Swadesh - exemplified in Bihar.

I liked Swades, the movie. Reason being, the simplicity with which the movie was portrayed. It touched everyone's naive heart. Most of my friends jeered at me for romanticizing such idea, for the naive simplicity that film portrayed and for the foolish idea that an NRI could ever conceivably return to his/her native to generate electricity. I accept that I didn't disagree much with them then, yet I saw it from a different perspective.


However, even my slightest doubt has been belied by a group of people from Bihar. And the source was an article in Hindu,

Gyanesh Pandey, an Electrical engineer working in US, came back to Bihar in 2007 and went on to setup a company which , you got it, generates electricity. They took up the idea of addressing the very basic need of energy , and in a "Green" way, as well. Biomass and Husk were their chief source for the production of electricity. Rice Husk is easily available in villages and they have transformed a "waste" into a valuable "product". The villages in Bihar, plagued by lack of power readily accepted the offer of uninterrupted supply of electricity even at a premium price. To quote:

Husk Power Systems, the company they established, now has 16 plants in place. Each plant generates between 35 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts of electricity. The power is being supplied to about 60 villages at present.

They literally generated electricity in the hinterlands of Bihar and have a "modest" target, as Pandey says, of lighting up 2014 villages by 2014. I wonder if he was inspired by the movie discussed above , yet, that's not the prime issue. The issue, is that , what the movie tried to say was not a HYPERBOLE. It happens around us. Its as much practical as the "Greedy" Baker of the capitalistic model. People do things , which are not necessarily for their monetary self interest. Every day I see this idea much more strong than the other widely prevalent one. In a sense I feel that we are at core this moral and rational human being, wearing a facade of being motivated by only self interest.
I hope Mr, Pandey succeeds in his endeavor and serves as a beacon for others who regard Bihar as a place of Darkness. Hope Mr. Adiga reads this.