A Different Kind of Visit

Real different.......I was in hospital four days…… admitted under emergency conditions, to what’s apparently been a close call.

What does an experience like that do to you? 

It could radically alter..... to up level and appreciate, or to whimper and shrivel. It’s really a choice. One thing it does enable is a whole different level of Mindfulness. It’s a sure knock on the door.

And the learning never seems to stop for sure. The experience itself has been as intense and interesting, as say the Bihar experience or the Coorg Drive. Not underplaying…….. just a defense mechanism to accept something as crazy or extreme as a situation, which the doc says could have gone either way.

The huge learning is that you don’t know as much as you think you do, even about pretty basic stuff, like your own body at first level needs.... one wake up call there.

The actual story: I’ve been having a slight wheeze for a while now, like a month, but only in Bangalore. It went away in Bihar and in Hyd, so I presumed it was the supposedly awful Bangalore weather (which I just love) or the cat kitten brood I have around (as I’m kind of allergic, but again love).

Sunday night it got bad and I had major breathing difficulty. It happened kind of real fast and kind of real slow.... a funny mix. I just couldn’t lay down all night, not for a second, and I just sat and watched myself getting worse….just kept waiting for it to be morning. One part of me said I would be fine in the morning and that I needed to reschedule work meetings to the afternoon. At 3 am I actually decided to watch a movie just to distract, as I needed to keep my mind off the pain that was growing by the minute. It was full dramatic, when I went to throw up, I banged against a wall piece ........it toppled over with the Ganesha and Shiva Thandava figurines…and I’m thinking…that’s why films are so dramatic and filmy. All this actually happens :)

Another part of me took the trouble of putting my diary back in, as the thought was that I wouldn’t want anyone picking it up and browsing through should I not be around anymore. Funny contrasts. You start to experience your mind, and you, as two separate entities at very distinct levels.

But in and through all that, while my body was going through distress because of oxygen depravation and my right side was hurting like mad, going numb, and I had parts of my body on fire, I didn’t think I needed to rush to the hospital. My mind thought only so far as to say….. left side is known alarm signals…right side…well, I didn’t know.  Inability to think or Stupid False Bravado....... I don’t know…..but big big mistake.

Take away? When things go wrong, do not rationalize, do not think….go get help.

PS: I'm back home and fine, and actually listing out even the smaller and subtler want-to-dos in life :)

Living in Mindful Space

We are what we Feel and Perceive

If we are Angry, we are the Anger

If we are in Love, we are the Love

If we look at a Snowy Mountain Peak,

we are the Snowy Mountain Peak

While Dreaming, we are the Dream

                                 -Thich Nhat Hanh

In Silence there is Clarity......It is Silence that enables the possibility of Clarity

Clarity brings with it responsibility, full responsibility for oneself. And he says most people are afraid to go there.

He speaks of a Smorgasbord of Stimuli.  Having plenty of stimuli makes it easy for us to distract ourselves from what we're feeling. But when there is silence, all these things present themselves clearly.

He talks of four kinds of stimuli: edible food; sense impressions; volition; and consciousness, individual and collective.

Edible food is the food we eat each day. 

Sense impressions are all the impressions we receive through our eyes, ears, tongue, body and mind.
Volition is your will, your concern, your desire. This is food because it 'feeds' your decisions, your actions and your movements. 

Consciousness is the way your mind feeds your thoughts and actions. It also includes collective consciousness and how it affects you.

All of these can be nourishing .....or toxic and that's where it's a choice, and choice comes out of clarity. Awareness is the key to our protection. We can be anything we want even without a magic wand.

With that little poem of four lines, he brings out so beautifully how all the sensory things we allow, are us. When we are enjoying a good book, it is us. When we watch a bad tv program, it is also us. 

The more things you do consciously, and the more you surround yourself with things, actions, people who are a positive influence on you, the more positive your space.

It's like eating sattvic food as against eating junk food. We know which is good for us and which not. Which can give us temporary highs, and which more damaging. We surely leave out the toxic foods.....so why not all the toxins in life. 

