Focal point frustration

Back in January I embarked on a trip to the geographical center of India - Nagpur, Maharashtra - to attend the 1st India International Energy Summit (IIES, www.iies.in).  What's the significance of the center?  Four yatras, or journeys, of renewable energy demonstrations in biodiesel-powered vehicles hit major cities, population centers, and energy installations on more or less cardinally-oriented paths toward Nagpur, culminating in the summit that was hosted by the Visveswarya National Institute of Technology.

Sounds grand, eh?  I thought so too.  But - even after completely ignoring the appalling host of logistical ball drops, absences of information, and a complete lack of discipline in the conference proceedings - this summit held no resemblance to a serious talk about India's role in energy management and global impacts.  It was largely a forum for VNIT students and professors to give talks about their work, which by all means is a necessary and useful activity, but the constant thought nagging me was the extreme lack of innovation, purpose, and vision.  The keynote speeches were lackluster; efforts to coordinate disparate projects toward more holistic and practical solutions were rare.  I must say that even the quality of the research was nothing to sneeze at.  Despite making a conscious attempt to decouple content from presentation skills and speaker composure, it was glaringly obvious that, on an international scale, nothing new was going on there.

Still, it's the first one.  I get that there are bugs to work out.  I hope to see more in the future, but with a much larger contingent of international work.  This is not intended to be a giant whiny complaint; rather, I'd just honestly like to see an effort that lives up to the scope of an international energy summit.  Some things were positive: I didn't see the yatras personally, but they seemed successful.  While walking around the tents of the commercial energy expo, I was delighted to see undergrad engineering students embarking on an ambitious exercise in renewable energy and embedded automation - they were building a small scale model of a single axis solar panel tracking system.  It was great to hear their enthusiasm, and when it became clear to them that I have experience in this area, they earnestly asked for advice.  That was super fun.  Being called "sir" was weird, but hell, in comparison, I'm getting up there.

 They put together an "energy sustainable" model of a rural village, replete with solar lighting installations and energy-efficient machinery.  It was a bit hokey, I have to admit, but a nice idea nontheless:

Check out that cool nonchalance, that subtle swagger!  This, my friends, is
how one should pose in front of a mock solar village: pure eshtyle.

But but BUT.  There was this one guy demonstrating a "clean stove" that just boiled my blood (no pun intended).  I get annoyed and personally offended just thinking about it!  That anger will manifest as a proper hand-waving eye-bulging mouth-foaming blog rant in the near future.

Cache dump

I swear that notable things happen with a frequency greater than once every couple months.  Yet I fail to write anything about them.  And then they get all stale and irrelevant and nearly unworthy of a blog post.

But like most restaurant practices, I'll serve up summa dat stale blogslop in a course of fresh, presentable summaries, garnished with crispy new tidbits of happenings, followed by the pièce de résistance:  a renewed promise of much more frequent blogpost helpings.  Appetized yet?  Get ready for a gluttonous literary dining experience...

From the ground up

Keeping one's nose in a Marathi-English dictionary can only go so far.  Fortunately, the Marathi program at AIIS (American Institute of Indian Studies) has a strong community participation component.  Guests would come in for conversation; those who were more or less monolingual provided the perfect opportunity to butcher grammar and genders with no judgment, and more importantly, without the typical patronizing or out-of-pity switch to English that is far too common here.  (Or the equally common switch to Hindi, which is quickly followed by a simultaneous bemused and dumbfounded reaction of "why doesn't this desi-looking dude know a lick of anything I say?!)

"Out of station site visits" - in other words, class field trips strangely reminscent of 4th grade - got us out of Pune and deeper into the bowels of Maharashtra.  My instructors' thoughtfulness resulted in two excursions that dovetail remarkably well with the general theme of my work here:


Ralegaon Siddhi

Anna Hazare (अण्णा हजारे): village leader, infrastructure developer, social reformer, political activist, anti-corruption vigilante, owner of (nearly) nothing, inspiration to many.  He catapulted himself to national awareness when he completely revitalized the derelict village of Ralegan Siddhi.  Formerly paralyzed by severe droughts and wallowing in pandemic alcoholism, this defunct village performed a swift about face as Anna instituted strict, almost socialist decrees aimed at lifting the people out of their spiraling poverty and bringing prosperity back to the region.

Nashabandi, or complete moratorium on drinking.
One of many "bandis" instituted in Ralegaon Siddhi.

His water management methods effected remarkable increases in productivity: milk production increased from 300L/day to more than 4000, and per capita income increased tenfold.  The government of India is now replicating these reforms in more than 85 villages in Maharashtra under the Model Village program.  For more information on Anna Hazare's work, visit www.annahazare.org.

A well that helps recharge the water table during the dry season.

Smart water management is one of the most important factors in improving village quality of life.  A concurrent step is rural energy management - as agricultural production increases, the need for dependable and affordable energy resources skyrockets.  Instead of simply exporting raw materials to outside manufacturers, villages can potentially establish a full range of value-add services, from cotton ginning to refined milk products, thereby capturing much higher profits.

We were able to practice Marathi in the context of unprecedented rural reform.  It was inspiring to meet such a progressive advocate for rural people!

Honored to be granted an audience with the man himself!

