An End to 95 Years of Darkness

There is a village by the side of Shyok river in Nubra. A glacier stream cuts the village in half. Every day the villagers have to cross a small wooden bridge in order to meet their relatives and friends’ on the other side. The bushes of Leh-Berry welcome you on the path connecting the village from the outer world. There is an old room in a conventional mud house at the village. It is the room of Stanzin and Dolkar- A 95 years old couple. They are blessed with three generations of children staying with them. The history of the village can be found in the wrinkles on their faces. They roam around in the village during day time. The couple is quite active for the age.

The day passes quickly. The happy couple has to get inside the room with the last ray of sun. The eyesight is weak, so is the limbs. It gets cold even during the summers. The old bones can’t withstand the chill. They have to eat early to match the pace of sun. There is only one thing they do after every sunset-wait for the sunlight. This repeats day after another.

There are more than a billion people in the world who are still living under  darkness. A majority of them live in the mountain areas. The tough and less populous terrain makes them an uninteresting subject to any development. The Hindukush Mountains alone are home to more than a million people deprived of  any energy access. Ladakh, is one such terrain where basic facilities like energy, education, and healthcare are missing from most of the remote areas in the territory 

Rongdo, however is an exception. A hydraulic plant was installed in 2010 in the village. The location of the village was apt for the plant. For good one year, the villages had the access to energy. The celebration, however, didn’t last long. The flood washed off the plant the very next year.  The conventional grid could not       reach the village for its remoteness. The villagers have been living under dark since then.

Soon this was about to change. Somewhere at a distance of 1200kms, a group was discussion about the village. The group consists of the engineers on a mission to empower the Himalayas. Global Himalayan Expedition has electrified 100 villages in the Himalayas by 2019. The other team engaged in the discussion was from Royal Enfield. The project dates and plans were decided. They had the motive, means and will power to   bring the electricity to the village.

A team of 10 individuals was formed. Royal Enfield were to send a group of these change makers to Leh to join hands with GHE team on ground to execute the project. The team comprised of many members visiting Leh for the first time. Some of them hailed from a low altitude area like Chennai and Banglore. It takes at least two days for an individual to acclimatize the high altitude and low oxygen of Leh. Things become critical if one has flown to Leh. The sudden rise in altitude may cause health problems for many. The initial days were crucial to the success of the mission.
 
Team GHE left no stone unturned to counter the situation. The visitors were kept under strict observation for the initial two days.

RE Group at Leh for the mission

The team had to cover a distance of 180 kms to reach the village. The biggest challenge on their way was KhardongLa. At an altitude of more than 18000 ft, the pass is unarguably the highest motor-able road of the world. The team was divided into two. One small group of GHE was to lead the way in a pick-up van. The  vehicle carried the electrification material for the village. Transporting the material  is one of the biggest challenge at high altitude. Even the smallest physical activity takes a toll on the person. If anything goes wrong with the planning or the vehicle, shifting the material to another one is a tough task. The process needs precision in planning and execution.

The next day the team reached Rongdo by a path addressed as road amongst locals. Entire village came to receive the team. They knew that the darkness has limited time left in their homes. The people here are different from the rest of the world. They are honest, simple and hardworking. Everyday they showed gratitude to the God for their limited resources. The same is extended to the visitors. They  open their heart and home for the outsiders. They share all the resources without blinking an eye. They have to walk for hours to get those materials in the village. Most of the places remain cut from the outer world during entire winter, but even that doesn’t stop them from sharing it with an open heart.

The visitors surveyed the village on the first day. The calculation of the houses and resources had to be precise. There is no scope for rework at such remoteness. The team had two days for electrification of Rongdo. The first day was spent without electricity. The visitors realised the hardship, that villagers had to go through everyday.

Stanzin was waiting eagerly at his house. He couldn’t walk to receive the team. The teams were divided into two to expedite the electrification work.  One was expected to arrive at his house the next day. The happiness was evident on the face when he saw the strangers with equipment entering their premise. He immediately called his daughter to serve tea and refreshments to the team before starting the work. He sat down with them to remember the faces who came from nowhere to remove the darkness from his life. He told them about the village. He talked about his wife and friend Dolkar. Together they have faced all the struggles of life. They had lived, laughed and grown together. They had faced the darkness in the room waiting for the morning. They had waited for this day entire their lives.

The team completed the work in assigned two days.  The corporate individuals, installed wires, holders and solar panels by their own. They were not used to the hard work, and labour. At the altitude they carried the heavy equipments from one house to another. The objective was crystal clear-to eliminate the darkness from the village. In the journey, the visitors and  the hosts became one. They shared the homes, food and jokes with each other. Everyone was waiting for  the night of the second day to see the village in the bright light.

The system designed by GHE is simple and durable in nature. It is designed as per the local requirements at those heights. The DC micro-grid system is shock free, easy to carry and decentralised in power distribution. The maintenance and repair is easy and done by local engineers. It is so simple to understand that the team was good to go in just two hours’ training.
 

RE team at ground zero
 

The excitement level in the team was rising with the sun setting down. Soon it was the time everyone waited for. The team gathered at a vantage point in open farms. From here they could see half of the village coming out of the darkness at once. The GHE team placed themselves in the houses to switch on the grids. The time seemed to pass slow to each one of the members. They were just waiting for their creation to come alive. The village got lit up at the countdown of three on walkie talkie.

The other half of the village, however, was still dark. The team had to cross the bridge to reach the house of Stanzin. The jungle path was a challenge to the city dwellers in the night, but it was not a time to care about that. Everyone walked to the stream to cross the bridge. Stanzin and Dolkar were waiting for them in the traditional dresses. Their wait was about to end. The team gathered at the house   of patriarch. He was explained on how to switch on the grid. With shaking hands,  he regained 12 hours of his daily life. It was a wait for 95 years to him. Imagine the plight of a person who never had the energy access in a lifetime. We can’t think of living without electronic gadgets and electricity. We have all the brightness to our disposal. At the same time there are billions struggling for the basic human rights. It is our responsibility to bring upon the positive change in the world. We  need to step up and take control of the situation. If each one of us, in  the limited individual capacity, starts doing tiny bits for the humanity , the world will be a better place to live in.

Kudos to the individuals of Royal Enfield, who decided to leave the comfort of the city life to bring the change in the lives of others. It was not an easy task to leave the individual priorities behind for a bigger goal. They did it because they cared for the humanity. Corporate partners like Royal Enfield gives them a medium to channelize the efforts. Such partnerships are beyond the business objectives. They are essential, because somewhere another Stanzin is waiting for someone to remove the darkness from his home.

Rongdo after electrification
 
 
Happy Stanzin and Dolkar with team