Sunday, February 23, 2025
Another road trip!
At breakfast, Reeta and Surender gave me a book, signed by both of them, as a memory of my visit. It was a history of MGVS called Water for Pabolee. This history of MGVS, I found as I read it, is the story of Surender’s life. I see why he wanted me to have it.
Surender then took me to the Aketa Hotel where Harish Chotani (1981 ARI Graduate) was waiting for me. I hope you are ready for one last road trip, because it’s five hours to Lansdowne and we have a full tank of gas! Lansdowne is another cool mountain getaway, a little like Mussoorie, but our purpose wasn’t to take a holiday…well…maybe a little. Road trips are always exciting. We were going there to meet two women’s cooperatives that Harish works with. Joining us on this adventure was Poonam. She has been working in microfinance for 17 years and helps these ladies with marketing. She had yet to meet them in person, so this was a good chance. The name Poonam, by the way, means Full Moon in Hindi.
We moved out of Dehradun via the main road, passing once again under the enormous trees I had seen upon entering. Harish mentioned that the buses moving in and out of traffic were all electric, which explained the absence of pungent diesel fumes – a great improvement. He also noted that Uttarakhand is well known for its quality educational institutions and mentioned the Woodstock school as one of these, though they do not come cheap, by any means.
Three Land Cruisers in Africa
As usual, car talk drifted from this to that, but I will do my best to share key parts in a logical manner. Harish was only 25 when he went to ARI and you could say that his extensive career started roughly after that, with a 13-year stint in Southern Africa in the United Nations World Food Program. He proudly told me that he wore out three Land Cruisers, for he was always on the rough roads going out to where the people were. His focus was microfinance for women’s cooperatives and this is something that cannot be done from an office. He has to go and meet them, sit and talk with them, eat together with them, the same food that they are eating, and most importantly, listen. The foundation of a successful credit union is not money, but trust. If there is no trust, a microfinance group will fail. Conversely, if the proper time and effort are invested in establishing good and trusting relationships, and this is matched with proper management (something Harish teaches them), the impact is tremendous and long-lasting. In short, women are emancipated, from being expected to just collect firewood, cut grass for the cattle, cook, and take care of the children, to participating in decision making in the family and in the community. The money they bring in allows their children to go to school, house improvements to be made, and for a hospital visit to no longer mean financial ruin. Some of them even reach the level that they can don gold jewelry, which, like a fancy suit in the west, elevates their status. “People like us can trigger change … knowledge … information … resources … skills,” reflects Harish. “I have taught one million families in 39 years.”
After Africa, Harish spent two years in Afghanistan, also doing microfinance, then continued his work in India with organizations like Care International. Once again, it would probably be more efficient to simply post his voluminous resume, but that isn’t fun! It’s more genuine to piece together a person’s life like this. “When doing community development,” he stated, “you will have a hundred or a thousand people sitting in front of you. Each one has their own thoughts, ideas, expectations.” I wondered what it would be like to stand in front of those thousand people. What would I say to them? How would I motivate them toward a common goal? It is not an easy job, organizing people. It requires excellent skills of leadership and this is why Harish was there.
Around 2007 Harish decided he needed to tone down his work load before he got burned out, so he moved into consultation. Being able to set his own schedule afforded him some time to learn meditation for personal development. He soon found that investing time in himself made him better at connecting with others. In 2018, he retired completely and took a trip to ARI. I forgot to mention it, but I had met Harish once before, during that visit to ARI. He taught us the style of meditation he was doing. “Retire completely” apparently doesn’t count the projects he still picks up from time to time. The latest one was a program with JICA (The Japan International Cooperation Agency) to help develop the cooperatives we are now going out to meet.
Crossing the Ganges
After some amount of time, and I wasn’t paying attention to the time at all, we reached the Holy Ganges at the sacred city of Haridwar. This is the point where it comes down from the Himalayas into the Indian plains and there is a huge temple complex where funerals are held and the ashes of the dead are dropped into the flow of the mighty river to be taken to heaven. It is also the site of Hindu pilgrimages and there happened to be one today – a long one, stretched out for miles. Many people were walking with colorful Kanwars over their shoulders. These are ornaments handmade from bamboo, adorned with flowers and colorful cloth that symbolize devotion to Shiva, which is what this event was all about. It is called Maha Shivarati, or the “great night of Shiva” and is connected with the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. (Harish explained this to me.) As we crossed the long bridge spanning the Ganges, Poonam pointed to the huge blue statue of Shiva on the west side and his bride, Parvati, standing on the east bank.
