I am frequently asked - where do you come from? I usually say Dad’s in the Army, lived all over, so I am from no-where. Now I know better! Effectively for me (and post partition for my ancestors)- I come from a little village in Haryana called Nigana. 7500 people, lots of farms, cow dung cakes for cooking fuel and no refrigerators. And yes the sheer joy of plucking sugarcame from the field and plugging your own quick sugar fix right there.
Two and a half hours from Delhi, where I live right now, is Rohtak where one of the latest Indian Institutes of Management came up. 30 minutes from there off a dusty bylane is the village where my grandfathers younger brother is the village numberdar (local village headman). This is where my father spent a few years growing up, summer hols flinging himself off trees into the village pond, hung on buffalo tails while they bathed to learn how to swim, stole into relatives houses to sip milk out of earthenware pots with a hollow wheat stalk as a straw.
It is the place which powers stories of the hearty north Indian family, of young boy exploits from my Dad’s two brothers, of my newlywed mothers’ attempts to adapt to village life for a few days she spent there (it was the first time she learnt how to fire an earthen oven), of my elder Uncles’ stunts with the new tractor and pranks with my great grandfather - Lala Buda Ram. (Mr Old Chap is the literal and accurate translation I believe).
As the lines of inheritance pass down, to my name will come a few sarson fields and a deed on paper that says I own a chunk of land. I went to Nigana to revisit my father’s childhood and see this chunk of land. I was not surprised. I saw my Dad jump out of the car and explore the little haveli, the cow shed, the outhouse and the roof, point out the neighbours and the common village tandoor like he’d never been away. It’s like catching a glimpse of your own youth in your father (it helps that we look pricelessly alike). And that glimpse is a moment no son should ever miss. (For the record, my Dad’s far more carefree, youthful and chiller than me. He has a love for life, food and a natural balance that I would do well to learn from).
The village btw is exactly that – a copy book Indian village. The wood burning stoves, brick kilns, bunch of buffalos addling by with that massively clueless look their large faces (I might vote to be re-incarnated as a farm animal – it’s a good ambivalent life of sunning oneself, chewing cud and perambulating at a leisurely pace almost always). I loved the roti and parathna cooked over cow dung fire, the glasses of lassi and the walks in the fresh smelling air. I marveled at the old “dudes” (as a few friends would call them) with their elegant turbans, shawls thrown over their shoulders with the elegance of a belle, the gnarled hands and the straight-as-a-lance bearing. Endless fields with laborers toiling, pumps spouting rivulets of water and fields swaying in the breeze…
What I did not expect to register and what is not romantic is the sheer gulf that exists between life as-I-know-it in the city and the village. The lack of infrastructure, access to a great education and woefully outdated systems of hygiene and waste disposal is appalling. The restricted opportunity if you’re a village kid and the absence of a means to make an informed choice on what you want to do with your life can stunt generations.
This is not my take on village life. In the brief hours I spent there I can imagine that sleeping on a charpoy under the stars in the summer, the fresh food and clean air makes for a healthier life than the city. It is just that it does not afford you the opportunity to do anything new or break the mould easily to turn entrepreneur. It is just a very long ride out of the cycle for a lot of people.
I am yet to fully decipher what my discovery means and what I believe can be done o create opportunity for so much of India that sits in the villages. Two things hold a small hope
1. I will, over the next few months work with Lisa Heydlauff and her great team on the Be!Fund. The Be!Fund Invests in the potential of young entrepreneurs who live in India’s slums and villages to pioneer enterprises that solve problems in their communities: water, waste, energy . I will play a role interviewing and working with young entrepreneurs on ideas for this market. See how the Be!Fund works here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSd6KtRGoPM
2. I am at the Unbox Festival from 24th – 27th February 2011. The workshops and agenda might spark interesting thoughts on ideas and innovation that works for India.
I left Nigana feeling incredibly lucky. Lucky because my Dad made use of the exposure given to him by my grandfather and built a life for himself that meant a better education and life for me and my little sister. He shrugs off his toil but I know he and my mother have made sure we've had the best possible education and support to date. It's something that I am deeply thankful for. Someday maybe I’ll accumulate the means and idea to help change the status quo in Nigana. Till then I munch the sugarcane brought back from the village in deep thought.
Did someone screech they can hear the energy buzzing from me? It’s just the sugar guys. It's just the sugar.