An example he gives: Conversation is also sensory food.... if you talk to a person who is full of need, envy or bitterness, it drains you of that much energy, because you absorb that persons energy of despair.

There are miracles in the world outside. Open your windows to those miracles, and while seeking them out, continue to be aware of yourself and your breathing. We rarely pay attention to our own desire. We act, but we don't have the space or quiet to act with intention. Without purpose, we are just drifting. 

We rarely offer ourselves the time and space to consider. Am I doing what I most want to be doing with my life? Do I even know what that is? The noise in our heads and all around us drowns out the 'still small voice' inside. We are too busy doing something, that we rarely take a moment to look deeply and check in with our deepest desires.

Volition is a tremendous source of energy.

Consciously choosing what and who you surround yourself with is among the keys to finding more space and joy.

The Sacred Cows of Marriage and Divorce

Astro and Danielle Teller | TEDxBoston

It's a fifteen minute talk from their own experience, and an added factor is that Astro is VP at Google

One reason I found this extra interesting, is how it also aligns with the thoughts in the recent post on  'how to optimize influence ' , from the perspective of how we all tend to look for that One Reason for anything, be it how kids shape up, or why a marriage breaks, or even why a child catches a cold......but there are always multiple reasons and factors that come together to make something occur or be. There's a lot of mistaking the trigger for the reason, and that's something we would all do good to watch for.

Sense of Wonder

Last week I was in Hyderabad to see off my parents, who were out on a trip to the US,  more significantly to Alaska. Apparently a college time dream of my dad's....... Geologist and all that, na. And while discussing Alaska, I'm like.........do you think you'll get to see the Aurora Borealis?

And he's like, yes, good thought, let's see....... and he brings out this book:

A Readers Digest Publication: The World Around Us 

Precious Precious Copy

One look at it, and I simply went cold. I'd forgotten it existed, but seeing it now brought back such an onslaught of memories. Each page I turned brought back a memory. I must have read it cover to cover a million times. And the brilliant pictures must have set fire to hours and hours of imagination, and that's why that impact.

And I was thinking how in those days of before Google, our sense of wonder came from such books. Those were far away lands, mysterious, never reachable...strong triggers to imagination and wonder. Lack of access seems to fire so much more imagination and desire. It's interesting. I don't know if today's kids have that sense of wonder to anything at all. It's like everything is a possibility. 

In principle that sounds like a good thing. That anything is a possibility. Their ability to just be........ live in the moment....is way higher, and at a more conscious level than we ever did.   I have a lot of faith in them........so, sense of Wonder aside, I'll stay with that belief  :)

For myself, seeing the Aurora Borealis is on my bucket list. For those not familiar, these are lights seen around the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. Auroras that occur in the northern hemisphere are called 'Aurora Borealis' or 'northern lights' and auroras that occur in the southern hemisphere are called 'Aurora Australis' or 'southern lights'. They occur  due to the collision between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere, with extreme variations in colour, ranging from mostly green and pink to  red, yellow, blue, and violet.

Want to experience this in real ...........insha allah :)

But above that, what I wanted to talk about is in itself...the sense of wonder. We don't need a book to enable it.......it can be anything, a sunrise, a blade of grass, a child laugh, a kitten mew....but lets be enough in the moment to see it......to recognize it.....to acknowledge it.

It adds an underlying layer of beauty to life.

How to Optimize Influence

A really fascinating write up on how multiple influences are 10x more effective in changing behavior patterns, than any one single source of influence, however efficient or powerful. The success rate is apparently a shift from 4% to 40% when four or more means of influence are used simultaneously.

                                  

This particular study talks of sources of influence, from the personal, social and structural perspectives. It talks of how our most serious problems are rooted in human behavior and how multiple sources of influence are required to create any kind of significant impact.

A short synopsis of the six sources of influence they talk about:

Personal  Motivation: Link to mission and values - They say you cannot motivate people to do what they are not motivated to do. So no level of external motivation can be as influencing as enabling a real motivation, by linking it to deeply held values. Carrots and sticks by themselves have limited reach; more powerful is to put meaning to the action.

