THREE Bs IN THE VILLAGE: MODERNITY IS COMING

We drove on the motor cycle along cattle tracks and across barren fields. From the back seat I had a view at distant rock formations. Large blocks of stone wobbled on other rocks as if they could fall off any minute. Flocks of goats were herded by boys holding their long sticks up in the air.

We passed a Hindu caste village with its rectangular pattern of alleys, the clay houses built close together to keep the sun away. The whole village was covered with dust, just like the few people that slowly walked around in their old clothes. We seemed to drive right into the eighteenth century.

It was on my request. A Dutch donor agency had sent me to evaluate a development organization that worked in hundreds of villages. I had been toured around in the city and some prosperous villages nearby. Then I had insisted to also see a remote village for comparative reasons. Now we were on our way to the selected place.

We reached there by eight in the evening. It was pitch-dark. The organization had informed their local representative. He would wait for us in their small building at the edge of the village that was used for group meetings. Normally, when a foreigner is announced, the village prepares a reception ceremony while expecting to get a prolonged impression of the visitor on the spot and perhaps some benefits in the future. So, both my Indian counterpart and I were surprised to find nobody at all in or near that building.

After a while we started to walk into the village. We took one dark alley after the other but nowhere anyone was seen. Finally we spied a blue light above the roofs that wavered on and off from time to time. Aiming at the light we arrived at the central square. Hundreds of people were squatting on the ground, male and female, young and old, while looking up at a television screen placed high on a wall. They had completely forgotten the visitor and the possible benefits that might be derived from a foreign donor.

Instead they watched an American TV program, one of the Three Bs, their favourite foreign programs: The Bold and the Beautiful, Baywatch and Beverly Hills 90210. I needed a prolonged impression of the scene to digest the situation in full.