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 .