Personal Ability: Over Invest in Skill Building - Its not all about motivation. It's also about taking the trouble to find out if there is the ability. That is somehow presumed. Elite performers aren't necessarily faster or smarter, they are though better trained. 

Social Motivation: Harness Peer Pressure - Apparently, whether people acknowledge it or not, there are few motivators as potent as the approval or disapproval of friends and coworkers.

Social Ability: Create Social Support - Identify not just the formal leaders but the opinion leaders and use these as intervention points. 

Structural Motivation:Align Rewards and Ensure Accountability - External rewards need to be real and valuable, and should be used as reinforcement to the personal and social sources of influence.

Structural Ability:Change the environment - A key to changing an organizations mental agenda was to change the data or information that flows down the hierarchy, make it more relevant and aligned to objectives.

Apparently, in organizations or at a personal level where behavioral changes are warranted, most think tanks come up with what they believe will be the best source of influence. Research has clearly shown that its not about which one, but about how many.

If this interests you and you want to read the whole article, which is really long, here it is How to 10x your Influence

Out of One Bowl

Who would think........ One bowl of food, and you'd have 5 different kinds eat out of it ? When I got here from Hyd, I missed my huge terrace...rather, I used to miss the different kinds of birds I used to feed. But now, I don't just have birds, but all of these. How sweet is that.

                                                      That's Cat 2 that adopted us

                                                         This is one gutsy mouse :)

                 That's a super smart crow. He comes and demands
                         and he even manages to drink the milk.

These red vented bulbuls were a nice surprise

                                              The latest entrants :)

And there's a squirrel, but he's been way too quick for me to get a picture.

The 5 Entrepreneurs From The First Six Months

It's so strange how this works. Just yesterday I'd mentioned how I'm so far from achieving the task of enabling 45 micro energy enterprises over the year, and how we'd done only 5 so far.

I was so focused on the numbers........ what went wrong, what are the learnings, let's re-strategize, and all of that, that until we prepared the first half year report for the project, I'd completely failed to see the 5 done, as 5 different people, with 5 different lives, 5 different impacts. Let me share the experience.

First a little on the project itself, as it's always possible that you can find me an entrepreneur too, Bihar, Orissa or Karnataka :)

The project is targeted at identifying, encouraging and enabling under-served micro energy entrepreneurs.

By micro, we're talking as small as Rs.10,000 to Rs.5,00,000. Energy because that's our area of expertise. Our role is not just financial support, (which goes as a soft loan: 0% to 5%, no security, repayments matched to cash flows), but also support on ideation, market survey, supply linkage, operational support and mentorship. We'd like to be with them for 2 to 3 years atleast. While we don't have the bandwidth to be directly involved, I'd want them to know that we're just a phone call away for anything they might need.

Remember, the goal is to encourage entrepreneurship in a segment which has minimal support.

A snapshot of 2 of the cases:

Solar Sewing Machine at Sirsi, Karnataka

                                                       Geeta Hedge at Sirsi

Geeta, lives in a village in Sirsi, Karnataka, and has one manually run sewing machine. She felt that if she had a motorized machine she could cater to the tailoring requirements of the nearby 5 to 6 villages which had a combined population of 1000, who currently travel a long distance to the nearest town to get their clothes stitched. But due to highly erratic power supply a motorized solution didn't work. 

And that's where the solar powered sewing machine came in. Solarizing her machine cost Rs.22,000. The loan from us was Rs.17,000 at 2% pa interest, monthly instalment of Rs.600 for a 3 year period. We want them to bring in some part of the cost....yes, skin in the game is very important. Enables not just commitment, but more importantly, ownership and pride of achievement. 

It's been a month and shes earned Rs. 8000/- in the month. 

Solar Refrigerator, Bailhongal, Karnataka

                                  Basavaraj Yammi with his Solar Powered Fridge

Basavaraj is a small tea stall owner in Bailhongal, selling coffee, tea and small confectionary items to around 75 customers a day and earning around Rs.4000 pm. While the area is connected to the grid, there is no electricity connection available for petty shops, and he uses solar for lighting in his shop. 

