'DRIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT' was decorating the front windshield of the Mahindra Jeep as it hurtled towards us on the wrong side of the road - just as poetic was the back bumper which simply read, 'TRUST IN GOD, CHELSEA FC'. I have quite simply loved reading the car windowscreen decals on this visit. A few of my favourites:
'DRIVE TO DEATH' - not fully optimistic about their on-the-road abilities but honest all the same.
'JESUS CHRIST' -It was the simplicity I enjoyed. I can only presume it's a declaration of faith rather than a pre written script for oncoming traffic.
'SAVE ME GOD' - equally, just stick to your side of the road and slow down.
I don't think I'll ever get used to the roads or the driving habits over here. Our 4 hour round trip to Kharang was punctuated every 2 seconds by the seatbelt beep. "I think the seatbelt needs fastening to stop the beeping."
"Yes it does."
The metronomic beeping continued, the seatbelt remained unfastened.
Once we had arrived at Kharang I was struck by how remote it was. So much so that many of the children stayed at the onsite hostel rather than making the journey back home. The nursery building was imagined together with twisted metal sheets and the classrooms of the main building were loudly threatening to cave in.
"We have to pull this down or it will fall down and hurt us."
Yeah, it could hurt.
Now, I'm no building surveyor. I have no natural ability to build. My finest 'handy-man' moment was using a golf ball to see if the shelves in Matilda's bedroom had been fitted level. (Yes! I know golf balls have dimples!) But with all that aside, I could tell that this was a place in need of a lot of work. Luckily, for the school, they had managed to secure some Unitarian funding to sort some of those issues and to add a hall space too. My purpose was the check the feasibility of having Learning by Questions at the school.
Within a matter of minutes, the writing was on the wall. Or, displayed clearly on my phone as I checked the internet speed, '0.01' MBPS download speed, 0.02 MBPS upload speed'... What this means in less technical terms is, 'Jog on mate'. This was always the worry with this school - high up in a mountainous region with cloud and fog coverage for much of the time. Given the remote location, you'd have more chance leveling a shelf with a golf ball... than the desired option of having cable broadband. It's in times like this when I find this project really exciting. Everything says that you can't do it but there's feeling, a niggle that something could be done somehow, in some way.
Star link. Elon Musk. Within the last 12 months Mr Musk has agreed in principle a deal with India to provide satellite Wifi capabilities. It's not available just yet but it is hoped in the next few months India's most rural communities will have internet access. Because what Mr Musk clearly understands about India's most rural communities is that they have $699 installation fee and $120 per month subscription fee rattling around in their back pockets ... It's a staggering cost which in the words of the Assistant Principal, "Will bankrupt us!". This project is funded by the Bowland Charitable Trust and so for this particular school, the dream is not over, they have a chance to connect over 400 children with the online world and an endless amount of opportunities - but for many other settings, it's a cold, hard, 'jog on'.
It did make me reflect - there are so many barriers in place for countless rural communities here in India, some of them seemingly insurmountable, yet so many of the people I meet have not thrown the towel in and accepted an outcome. Had I taken 'Drive by faith, not by sight' all too literal?
