“Badlaav aatey hain paani se”

(Change is brought on by water)

..said an elderly man, referred to as Gottu mama by most in his village. He is a resident of Kachhar, a small village in the district of Betul in Madhya Pradesh, India. I asked Gottu mama about how life has changed in the village with a lot of people now owning a mobile phone. He indulged in the question about change but not the one brought on by easy access to mobile phones rather he spoke about the transformation that irrigation can bring. “Apne se dugne mein hain woh jann,” (those areas are double than that of our own) argued Gottu mama in favour of prosperity that his area has been kept deprived of comparing them to the ones with dams. For him, water evokes a vision of a bountiful tomorrow cultivated on the earthiness of the present. There is a continuity between the present and the future. Life, as it exists, becomes fuller and richer. A mobile phone, on the other hand, is an invitation to discontinuous change. Gottu mama belongs to the Korku tribe and draws his identity from thriving amidst nature. His tribal instincts are tickled by a technology that offers solutions to issues he isn’t quite looking to solve.

“Hum jangal mein rehne waale hain. Patta bhaaji khaatey hain. Ussi se hamara Jeevan hai. Yeh mobile hamare samajh ke baahar hai.” he shares (We live in the jungle, eat green leafy vegetables and crops. This forms the basis of our life. Mobiles are not something we understand.) The mobile phone to him is representative of an educated world, one that he is isolated from. He is amused by the vast gap between the ‘local’ in him and the ‘global’ that the mobile phone symbolizes. He narrates how young people often ask him to speak on the phone, “tum bolo to sahi ismein” (why don’t you try and say something on it) he shares, enacting those who attempt to persuade him by explaining how easy its usage is. But Gotu mama is nervous around the mobile phone, fearing he’d say something inappropriate. “Humne kuch bhi bol diya toh. Aisa bhi nahin hona chahiye” (What if I end up saying something very random and inappropriate?) he said, sharing that he’d rather declare his illiteracy than look silly in lieu of pretence of accepting technology. “Hum likha padhe nahin hain to nahin hai…iske liye hum pehle saaf kar detein hain” (I accept that I am not educated, therefore I make that very clear).

Gottu mama and people his age might still keep away from the mobile phone but generations younger to them, both from tribal and non-tribal communities are quite fluent with the use of the internet-enabled smartphones. The low-cost, high-speed internet connections have now reached Kachhar even before some of the basics like water. This is not just the case in village Kachhar but also some of the other regions. 

How does a discontinuous technology like the internet impact life in a village which is yet to fully realize the benefits of irrigation?

In any discussion with people who use the mobile phone and have access to the internet, (here I refer to my discussions specifically with people in Kachhar and villages around), one thing is noteworthy, the language they use to describe their relationship with the technology is very transactional and usage-specific. “Haan Facebook WhatsApp chala letein hain. Tik Tok par funny videos dekhtein hain, Youtube se jaankaari letein hain” (Yes, I use Facebook and Whatsapp, watch funny videos on Tiktok and gain some knowledge on Youtube). Technology entertains and engrosses but fails to evoke an image of how it might change one’s life. The description of engagement with technology is locked within the moment of consumption. Though in the village, mobile is not as personal a device as it is in the cities, the user-experience is quite personal and private.

Conversation on water, on the other hand is very different. The canvass of this discussion broadens to include life. Descriptions in this case are not limited to utility. The language gets irrigated to become fuller and animated. While continuing to talk about the change that water can bring, Gottu mamaspoke vividly about a life that has reaped the gains of irrigation. “jal jahaan hai aapka badlav ho jaayega. Poori cheez badlaav ho jaayegi. khaan ka badlaav ho jaayega, peeney ka badlaav ho jaayega, aapka shareer ka badlaav bhee ho jaayega,” (Where there is water, you’ll experience change - drinking of water will change, your body will also change) He animatedly describes how every little aspect of one’s daily life changes with water. He further goes on to explain how a good earning from kheti(farming) leads to wholesome lives. Kyonki kheti se usko achee kamayee hotee hai. Kamaayee ke baad kya hai kee apne shareer ko sukhi miltee hai. woh do roti khaayega shareer mein hariyaali rahega. (Because one can earn well from farming. When one earns well, their body is well taken care of, they can eat well and provide themselves with the required nutrition)

What makes the language used to describe the relationship with water livelier?

Both, the water and the internet bring change. Then why is it that change is spoken of more eloquently in the case of water? One obvious reason is that water has been around for ages and the internet is new. People are more familiar with the potential that water holds for transformation while the internet as a technology is yet to be acquainted with. Another reason is that water affects everybody in the same way - the change it brings about is universal. Communities can bond over the value that water adds to life. The internet, on the other hand, is variegated, it alters and broadens the outlook of every individual differently. The Internet does not lend itself to a convergence of meaning in the way water does. Water allows for shared stories, told and retold generation after generation. While the internet is a pool of innumerable stories being told simultaneously. It creates multiple opportunities to converge and reform the society in a new way. The internet initiates people into re-civilization. This is a new journey where geographic distance does not matter, a sense of isolation gives way to a feeling that one is at the center of the world. The internet inundates the mind with new possibilities. It is a window to a barrage of seductive images the meanings for which are still being formed. The progress associated with the irrigation facility is an established cultural narrative. Water is desirable because it evokes an image of a life of abundance. This desire is well-formed, there already exists a vocabulary to articulate it. Whereas everything in the world of the internet, including the language and expression is exploratory in nature. The communities on the internet are evolving new modes of expression which are more visual than spoken. The expressiveness on the internet stays within the realm of a certain new society. The vocabulary to capture the visual richness of it is limited.