The fridge was a first for SELCO as well. The project cost Rs.1,10,000, and as it was a pilot the funding was done by way of half grant and half loan. Loan was Rs.40,000/- at 2% for 3 years. He now sells aerated drinks and curd as well, and in the three months since, his business has gone up by 40%.

That's the kind of opportunity we want to enable.

An Year in Bangalore

And, what an year it's been.

                               

This is an exercise I normally do when I'm at the end of a diary, like a recap into the diary period in terms of experiences, phases, perspectives, insights, lessons....... It's an interesting thing to do.

I'm doing it now for an year in Bangalore, and it's so flush with new experiences and learnings, that what comes to mind foremost is primarily that deep gratitude to everything and everyone that enabled that.

It's been a lot of firsts.....and firsts definitely bring in their wake a lot of tough and trying times....and then also new highs and joys 

Starting from driving down to Bangalore .... last year same day...just Diksha and me. My lesson started right there. I'm asking this friend to drive down with me, saying I wouldn't be allowed to do it alone, and what I get back in return is...."where did the word 'allowed' come from". And that was the beginning of a deep layer of de conditioning. I threw the word out that day, and have never since let it back in. Thanks there pal.

Finding the bestest house possible, and this was where it was again putting to practice a lesson learnt. Once the objective is clear, focus on the process. After two weeks of looking at more than fifteen houses, I was upset and depressed wondering how I was going to find the right place. And I woke up the next morning to put in place the right process. Sat on a borrowed laptop for an hour, listed out 16 brokers, hired a car for the day, and set out at 9 am with a list of almost 50 houses, and at about 4 pm I'd found it...the bestest possible house :)

SELCO has of course been one amazing experience, which I have been writing about fairly consistently. Even yesterday, I walked out of office after a wonderfully satisfying day, fully energized and ready to take on what today seems near impossible. (A target of 45 energy entrepreneurs by end of year, and six months down I've done only 5). Gratitude there to SELCO and all those I work with.

Travel has been crazy extensive,  what with trips to Mandya, Jaipur, Goa, not once but twice, Pune, Bijapur, Belgaum, Udipi, Coorg and finally Bihar.... between work and personal, it's been at one time unnerving and thrilling. 

At a little more abstract level, the biggest thing I guess, was learning to live alone, which started with questions, skepticism, fear and slowly grew to appreciation, joy, love and again deep gratitude. Diksha moving in with me was real bonus, because we've cracked space and acceptance and bonding at an altogether different level. Coorg on the road, or home at Bangalore....great ride Deech.

And cooking, I did my own cooking for the first ever time in life, never liked it enough to do it on daily basis.......but with music and a glass of wine, found it's not that bad (well mostly).

Music and Reading have re entered life in a big way, and am I glad. 

It's not to say, it's all been ups and joyous. I've had some crazy down moments, those moments of intense loneliness that hit you without warning, times when I've broken down at a traffic signal because I had so many things to do and this feeling of having to do it all alone overwhelming me....and I guess that's the space that posts like 'self-pity' 'handling stress' 'we are our own biggest obstacles'  came out of. Huge learnings there. 

And one right on top would be this blog itself. I'm so so so grateful to this friend for having pushed me to write about my first SELCO trip to Mandya, as thus started this wonderful journey of blogging,......of expression, articulation and growth.  It's almost like my Hobbes :)

Also to all my friends who've just been there for me. Girija, who is always just that call away and so encouraging of all that I do. Vishakha with who I have at least two calls a day......a sync that's so perfect that we wonder why other equations can't be like that. Sujatha, who I've gotten to meet so many times since moving here. Luckily, the list is kind of longer, but I'll suffice a heartfelt thanks to all the others on my what's app mode. You guys know, right!

Oh yeah, and my blog readers...especially Mountain Dweller who's been there since the beginning but remained this brilliant mystery. I love how you think....and one day I'd like to know who you are...the mystery is nice and all, but still :)

And Vineyard Grapes and Mars for not just reading, but keeping those comments coming. And of course the others too...Eunice, Kusuma, Kiran, Annapurna, Sagari, Pavithra,Nakul, and all those I don't know. 

