i’m thinking of raj samadhiyala, an indian village.
the people there battled the drought, and they won.
i’m thinking of an anthropological, socio-cultural, historical, intellectual, journalistic accounting of the story of raj samadhiyala, who i think is an excellent model of a village when it comes to self-help, self-discipline, self-governance. it doesn’t matter that the village is indian, in a tropical country; i believe the lessons learned there are applicable in both the third world and the first world countries, because all villages suffer drought one time or another. raj samadhiyala is a survivor, an achiever, and it took one man, shri hardevsingh jadeja, to initiate changes in the outlook of the villagers through the panchayat (village-level local government, the equivalent of barangay government in the philippines). the story is about how water works to change lives: first, the lack of it; next, the pursuit of it; then the use of it. it would be a good book and i would like to write it myself. since i’m not in india and i’m not an indian either, i’m thinking of getting the direct assistance of college students of a university near the village, or at least within the state of gujarat, not to mention their professors. this will be an international project. i’m also thinking of a database of 2 kinds, one that is truly user-friendly: journalist-friendly and scientist-friendly – the two don’t mix together.