Much has been said and written about Jugaad, the great Indian way of getting things done with local resources and improvisations. Every now and then, one keeps meeting people who have improvised on small little things.
Last month, I had gone to Gadarwara, a small town in Madhya Pradesh to visit two of my friends, who run an NGO there. During a visit to the gaon ki chaupal ... the village's centre (literally, the village's common platform), I came across a simple yet effective example of jugaad!
Guess what is that? It is a discarded CD that has been attached to the mud guard of the bicycle's rear wheel to be used as a reflector. Hats off to the imagination of the rustic man who thought of this bright idea.
Most rural roads do not have any lights and the area where this man possibly travels has a state highway among other roads too. This re-used CD yet again establishes two things, at least for me. One, that given a chance, the rustic wisdom can come up with wonderful innovations. And, second, which is more important socially, is penetration of electronic waste (e-waste) right till such interior areas. One a cause of joy, the other of worry.
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