“Water allows shared stories to be told and retold generation after generation. While the internet is a pool of innumerable stories being told simultaneously.”

There are some essential differences in the way these two, water and the internet, work through the human psyche to create social change. Let us look at water first.

The story of water: Man’s long-standing relationship with water and the change that it brings

Water is historical. It is a precondition for life and has continued to sustain life since time immemorial. Human beings are made up of water. But at some point, we started looking at it objectively. It became a resource for abundance. While speaking about water, Gottu mama explained, little is enough for sustenance. He said that during the summers, the water does not flow in the jungles yet there is enough to keep the jungle thriving till it pours again, “Woh paani bas peeney bhar ka hota hai, pashu pakshi aur ped kee pyaas bujh jaaye.” (That water is only so much so the birds and animals can quench their thirst) This water is insufficient when viewed for irrigation purposes, “itna paani nahi hai woh kee pump laga ke khet mein paani de dein.” (This water is not enough for us to connect a pump and irrigate the fields)

Irrigation, wheat, and abundance

Ask any Adivasi (Tribal person) in Kachhar about what has changed over the years.  One consistent answer would be food. Food that has grown and been eaten in today’s times. Genhu or Wheat represents today’s era and symbolizes progress. The era bygone is represented by millets like Koduand Kutki. Wheat, being a winter crop, is a product of irrigation. The few people who can irrigate their farms, sow it post the monsoon crop. If all goes well, with the help of fertilizers, enough is produced to feed oneself, sell to co-villagers who are not able to sow it themselves, and sell the rest in the market. Wheat symbolizes abundance and has become a staple diet in Kachhar. But not everyone in the village is blessed with this kind of abundance. 

Youngsters have only heard about these native millets but never got to eat them. While the older generation yearns to go back to the era that was pure and healthy. Kodu and Kutki had minimal water needs, a few monsoon showers were enough for them. However, unlike wheat, the produce from the millets could not be enhanced with chemical fertilizers. “Shudh khaana tha woh,” (that was pure food) says Sudiya Lokande, glorifying the purity of Kodu and Kutki that no one grows anymore. Sudiya is an old woman who attributes her ability to work hard to Kodu & Kutki, foods that she ate while young. “Uski taaquat hai shareer mein, tab toh itna kaam kar paatey hain. Ab koi nahin khaata, na koi itna kaam kar sakta hai.” (Those foods gave my body strength, that’s why we are able to work so much. Now no one eats these crops and neither do they work as hard) “Then, what stops you from growing them today?” I asked. Her response came in a certain tone, one that meant to state the obvious - “Arrey bhaiya toh yeh to zamane ka balihaari hai.” (This is what time has changed!)

The shift from nature to zamana (time) is a big one. From being aligned to the rhythm of nature and its cycles to synchronizing oneself to what is contemporary is a shift from nature to culture. This is also a shift from sustenance to abundance. The desire for a life of abundance is a culturally constructed idea. This is an eternal and fundamental concept embedded in the psyche of the human race. In an irrigation deprived village like Kachhar, any discussion about water evokes a rich and vivid image of this very idea.

The story of the internet: Also, the story of the ‘Individual’

The availability of the internet today can be depicted as water through a tap, it can flow right into your palms. Ironically, unlike water, which still needs to be fetched from a community hand pump for every household in Kachhar. The Internet prepares people for change, stimulates desire, facilitates differentiation, and makes a person recognize who he or she is. The Internet dissociates a person from his or her past. It invigorates the present with possibilities that are not constrained by the physical world. Haircuts from a different part of the world can travel to Kachhar in a moment but water may still take many generations. The internet cuts through structures created by society, it empowers individuals to deviate from norms.

“Haircuts from a different part of the world can travel to Kachhar in a moment but water may still take many generations.”

But the internet neither processes things from one stage to another nor does it physically alter the world. It is a technology that reconditions the individual to look at life from new vantage points. Embedded in the real world, people get habituated to how things are. The Internet un-embeds these and allows for new configurations. It begins with desire and the physical pursuit to realize, follows. Internet can be imagined as a playground where one practices choice making by browsing through an array of unarticulated fantasies, collapsed into ready-to-be-consumed images. 