Agri-Tourism, Baramati

We took a mini vacation of sorts at the Agricultural Development Trust in Malegaon, right outside of Baramati.  The general intent of this industry is clear: round up city dwellers, show them some quaint farming and nature, and charge a pretty penny.

Roughing it in "tents" that had better appointed bathrooms than most 3 star hotels.

Thankfully the establishment at Malegaon was more than just a tourist trap.  An in-house agricultural research center focuses on implementing state-of-the-art horticultural practices and prudent resource management. They run a variety of livestock rearing farms and support local cottage industries, such as vertical silk production (silkworms to finished clothes).  They also run education, outreach, and empowerment programs for area farmers.

Hearing an explanation of the operation
of a local jaggery (raw sugar) factory.

Sugarcane biomass (bagasse) is used as fuel for the jaggery furnaces.

Weaving using hand-powered looms.

My favorite - a swing that powers a garden irrigation sprinkler!

Again, here is solid proof that sound resource management practices are highly successful on a rural, decentralized basis.  Distributed renewable energy has an even greater potential in improving rural communities without the bureaucracy and inefficiency that comes with large-scale centralized systems.  And there's no harm in a little tourism generating some money on the side.  The clean, quiet air was a welcome change from frenetic Pune.  We even took the requisite बैल गाडी (bullock cart) ride!

These in-situ "hot seat" practice experiences proved immensely useful for effective communication in later, work-related interactions.  More on that soon.

Diligence

You know how it feels really good to stay on top of things?  Like work, school, research, connecting with people?

Or updating the blog?

Fail.

Like this entry.  I was surprised to see that I had started this draft on 11/20.  November.  I had written "coming onto week 14" - at that point, I was indeed counting.  Completely rid myself of that bad habit as the weeks blended into months.  A quick and dirty highlights reel of major happenings:

• More than 3 months of intense Marathi classes.  At this point I can't remember what I didn't know before I started, if that makes any sense. आता थोडी तरी मराठी बोलू व लिहू शकतो !  This unique opportunity unleashed a whole host of thoughtful musings about language- to be expounded upon shortly.

Excellent one-on-one class environment!

Healthy discussions (चर्चा)  of the exquisite subtleties of Marathi, in Marathi.
During tea time, no less.

Intense, but always relaxed. Structured, but comfortably flexible.  Fantastic!

• An excellent break in mid October to celebrate Navratri in the epicenter of Gujarati culture: Baroda and Ahmedabad.  I had been dreaming of this pilgrimage for years.  Never will I forget dancing in complete synchrony with 10,000 other equally enthusiastic dancers.  Check it out below, but with the knowledge that pictures do it no justice.  You just gotta be there.

The biggest, most organized, most coordinated garba I have ever seen.  

Americans got some moves too.

• Realizing that rickshawallas are some of the most fascinating and infuriating people in the world.  An in-depth study (read: viable Fulbright project proposal) of their complex society and hierarchy - replete with drama, politics, scandal, corruption, boredom, rampant public urination (by no means unique to them, but in their case, who can blame them?) and a curiously voracious appetite for reading the paper, many times at the expense of a ready fare - would be a gold mine of a peek into the sociological structure of one of India's most needed, despised, and misunderstood segments of the population.

• Wondering when I'd moved into a raging warzone.  Or, celebrating Diwali in present day India.  

• Reconnecting with family!

भावबिज (Bhaubeez)

Kusum Aji's 94th - yes, you read that right - 94th birthday

• Giving in to the stereotype and choosing Goa as the holidays / New Year's destination.  Not quite up to the hype, but good nonetheless:

Credit: Sherry Rahmatian

I like to think of these months as the "break-in" phase of the Fulbright experience.  Get the lay of the land.  Have a solid work/study structure to keep busy (the regular four hours per day of class, five days a week, complete with homework assignments and field trips, generated a peculiar deja vu: 4th grade?).  Properly settle in without the added pressure of immediately getting moving with the actual research proposal.  Good old days, they were.  Hints of nostalgia have already started to surface...

Post Marathi class, the end of year holidays provided an easy distraction to the work at hand.  But now, the honeymoon phase is over.  Me n' India- we're now in each other's faces, ready for the long haul and the real work.  Time to get my hands dirty.

Nikhil, India. India, Nikhil. Get comfortable.

Cannot believe it's been only 9 days.

Landed in Delhi on AUGUST 15TH of all days. Remarkably UNeventful. Delhi airport is ridiculously amazing! Delhi itself is one giant construction dirt pile.

First week: whirlwind of orientation, getting ripped off, speaking horrible Hindi, successfully registering at the FRRO (my heart goes out to all Fulbrighters who are still struggling with this. stick with it guys.), meeting with my advisor / hanging out with some very cool NGO people, and dealing with massive phone/internet/connectivity withdrawal. My Nexus One reduces to a brick here.

One highlight- convincing the guy at Jantar Mantar that I'm Indian: "Aarey bhaiya! Hum bhi Mumbai se hai!" No idea if that's right, but it did the trick: I paid the Rs.5 fare instead of Rs.100!

Landed in Pune on Sunday with Marathi all around me. Sweet! We've got an awesome 3BR apartment in Viman Nagar. Marathi classes hopefully start tomorrow.