And Family ....... Parents, Praveen, Others....Ravi, Dhruva...Diksha. Especially, my Parents...... leaving Hyderabad, with them there, was one of the most heart wrenching things I've done, I think for them and for me

I know this sounds like a vote of thanks....but guess it's in a way what it is...an expression of deep gratitude.

Bottomline....... I wouldn't change a single facet of where I am today. Huge risks...Huge gains worked for me :)

Last one on Bihar

These are some random experiences and pics from the Bihar trip:

The first morning when I came awake, it looked dawn out the window, but my cell phone showed 4.30 am. I thought it must be tube lights and tried to go back to sleep, but was worried my cell phone was cracking up. I got up to check and sure enough it was dawn, and the phone was right. It gets dawn at 4.30 in Bihar. Until then I didn't realize how many longitudes east, Bihar was to Bangalore :)

The Ganges again

Remnants of a Thakur kind mansion

Very popular puffed rice laddus

Letti Chokha, a local tandoor baked chaat

Cute kids manning a little store

Pretty sight huh? To me it felt straight out of those
Asha Parekh, Saira Banu movies

A Government School, a building with no other infrastructure

Roadside tryst with an elephant

There's atleast 600 trucks getting sand off the
Ganges river bed on everyday basis.

On the way

Lai, Gaya's most popular sweet

Like a finale, I also experienced an earth quake when there. We'd just pulled over to get some letti chokha, at 8 in the evening, and all of a sudden the car shakes violently, and Ranjan's like ...bhookamp hora hai kya? bhoomkamp hai.....and I didn't realize he was serious. But next day the papers read 5.8 on the richter, and Ranjan's like...bhola tha na aapko? It's just 200 kms off Nepal, and the after shocks of the recent large quake were still happening. Earth shaking experience for sure :)

Vishnu Paada Temple - Gaya

It's called Vishnu Paada, as it has Vishnu's footprint imprinted, incised into a block of  basalt rock which is the sanctum sanctorium of this temple.

It's the story of how Gaya got its name. The demon Gayasura who lived there, through severe meditation, acquired divine powers such that anyone who saw or touched him went straight to heaven. This intruded on the power of Yamaraja, the lord of death, who appealed to Vishnu.  So Lord Vishnu killed the demon by putting his foot on his head, (which is the imprint) after granting him the boon that the area surrounding the ground covered by his body would become the holiest place on earth, and be known as Gaya Kshetra. 

The temple is well known for being a pinda daana vedi ( a site for making offerings to ones ancestors). There are fifty-five places in India to perform pinda daan and of these, Gaya is the most important, as mentioned in the puranas.

There's also a story of Sita making the pinda daana for Dhritharashtra; Rama gets suspicious about where she's been, and she looks to the river for evidence, but the river doesn't co-operate. Sita curses the river saying it will flow but never be seen. So Phalgun river always flows underground, just below the surface where it can be scooped out even by hand any time of the year. And it's only in the monsoons that it flows a few inches to feet above the surface, like it was now.

There is a story from the Ramayana at every town we go to in Bihar, what with a lot of the vanavas time of Rama,Laksmana and Seeta having been spent in the forests of Bihar.

The temple in the background. Couldn't get a better picture.

Actually standing in the middle of the river Phalgun. While I didn't want to, Bholanath insisted I walk right in due to the punyakshethra thing :)

Temple view from the river, though you can't see the Gopurams.

An overall interesting experience. 

What you Can't Take...You Can't Give

Exploring a thought:

In order to give, you need to be able to take
In order to take, you need to be able to give

Simple enough? Like the what goes around, comes around?

This is one place I think balance makes for beautiful. And any imbalance is that much cause for discord, dissonance, conflict and such

Let's delve a little deeper.

What is to give? Give, and give what the other wants, as that is to give
What is to take? Take, take what you want, long as its what the other wants to give 

A balance there is what would be rta.....beauty, harmony. 

