From left, Bunker Roy, Sam Pitroda, Mayank, Madan (behind me) and Sunil Arora.
It always gives me inordinate joy when completely random dots of life connect via happenstance or coincidence or perhaps even design. That happened yesterday.
Sunil Arora, my friend from Delhi whom I have known for 30 years and more, posted a photograph of a visit that Sam Pitroda, Sunil and I had gone on to Tilonia in Rajasthan. Our purpose was to spend a day at a rural upliftment project that was already gaining a great deal of international name and recognition. It was called the Barefoot College being run by Bunker Roy, who was a friend of Pitroda’s.
I went along as a journalist to eventually write a story about it. This was sometime in 1992, if memory serves. Bunker established the Barefoot College in 1972 first as Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) whose mission it was to understand water and irrigation challenges in this very dry district of Ajmer in Rajasthan. Soon enough Bunker changed the focus to empowerment of the rural community and sustainability.
The idea was to train local population to fix their own problems, starting with hand pumps or water pumps. Over the decades, five decades really because this year marks the 50th year of the Barefoot College’s founding, Bunker and his team have trained millions of people in the skills as solar engineers, weavers, midwives, architects and even doctors. Bunker, who is now 76, is an extraordinary man drawn unshakably to Gandhian ideals. He is razor sharp but couches it very well in immediate amiability. I consider him as a dear friend although we have not met for a long time now.
That is the background to this delightful coincidence. I posted our picture on my social media handles, including on Instagram. Among those who follow me is Marley, one of my daughter Hayaa’s closest friends and schoolmates who grew up in Naperville.
Marley left a message on that photograph that read, “I just learned about the Barefoot College and it’s mission in my Rights & Resistance history class! This is super cool!”
Indeed how super cool it is that a random photograph from thirty years ago from a visit would find such a remarkable connection to a young student here in America. There is particular joy when life’s circles come full the way it did in this case. I did not even know that a photograph existed of our trip. I did not know that Sunil had it. And then he randomly posts it because he visited the same project 30 years hence this month. He posted the old photograph along with the new one featuring him.
He tagged me on Facebook. I then copied it on my social media handles where Marley saw it and voila! The circle completed. Delight has been felt and joy has been had.
