~Binaya Kasajoo~
As the story goes, the United Nations decided to set up replicas of villages from around the world at its headquarters in New York to give visitors a first hand account of rural life in developing countries. One of the countries chosen was Nepal.
The UN’s planners drew up a blueprint of typical Nepali hill village, simulating living conditions in the Himalayan foothills. Applicants were invited from interested Americans to spend some months in the proposed village doing everyday chores like farming and caring for livestock.
Ten families applied for the job. They were asked to first study the detailed plan and then come in to discuss salary and terms. Since this was typical Nepali village, there was no electricity, no tractors, no tap water, no roads, no television, no radio, and no phones. A wooden dhiki would be used for pounding rice and a stone grinder janto for grinding corn.
When they heard that life in a Nepali village was not as idyllic as they had presumed, half the applicants lost interest. The remaining half said they would consider said they would consider it only if some facilities like tap water, electricity, cooking gas or television were added. The UN planners told them no way, so they dropped out as well.
In the end, there was only one person left, and he was willing to go through all the hardships of a Himalayan village in exchange for an attractive six-digit US dollar salary. Desperate to have people living in their village exhibit, the UN agreed to everything he demanded. But then the man had one extra demand, he wanted to have a computer hooked up to the Internet which he said he’d use secretly.
The planners said sorry, but the whole idea was to make the village an exact replica of Nepali village in every way. Instead, they offered to double the man’s salary. But he still refused, saying: “forget it, I won’t live in that hell, even if you pay me a million dollars.”
(Source : Edited by Kunda Dixit and printed in FACE to FACE, magazine for development, No. 14, January-March, 1998)
