This was a day trip, 5 am to 11 pm, and in terms of kms, around 700 I'd think. Inspite of my love for road trips, it was crazy strenuous, maybe too much bad roads, too many meetings, one of the heaviest rains I've seen, a bad wheeze thrown in ......... so despite it being a good trip in terms of objective, it made me wonder if I really need to slow down :(
The pictures say it best, they capture the beauty and not the stress:
The day was so packed, that I didn't get even a peep into the fort....not even from the outside
Kyatsandra thate idli is apparently really well known, and Kyatsandra was on our way, so did it.
The SELCO office at Chitradurga
Colleagues from Chitradurga; Manjunath, Ajay and Ramesh
In meeting with Deviramma, a potential entrepreneur; she was so interesting
The luminary had water accumulated, and I really liked how Ramesh immediately opened it out and cleaned it up.
The luminary had water accumulated, and I really liked how Ramesh immediately opened it out and cleaned it up.
Deviramma's shop is third in these shacks, on the highway near Hiriyur.
It's hard to grasp the economics of these shacks. Most of them are open only at night, while a couple of them work round the clock. Some of them have turnovers as high as 3 lakh a month, yet they are extremely vulnerable on other counts.
For instance, while Deviramma was very keen on adding a solar refrigerator to her shop and felt it would even treble business, she said they would likely be asked to move, as the highway authorities had served notice. And when I asked her when it was likely to happen she was so pragmatic about it...she's like...'government amma, nale bhartaro, ondu maasam hogudo, aaru maasam hogudo, hogudeillanu, gottilla' . And so they not only can't plan on anything like structured growth, but also live with very high levels of uncertainty.
I'm thinking of still going ahead with this refrigerator on a buy back basis, such that the risk at their end is entirely mitigated. Got to wait and see how that goes.
That's Jayalakshmi and Sreenivas, a tailoring couple in this small village called Obbalapura (which by the way is just 2 kms from the Andhra border, so telugu worked :). This village gets just 4 hours electricity per day, and it's naturally huge impact on their business. We're working on solarizing their sewing machines.
This sight as we left Challikere, was like out of a Bond movie. Those blots on the high tension wires? Those are people......walking around and working up there. Amazing what level of nerves and skill, a task like that would take.
Another eventful and exciting SELCO visit.
It's hard to grasp the economics of these shacks. Most of them are open only at night, while a couple of them work round the clock. Some of them have turnovers as high as 3 lakh a month, yet they are extremely vulnerable on other counts.
For instance, while Deviramma was very keen on adding a solar refrigerator to her shop and felt it would even treble business, she said they would likely be asked to move, as the highway authorities had served notice. And when I asked her when it was likely to happen she was so pragmatic about it...she's like...'government amma, nale bhartaro, ondu maasam hogudo, aaru maasam hogudo, hogudeillanu, gottilla' . And so they not only can't plan on anything like structured growth, but also live with very high levels of uncertainty.
I'm thinking of still going ahead with this refrigerator on a buy back basis, such that the risk at their end is entirely mitigated. Got to wait and see how that goes.
There are these Wind Mills for what seemed like kilometers on end along the way, and it was nice to see Lokeshs (the cab driver) reaction when I very dramatically said...hum jaise sooraj se bijli banathe hain, yeh log hawaa se bijli banathe hain. (the way we generate electricity from the sun, these people generate electricity from wind :)
This sight as we left Challikere, was like out of a Bond movie. Those blots on the high tension wires? Those are people......walking around and working up there. Amazing what level of nerves and skill, a task like that would take.
Another eventful and exciting SELCO visit.
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