To be able to give joy....you need to be able to take joy
To be able to give love....you need to be able to take love

A nice aspirational space to be....I'm surely going to try 

A Warm Welcome Home

I got back home, after three days at Hyd, totally drained and washed out....... and what better welcome could I have gotten than to see my bean bag look like this :)

'Arre Yaar' in the Oxford Dictionary

'Arre Yaar' is one of my favorites. It just has this casual but warm,  friendly, natural bonding feel to it. When I heard it made it to the Oxford, my first reaction was a smile...like  another level of acknowledgement to a nice phrase. Then there was the surprise, as I couldn't see how such a nuanced word or phrase could weave itself into English, if you know what I mean.

But that's the beauty of the English Language, right? It just keeps absorbing, growing, evolving.......it doesn't allow those subtleties or nuances of other languages or words stop it.

No constraints...just do it.

I simply love the language, and yes, while I keep getting accused of getting caught up in words, I do think words are beautiful, and I simply love the English Language. (could be because I know no other as well as this...... but so what..... I still love it)

                                       

Two anecdotes or memories come to mind around this:

Nammu, ( a born and brought up in the US cousin), a long long while ago, asked me......'what does 'ya' mean'?. And I said, it means 'yes'.  And she's like...'no, you use it all the time.... not just when you're saying yes......like even when you're saying No'. I couldn't get what she was saying then. Later she caught me saying 'Nahi yaar' to someone, and pounced on me with a 'that's the one'. It was the yaar....often shortened into ya. In fact, it's only then that I realized how much we use it.

And then there's Dhoni at the wickets. This is also an oldish memory, and I don't know if he still does it, as it's been a few years since I've watched cricket. But in his earlier days, he would say it to almost every ball, and because he was keeping (mike on the wickets) we'd hear it so clearly....... 'Arrre Yaarrr"!  And I found that so appealing and cute, that it made every ball that extra bit worth watching, just to hear him say it. He'd put so much expectation, energy and desire into it....like it so clearly expressed how he thought each of those balls could have been a catch.

If I always loved the phrase, he made me love it even more :)

Bodh Gaya

The MahaBodhi temple in Bodh Gaya is significant for the MahaBodhi tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment, all those 2400 years ago. It is thus, the most auspicious and holy pilgrimage center for Buddhists.

Well, for those sceptics out there, who'd go like, how can there be a tree that's that old......and I've been asked....I had presumed it's the same tree through it's ancestors kinds.  

I just told these folks how even the now existent tree looks atleast 500 to 600 years old. And then I got a doubt on how old a peepal tree (bodhi tree) could really be........ and surprise surprise, a peepal tree has a lifespan of 2000 - 3000 years. Amazing, huh ?

The arch reads 'Samjhodi Dwaar', meaning gateway to enlightenment

 The Mahabodhi Temple

                                                   That's THE MahaBodhi tree

Guess the place is just a little overwhelming, because everyone just automatically falls silent.  There is an aura of quiet and serenity, and a natural high energy. You just don't feel like leaving.

In fact, there's another peepal tree right next to this.....and equally old with a lot of stupas around. I did the pranic healing thing of feeling the energy of the tree, and it was a crazy experience..... it was almost magnetic in its hold. I didn't feel like taking my hand off.

It's a place to be experienced. I for sure intend to go again if I get to make another trip to Bihar.

In addition to the MahaBodhi temple, we also visited the Vishwa Shanti Stupa at Rajgir, in Nalanda , one of the 80 peace pagodas of the world. 

 
The Vishwa Shanthi Stupa

Rajgir is again a very auspicious place for Buddhists and Jains as well. Buddha is said to have given many of his initial sermons after attaining enlightenment here, and is also said to have initiated Bimbisara, one of the earliest emperors of the Magadha Dynasty to Buddhism, Likewise, Mahavira, the Jain Guru has spent a significant part of his life in Rajgir.

Rajgir was the original capital of the Magadha dynasty, which is what evolved into the well known Mauryan Empire. ( I didn't know folks could have favorite empires, but my dad does, and his favorite was the Mauryan Empire. In fact he named our house 'Maurya' )

There's also a lot of  Mahabharatha and Ramayana stories associated with the place, one famous one being the wrestling fight between Bhima and Jarasandha, who hailed from this place (where Bhima throws the different part of Jarasandha in different directions as it had the ability to reassemble).

