Full employment economy

Dear dedicated reader,

‘Full employment economy’ over ‘efficiency economy’ is evident here everywhere you look. It is more than an economic ethos; it seems to be a way of life.

By way of example, I offer up the following:

Before we arrived here, the Foundation had reassured us that there would be two cell phones left over the from the summer interns that they sent last year. They said it would be simple: obtain simcards and then the phones would be functional for whatever we needed them for.

Easier said than done. Priya, whose family was quite anxious to have a way to contact her, took a lot of initiative around finding out about the phones right away. When we could not find them in the guesthouse, she asked the principal’s family, who said they would look into it and get back to us tomorrow (if you’ve been following this blog at all, you know what this means).

Late in the evening the Saturday we arrived, the principal came by and said that we should have our phones within a few days. Content with this, we happily consented to wait.

Tuesday, Vikrambhai, the man who gets us water and other various things that we need, came by to say that he had no charger for the phone he had for us and could we find it? We looked around the guesthouse, but were unable to locate the charger and told him this, indicating that perhaps the principal’s family had placed it with the phones?

Wednesday, the principal’s wife came by and asked us about the phones. We explained the problem with the charger and she took the key out to an inner part of our closet we had previously been unable to unlock. While there were many useful things in it, such as bug spray, colored pencils and tape, no chargers could be found.

Friday, Dhirinbhai, the young computer teacher who set up our internet, came by with one of the cell phones and revealed to us that he too had no charger for the phone. Apparently, he had been delegated one of the phones to set up, and Vikrambhai had been given the other. Once you have the charger, he said, it will be no problem.

Friday night, the principal’s family came by and asked us about the phones. We explained the problem with the chargers and they mentioned that they had a charger that they could us in their car that would be for a Reliance (our provider’s) phone. They said they would get the phones from Dhirinbhai. Salvation seemed in sight.

Saturday after school and the staff meeting, the principal’s family came by and asked us again, how are your cell phones? We explained that we did not have them yet because Vikrambhai has one and Dhirinbhai has another and neither has a charger. They explained again about the charger in their car and said they’d get them on Monday.

Monday, Priya ran into Sejalben and asked about the phones, so after some chatting in Gujarati, Sejalben got the phone from Dhirinbhai to charge it in her car. Vikrambhai still had the other phone and explained we would have to go Bardoli (a bigger town 18 km away) to get a replacement charger, but not until next weekend.

The next weekend came and we went to Bardoli and were able to obtain a charger and thus, have a working cell phone. However, only incoming calls were possible because there was no money on the phone. Dhirinbhai explained that if we wanted to make outgoing calls, the Foundation would pay to put some money on the phone. This seemed incorrect, because we are supposed to pay for our own cell phones, but we asked him to put 500rs on and we could always pay the Foundation back.

A week went by and still no ability to make outgoing calls. Next, I went to Dhirinbhai myself with the 500rs and asked if it would be possible for him to drop it off in Bardoli so we could get the money on the phone needed for outgoing calls. He said happily that it was no problem.

Another week goes by. I am becoming tired of the woman who tells me that outgoing calls are not possible on my phone. But it is Saturday and we have decided that we ourselves are going to Bardoli, so I go to ask Dhirinbhai for the money back so that we can get the phone working. However, he informs me that while he was not able to get the money this week because he was not feeling well (which was true), he has just this morning given the money to his friend to go so he cannot give it back to me to get myself.

I accepted this answer, we went to Bardoli, another week has gone by. I still have no working cell phone.

The American in me is absolutely clawing to get out of my head and straighten this mess out. I have pacified it by buying a Cost-co sized bag of Indian cookies.

Best,
Cat

P.S. What happened to the second phone, you ask? A mystery to me...