The spectacle of the ‘image’

I asked a young girl what she liked in a poster she had picked up from the weekly haat (village fair) around her village. “Humein pasand hai,” (I like it) she said looking at the white horses running across green meadows. The prober in me wouldn’t stop, so I asked what it was she liked in the horses. She thought about the question and innocently replied, “hum soch ke nahin letein, hum dekh ke letein hain. jo acha lage woh le letein hain.” (I don’t think and buy, I just see and buy what I like)

One can argue that the internet is possibly shaping a new society, one where engagement with the world begins with the image of one’s liking. By image, I mean any kind of content, visual or otherwise that storifies desire. The image represents reality, dressed in a form that it can distance itself from what it represents. It speaks to the senses, is not obliged to make sense and compiles a world in itself, one that needs no anchorage in the reality it represents. It needs no explanation. 

One possible reason why the people of Kachhar did not speak as animatedly about their engagement with digital technology as they did about water, is because on the internet they only consume a spectacle of the reality and not the reality itself. This spectacle is seductive and not evocative. This spectacle is so perfect and well-finished that it leaves no scope for the viewer’s imagination. It is meant for a rather passive consumption.

“One possible reason why the people of Kachhar did not speak as animatedly about their engagement with digital technology as they did about water is because on the internet, they only consume a spectacle of the reality and not the reality itself.”

The evocative power of the ‘real’

Water, on the other hand, is real. It, along with the other elements, demands physical engagement in order to grow food and create abundance. Gottu mama explained how the presence of water makes one see a purpose in their pursuit. “Umeed jag jaati hai, paani ho toh. Soch saktein hain kee aagey apne ko kya karna hai, dil laga ke mehnat kar sakte hain. Aapke paas kheti bahut hai, aur paani nahin, toh mehnat kyon karega koi.” (Water evokes hope, motivates one to work hard in the fields, and keeps one’s belief in agriculture alive) Water is real and evocative. Human experience with water has added layers of cultural meaning to it. The meaning imbued in it is fantastical. Water conjures up an image of the cornucopia.

The key differences between water and the internet

Both the water and the internet are characteristically different. One is eternal, the other is recent. Water strings together everyone with universal meaning; the internet brings together individuals who think alike. Water is real; the internet is hyperreal. Water evokes culturally shared imaginations; the internet seduces with spectacles. Water is essential yet does not reach all; the internet is discretionary yet brings everyone within its influence.

The key question

The key question here is, how does a new technology, unconstrained by the physical world, influence on-ground changes in a village that still hasn’t fully reaped the benefits of irrigation?

The confluence of the reality that is nurtured by water and the image that resides on the internet

Water, especially in an agrarian context creates change locally, while the internet connects the village to changes happening across the globe. To Gottu mama, local change is more meaningful than the one brought on by affiliation with the outside world. Others are open to the new technology and love to get enthralled by the glimpses of new possibilities. This gap between adopters and non-adopters often becomes a debate between the new and the old. Social change, however, finds its way into everyday life and includes everybody. 

Deepak, who studies in Itarsi, the nearest town to village Kachhar, had come home for a short Holi break. He made a spontaneous plan with his friends via Whatsapp, the plan was to celebrate Holi in a new way. A DJ was hired from the neighboring village. At noon, just outside the village, Deepak and his friends started dancing to popular songs played by the DJ. No one else in the village knew about this plan and were busy celebrating Holi in their own way - Tribal deities were being offered food, and women and girls were going from home to home singing songs that were created for each household, customized to weave in a joke about the family that lives there. While the village was busy doing what it does every year, the sound of loud Bollywood music became an invitation to another party. What started as a bunch of boys dancing to filmi songs became a colorful gathering of a diverse set of people. Everyone gravitated towards the new kind of celebration. People left their caste-based mohallas (colonies) to partake in merrymaking which knew no caste. This way, the village expanded its repertoire of Holi celebrations. Deepak said, ‘maine socha kuch naya karte hain iss baar.” (I thought of doing something new this time) While the internet enabled him to do something new and spontaneous, it also touched the lives of those who do not use the new technology yet. The spontaneity was triggered by technology, the stimulus for newness resided on the internet but what got enlivened was life itself. 

People from Gottu mama’s generation desire change that is created on the foundation of localness and familiarity. Holi, a festival of color, song, and dance was made livelier and grander by grafting downloaded dance moves and tunes onto rhythms that village tribals enjoy and understand. One can argue that there has been a cultural dilution here, what is local and folk has been muted by what is loud and flashy but as a possible model of change there is something positive too; the local has not been lost in isolation and the global has not been lost in translation. The two have been able to jam together to create something that is neither new nor old, neither native nor foreign but a life that is dynamic 

A village needs jugalbandhi (a musical interaction) of water and the internet. Change is not a journey from local to global. The reality of the village and the seductive images from the internet need to be in a dialogue. The internet is capable of creating a network of many locals. The relevance for what is native can be created via the internet but its nurturance requires real resources like water. The two can together realize an ‘imagined’ village that can change on an axis that is local with connections that are global.

Samit Mehrotra is a keen listener of meanings that people make but are often unable to articulate. He thoroughly enjoys doing design thinking, ethnography, brand strategy and natural farming but refrains from getting locked in labels. He is passionate about simplifying complex problems by wearing a lens that is easy, humane and unbiased. Hasrat is proud to promote his views & perspectives.