Access is through an arial ropeway, which was fun

A Maanyata of the place; if you draw, with a wish for your children, it comes true. So you see a lot of people doing those designs with their fingers on the sand there.

The Rajgir hills on which the stupa is located

Ranjan caught Bholanath and me unawares; and no, we weren't meditating...just chilling :)

Jugaad

After six days in Bihar, I honestly felt that the concept of Jugaad must have been born there. It’s simply amazing the extent to which optimum utilization happens, and it’s all done so effortlessly and with such non chalence, that you’d think it was no big deal. 

For those not familiar, Jugaad is the local hindi word for simple, intelligent innovations or improvisations in process or product, essentially created by the underserved as work arounds to obstacles of any kind.

Take this for example; this was the first place we stopped for Chai on the way from Patna to Bhagalpur. He puts the kettle on to boil and then picks up the fan, just the blades part..... and I'm told...Ab dekhiye iske saath kya karta hai .....and I'm watching in fascination..

He sticks the fan into the base for 

blowing air, two bricks to make it stay in place

                                     Then he pulls the wire and attaches to the battery of
                                            the auto and voila...the fans running  :)

In fact there's this town of Lakhisarai that we drove through, that has the dubious distinction of being able to duplicate anything, right from Tag Heur watches, Fair and Lovely cream, Head and Shoulders shampoo, Wills Cigarettes ...list goes on......and I’m told it's done so well that you can’t tell the difference. In fact when you buy there from wholesalers, they will even ask 'Sahi or D'? ( like D for duplicate)

Just look at the use of vehicles, any kind of vehicle, and its used at 10X its capacity. This is such a common sight, and they were telling me how these guys buy completely junked vehicles and will attach all kinds of contraptions to make it motorable. 

The Jhajariya is a contraption with a Rajdoot or any other mobike engine, and apparently there's a high court order against it, as it's not a licensed vehicle and has no registration number. Yet, it's ubiquitous in Bihar, and used for anything....... goods, people, buffaloes...just anything .

6 days and 1600 kms of Bihar

One thing that hit me is how different it is to visit a place as a tourist on vacation, as against a locally enabled experience. Having Bholanath and Ranjan with me, not to miss out our driver Prabhakar ji who was with us all six days, travelling by road through the heartlands of Bihar, and as you can see, a lot alongside the Ganges, allowed such a connect with the true nature and character of the place.... and for that I’m truly grateful.  

I thought the level of involvement might have gotten kind of overboard when Amitav tells me, ‘Arre, aap tho bihari accent mein bolreho' :)

It’s been at one time the most productive in terms of work, the most enriching in terms of exposure, and I must say also high on the spiritual scale by way of a visit to Bodh Gaya, and the Maha Bodhi Vriksh (tree) under which Buddha attained enlightenment.

Driving through Begusarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Saamna, Jamui, Rajghir, BodhGaya, and back to Patna….. and while I knew not one of those names before the visit, they all seem so close and familiar now.

Eating Poori Bhaaji and Jalebi for breakfast,  Tea in matkas,  khova samosas at dhabhas, chaaval aur chicken at one of the dingiest places I’ve ever ever eaten, and lots of those little things that made it a memory that will last.

Dabaang, Jugad, TamTam, Ramayana, Buddha, Vihara ........they all flow with the same fluidity that the Ganges does.

The experience has so many facets, that I’m going to have to do a few posts to do justice.... let me start with work.

                     Bholanath, Ranjan and Ashish from our Munger Office

A solar installation; you see the panel?

Inside the home that has the installation

That's the LED light over the door. It's a two light 

system, with the other light inside

A potential entrepreneur, the kirana shop owner 

with Bholanath outside

A laptop, xerox and printer all on Solar Energy

That's the Entrepreneur on the left, with Raman, our 

service technician who is expert with Solar Installations

The village which has several SELCO Installations

Sharing bandi chaat with Archana who works 

with SEWA, a totally women run NGO

Bholanath and Ranjan, thanks a ton for making my visit and stay such a productive and wonderful experience, and looking forward to a lot of entrepreneurs and micro enterprises, identified and supported by your team.