From here, our drive left the wide highway and lines of pilgrims and kanwars went on forever. Most were walking, but motorbikes, autos, and tractors with trailers packed with people were also plentiful. Occasionally, we would encounter a truck loaded to the sky with black speakers with booming bass, accompanied by high-pitched traditional Indian tunes. At last, we happened on their meeting point, sprawling with tents and vendors and music and “festivalers,” the peak of the celebrations. Then, all at once, it was gone, behind us, and the road became quiet and bland.
“Disposable” tea cups
This was a good time to stop for tea, and a noodle dish Poonam recommended. The noodles proved to be just the right snack and the tea was served in clay cups. Unbeknownst to me, these cups are meant to be used only once, and you smash them on the ground after your tea is drunk up. I kindly returned mine to the vendor. A man with several large canisters lashed to his motorbike pulled up and opened the top of one of them. It was buffalo milk and I’m guessing this vendor is one of his buyers, and the tea I drank was made from it. After buying some fruit to eat in the car, double priced due to the festival, Poonam said “chele” meaning “let’s go” and off we went.
Living sustainably
In his retirement, Harish has settled in Dehradun where he built a cottage using local materials, powered by solar and heated with a fireplace. On the surrounding land he grows all kinds of fruits and vegetables, watering them with harvested rainwater and fertilizing them with compost. He calls this place Mayetri Farm, which means “friendship.” His aim is to live more sustainably and share his techniques for doing so with his neighbors. They do show interest in what he is doing and come asking about the things he is growing and how he is growing them. Most locals are farming basmati rice, so he encourages them to use the edges of their land to plant herbs which can supplement their income. Then he shows how, on his small land, with the right balance of interplanting, you can use nearly every inch.
After a while, we began seeing tractor after tractor putting along, mounted with trailers heaped with sugar cane. It wasn’t long before I found the reason – a sugar cane factory. One wily boy standing on the roadside adeptly snatched a stalk as the farmer passed him by and got away with it. After that we reached a town where the cows seemed to be particularly lazy or maybe just cheeky, lying calmly in the middle of the road. Harish commented that if cows are holy, why do they let them eat plastic. It was here that we turned into the mountains, and drove alongside a glistening river, up to our lodge – the Summit Jungle Resort!
A feast on the roadside
Before we got there, however, we had one more stop to make. It was at a roadside restaurant Harish and Poonam were very much looking forward to. This one was equipped with a clay oven for handmade, freshly baked roti, garam garam roti, served one after another – heavenly. Harish ordered a vegetarian curry, as he is a vegetarian, and I, not a vegetarian, also ordered a vegetarian curry. Honestly, in India, I could forgo meat. The variety and scrumptiousness of their meatless curries is extraordinary.
That evening our discussions took a decidedly religious turn as we sat on the deck of our lodge, overlooking the dark forest where cheetahs still run wild. Harish told me he doesn’t subscribe to any one “ism.” That is, he does not define himself, or confine himself, to a specific religion or belief set. He was often citing the teachings of Buddha, or explaining features of Hinduism, or reflecting on the messages of Jesus. Buddha, he said, would ask people not to tell him what they thought to be the truth, or Harish also quoted Jesus’ words, the kingdom of heaven is within you, and told of how Buddha said something very similar. About Hinduism, he explained that the three main gods are Shiva the destroyer, Brahma the creator, and Vishnu the Preserver and then went into some detail about each of them which I didn’t take note of. My apologies, but as we talked on, I decided to rest my pen and just converse. One more of his deliberations I did jot down, however, was that no true religion leads to darkness, but followers of a religion need to know the meaning of their religion and not just go blindly. I’m sure this last one comes out of his years of working with all of those different people and cultures.
