ground truth the amount of units required revealed some anomalies in the original figures. It was discovered that grandparents, solo women, and one couple whose marriage had not been religiously 'sanctioned' actually lived independently from their families and had been ommitted by community members from the original figures. The final tally meant the provision of light was needed for 65 households causing 'financial panic' on how to provide an extra 8 units within the existing budget - the upward trend of the Australian dollar provided the answer. An inkling of the quandries to come could have beeen gauged by the massive difficulty encountered with a simple international money transaction that didn't go according to plan. I shall refrain from corporate references but just think - which bank'?
PEAK was able to order 65 units that have been upgraded from the origianl 33 LED bulb to a superior 42 LED bulb and a separate 6 LED night-lamp since the projects inception. The units were ordered through the Grameen Surya Bijlee Foundation (GSBF-Mumbai) in February with the approximate delivery time being 10-15 days. Firmly ensconced in the Himalayas the time frame for delivery came and went. And then began the waiting phase with many anxious moments 'ears strained' listening for mule bells entering into Khati precincts that would herald the arrival of the goods. The silence exposed a fledgling organisations project nightmare gradually unfolding that created a myriad of emotions and angst.
The emotional adjectives were well founded as the problems that unfolded spanned from wrong paperwork (thankyou transport company) to state border sales tax issues that left us waiting for the units over three months after leaving their destination of Mumbai. The perilous journey entailed crossing state borders each with a unique set of rules and regulations regarding paperwork and sales tax, made worse in PEAK's case courtesy of the transport company in their infinite wisdom deciding (unbeknownst to us) they would circumnavigate the sales tax issue under the auspice of 'educational goods' (sales tax exempt)on the relevant paperwork. Of course an official was bound to be suspicious of 65 flat solar panel boxes and 65 battery/light boxes proclaiming to be books and pens, consequently a corpulent inspector peeling back the packaging revealed what appeared to be an electrical cord... and there the goods sat for the next month at Delhi train station. Once this dilemma was apparently resolved via the wonderful Jasjeet Singh Chaddah (GSBF) the goods were then reloaded back onto a train bound for Moradabad which has the distinction not only of being the state border of Uttarakhand but makes many a business person sweat wtih anxiety at the mere mention of the towns name which is synonymous with 'sales tax' issues.
The project started to cause a headache that soon graduated into a thumping migraine as small problems became magnified partially through lack of instant communication. Communication with the outside world necessitates an 8km (16km round trip) to Dhakuri Pass where a recently installed PCO (phone) has become a lifeline between mountain families and their loved ones who are employed in distant climes and strung out project co-ordinators! There is no guarantee that when you have committed your day to make the scenic journey to use the phone that it will actually be in working order (yes- this happened on more than one occassion). On the flip sie it did mean one could view the magnificent Sunderdhunga ice wall and use the day to 'drink tea & socialise' to turn the day into a positive event.
The bearer of news in the mountains is via verbal communication - mountain telegraph - and suddenly we had strangers on the doorstep with various snippets of new on the units whereabouts.We also received the odd note from our wonderful friend Hayat a 'chowkidar' at Dhakuri Dak Bungalow who took it upon himself to be the 'phone liaison man' between Mumbai and Khati. However, tax issues continued to plague us and Scott was left with the unenviable task of making a bizarre mission that evolved from the infamous 'Block' where the Village Development Officer (VDO) resided in Bharari to the tax advocate in Almora. The Advocate whom specialises in moving goods from Moradabad has bottomless pockets but can get things moving once the pockets are brimming, enter the subtle nuances of corruption (that we didn't enter into) and for the first time linguistic skills were left wanting in dealing with a complex issue. In the process Scott go to sleep in close hotel confines with some chronic bidi (cigarette) smoking, 4am television watching locals who coalesced for the common good of getting the goods into Khati, and even managed a 'head to toe' night with Kusal (Head Pradan of the Khati Panchayat). However, this is another story it itself?!
With the tax issues finally sorted and the goods moving after nearly two months at Moradabad railway station, the end of the drama seemed nigh when we were confronted with yet another dilemma.... the goods once released had arrived swiftly at the Kathgodam railway station (the rail head ends when it slams into the sub-himalaya) from here the transport company loaded the units onto a truck bound for Song, yet within two hours were hauled off again. We received a somewhat tortured and garbled message that the police were involved and there was a massive problem (of course we automatically thought baksheesh). After suffering from chronic heart palpitations at the news, we learnt a lesson in verbal mountain telegraph exchange and that is, it morphs along a linguistic contour as diverse as the topography it travels!
More socialising at the local 'phone box' (yes - the very same one that is a 16km round trip) to discover the transport company (now not the best of friends) had left all the paperwork that Scott in combination with Kusal the Pradan had so arduously worked to acquire to get the ggods moving had been inadvertenly left a hundred kilometres wway at the aforementioned railway station (read: triple coronary by-pass)! The truck of course couldn't move without the right paperwork (murder by strangulation via courier pidgeon now imminent). This last fateful issue (factor 10 on the stress Richter scale)was eventually resolved days later and the goods finally made their last journey into the Pindari Valley, but thanks to the archaic slow wheels of Indian bureaucracy and monsoonal weather the installation of the units won't occur until later this year.
Please note: this is a full transcript of events from earlier this year. The edited version appears on the World Nomads Footprints website as the solar project'interim report': http://footprints.worldnomads.com/project/24.aspx
Bonnie
PEAK
