Journey back to Jawale
By Jeroen Geradts and Rokus Harder
We were technical students on an adventure in India. Back in 1983, India was the most exotic destination we could dream of. So we seized the opportunity to conduct an Appropriate Technology survey over six months in an Indian village. We went to Jawale, 60 km south of Pune, and dived with all good intentions into ICA team life. We gave advice on biogas, the hotbox cooking method and several other appropriate technologies.
Staying and working in Jawale was an intense and wonderful experience. It had a huge impact on our lives, dreams, ambitions and careers. After more than 30 years we returned, two men, now in their fifties, curious about what had changed. Did the village pass untouched by time or did it change a lot? Did all our good intentions make any difference?
 
The road to Jawale in 1984 (left) and now. Bare land on the right is
now home to a copse of trees.
On our way from Pune to Jawale in January this year, the differences immediately became apparent. It used to be a half-day trip across the mountains on a narrow winding two-lane road. Now we whizzed through a tunnel over a six-lane toll road in just one and a half hours. And even the dirt road passing by Jawale has been replaced by tarmac.
Namaskar! In the school at the entrance of the village we receive a warm welcome and blessings with incense, sugar and a tilak (red dot) on the forehead. The kids have a good laugh looking at our pictures of Jawale and people from 1984. They see how it has changed a lot!
Walkabout
We walk through Jawale with the village elders. The population has quadrupled since 1984, many new homes have been constructed. But we could still recognize some spots.
 
Washing clothes along the river then and now.  
 
The house where our staff met (top left panel) when the project was operating is still there, now with its own toilet (bottom right panel). Wendy Saegenschnitter leading a staff session (bottom left panel) at the house.
 
Much of the open space (left) behind the ICA house has been built over (right).
  The Panchayat office where we sat with villagers (left) to watch television placed in a window is still there.
 
These shops that were operating in 1984 (left) are now closed.
 
The old village temple (left) has been renovated and given a face lift.
The well has also been improved.
 
Shivaji park – the pride of the village - has unfortunately lost one of its old trees.
Meeting people
When we used to walk through the village, small children used to come up to us to ask our names, तुझे नाव काय आहे, and then run back to their mother or sister with the answer. Now the routine has changed - a sweet girl asks, in perfect English, for permission to take a selfie with us on her iPhone.
During our tour of the village, we visit various people and have tea at their homes. The village elders taking us around are all men. But surprisingly, the sarpanch, the elected leader of the village, is a young woman. Good to see that these things are changing too. As she prepares tea for us in the kitchen, she tells us that it is an honour to be sarpanch. But it also involves a lot of work and she is looking forward to the end of her four-year term so that she can attend to her family and farm.
 
Sarpanch Poonam preparing tea for us after we drop in on her
during our tour of the village.
Jawale’s hospitality is great. We are invited by another family for lunch. As they browse through our old photos, they recognise their niece and show us a recent photo of her.
  "Our old photos are historical documents. Our host was delighted to see
the pictures of this girl, his niece, and showed us a photo of her now as
a grown-up woman."
Later, in the fields, we encounter a guy who remembers us from when he was eight years old. Like many other villagers, he speaks good English, which makes it much easier to communicate.
This man (left) remembered seeing us when he was an eight-year-old.
Many things have improved. Jawale is more connected to the world now. We asked some of the elders what was better 30 years ago. The common answer - there was more cohesion among the villagers then.
Beyond development
In 1984, our assignment was to conduct an appropriate technology survey. We suggested the village introduce biogas to deal with the shortage of firewood. Due to deforestation, people had to walk long distances to collect firewood and resorted to using dried cow dung (gobar cakes) instead. Burning wood or cow dung in a kitchen without a chimney causes serious health problems.
About 25 biogas plants had been constructed by 1989. Due to the growth of the village, there was no space for cows in the village anymore. The animals were moved to small stables in the fields. Collecting cow dung became cumbersome. So biogas was abandoned after being used for just five years.
Nowadays, firewood is still the fuel of choice in many households. But they also have a kerosene stove and bottled gas as alternatives. And they have the money to buy it. In just over 10 years, the context for what is appropriate for Jawale and what is not has changed drastically.
Connected
Jawale used to be an isolated village. It was a half an hour walk to the closest village. The bus to Shirval town came only three times a day. And it was a 45-minute ride with villagers, cattle and luggage. The sole communication link with the outside world was the post office. A letter from the Netherlands would take two weeks to arrive. And for us, foreigners, it was hard to communicate directly with any of the villagers, as they didn’t speak English at the time.
Now, along the road to Jawale many new neighbourhoods and industries have appeared. There is hardly any open space or farm land left along the road. Cars and motor cycles drive by all the time. Clearly many people from this region now work in Pune. No rural traffic jam yet, but it’s certainly no longer a dirt road with bullock carts moving slowly towards the next village.
And you can’t miss the enormous communication mast in the middle of the village. Many houses have a satellite dish and television, providing communication and access to news to most people. Jawale is connected to the world…
Infrastructure
There used to be just six water taps in Jawale. We had to queue twice a day when the water was running, which lasted just an hour. Now, three enormous water towers provide a continuous supply to all households.
There was no sewage system at the time - just some open gutters along the road used by children as toilets. And adults would do it in the fields. Now all streets have drains and most are covered, keeping the village roads clean. Most households have a toilet now and efforts are being made to connect the remaining 25 per cent as well.
Housing has also changed a lot. Mud and wooden houses are disappearing. Some apartment blocks, several floors high, are under construction. And some creative designs give the village a totally new appearance.
 
Some of Jawale’s modern houses give the village a totally new appearance.
According to the village elders, irrigation contributed most to Jawale’s development. The construction of small dams, water reservoirs and lift irrigation enabled them to cultivate more land and harvest more crops a year.
 
Irrigation, with the building of small dams and reservoirs,
has contributed most to Jawale’s development.
Conclusion
Jawale has evolved and the villagers are clearly in charge of their own development now. ICA has moved out and should be proud of all that has been accomplished. For us Westerners, India is not so exotic anymore. Even in a small village like Jawale, life feels more like ours. It’s much easier to communicate, relate and understand the people and we quickly feel a part of the things that are happening.
But with all of that, life in Jawale is not as authentic as it used to be. People have even adopted some of our poorer qualities such as individualism and less social cohesion.
One of our learnings is that the context changes as a village evolves. Introducing biogas may have been appropriate in 1984, but 10 years later it didn’t fit. You can’t introduce one change and assume that all other aspects of village life will remain untouched by time. Unconsciously, that’s exactly what we had imagined. As technicians we humbly admit: You can’t engineer development. Rather, you move along with the waves of change. Go with the flow!
Jeroen Geradts and Rokus Harder were former students at the Institute of Technology in Hilversum, the Netherlands.
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