An Irishman in Indore - Tom Wilmot
In English on one side and in Hindi on the other, ‘James R. McGilligan, Manager’ reads the business card of a man whose Irish name is as singular in Indore as the man himself. Indore is an industrial and relatively unremarkable city in the heart of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and is home to the NGO in which I spent my 5-month DiA placement. Jimmy, as he prefers to be known, is the manager of the ‘Barli Development Institute for Rural Women’, although he also holds the title of Indore’s ‘Unofficial Correspondent to the British High Commission’. One wonders, on first acquaintance what has led a self-employed land reclamation engineer and industrial contractor thousands of miles from Northern Ireland to a development institute in deepest India?
India. That notoriously penetrating cocktail of a nation, spiked with vibrant life and starkest death, infused with an ethereal spirituality; a tonic of insidious chaos to the Western consciousness. India, with a sort of organic vitality all of its own, needs just a short time to go to the head, to reshape the mind, distort perspectives and opinions previously hardwired as solid presumptions. Some say that arriving in India is like waking up from a dream; suddenly experiencing human reality, but a reality confused with imagination where time becomes fluid and insubstantial. An exaggeration? A fanciful description? It all depends on your perspective.
In any case the heady effects of coming to live and work in India for over 15 years should not be underestimated. A thick skin may be useful, but will never allow anyone to really live a fulfilled life in this wondrous land, as Jimmy has done. You need adaptability, understanding, a sense of humour and a strong character, as well as a sense of perspective and critique. Add belief in yourself and faith in your philosophy to your packing list and you might just survive. My point being that for any of his volunteers spending time in India, Jimmy is certainly someone to learn from.
If you ask him how he came to be here, he will tell you that that’s a good question but involves a long story. The reasons for the paths of all our lives are difficult to fathom at the best of times. In Jimmy’s case many would claim that destiny had a big part to play, although Jimmy himself tends to lean more towards the ‘well, it all just sort of happened like that’ attitude. In any case one senses that his new life has certainly brought him enviable happiness and fulfilment.
Brought up in a farming family in rural Northern Ireland, Jimmy started his own business after losing one of his toes in an agricultural accident at the age of 16. With typical enterprise and enthusiasm, he used the £500 compensation he received to buy his first digger, and built up his business from there, taking contracts in various areas of agriculture and industry.
Whilst running his own business more or less single-handed, he was an active member of the community in which he lived and he still tells remarkable stories from these days, from mountain climbing to rally car navigation. The business of land reclamation and agriculture provided a rewarding and stimulating occupation, as it would for any ambitious young man, and Jimmy enjoyed his work immensely.
One volunteer proposed that his friends and family at home must think Jimmy has a wonderfully exotic life having left this all behind for a new start in India of all places. ‘Actually they think I’m crazy’, was Jimmy’s response.
However, his experiences in his field of work, combined with a critical and conscientious mind, also gave him an appreciation of what was wrong with how things were done in the West. The countless gallons of milk poured into the sea and wildlife havens colonised by the creeping advance of intensive agriculture are just some of the examples he cites. The squandering of precious resources and the lack of ethical responsibility over which environmentalists lament, and which Jimmy witnessed first hand, became part of his reason to divert his skills to a better cause. It was not a sudden change of heart or a life-changing revelation. It was a rational formulation of opinion based on experience and conscience. Even at this time Jimmy never dreamed he would come to work in India, let alone marry and settle there.
Jimmy first came to India as a volunteer in 1986 to work on the reclamation of saline soil in Gwalior, to the north of Indore. He met his wife to be, Janak, who had founded a vocational education institute for rural and tribal women grounded in the principles of the Baha'i faith, of which Jimmy had been a follower for several years. They were married in 1988, an unorthodox match in this conservative quarter of central India, but an apt and happy one. The two complement one another marvellously, and perhaps this is part of the secret of how the institute has gone from strength to strength ever since.
Now renamed as the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, the large campus on the outskirts of Indore accommodates over 80 trainees (for six months at a time) and a dedicated staff of employees and volunteers. The trainees are taught vocational skills, health, literacy and personal development during their time here, and the curriculum is constantly monitored, updated and improved. There are countless success stories from the institute’s graduates, but this story is concerned with that of its manager.
Barli had not previously taken on male volunteers until two short-term DiA volunteers came over the summer, followed by myself for nearly six months. As the trainees generally come from remote rural tribal areas, from very traditional cultures and backgrounds, it is important that the institute can guarantee a safe environment within a large, rapidly modernising city like Indore. Therefore, it was felt that it would be inappropriate for male volunteers, especially foreigners, to be part of the girls’ training. However, Jimmy’s interest and subsequent work in solar energy has given the institute a whole new dimension, and an opportunity for volunteers of both sexes to get involved with the Barli success story.
In many rural areas across India, and indeed throughout much of the developing world, the use of wood as fuel is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Aside from the obvious environmental damage, firewood is ever more expensive and scarce, and wood smoke causes serious respiratory problems, particularly for young children. Collecting the wood is a major chore, often a task performed exclusively by women and children. This aspect links neatly with the main goal of the Barli Development Institute - the empowerment of young women through education and training. Jimmy’s work to promote solar cooking is another integral aspect of development in the areas the Barli trainees come from.
In recent years Jimmy has been working on the manufacture of huge community solar cookers. The technology involves a ten metre squared parabolic reflective dish that focuses the heat of the sun to a point where temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius can be generated. The institute now has three of these solar cookers and almost all of its food is cooked in this way.
Jimmy’s enthusiasm for solar cooking technology has led to many successful ventures elsewhere. Most recently he and his staff have installed the largest solar kitchen in Madhya Pradesh, at a school in the tribal area of Jhabua. The installation has to be seen to be believed. Five beautifully shining dishes lined up staring directly at the sun and towering over a low building housing five cooking places at five blistering focal points where five outsize pans of various descriptions are used to cook for the school’s 700 or so children.
More such ambitious projects will doubtless follow, but also there is always more work to be done within Barli itself. For example, building enterprise constantly generates a surplus of work for Jimmy and his employees. During my stay I witnessed and helped with the latest installation. Designed by Jimmy, it is a large multi-purpose hall to be used for various teaching purposes as well as providing an excellent venue for the many functions held at the institute. I have observed with interest the catalogue of battles that Jimmy has fought with contractors and labourers in order to get the hall built to his standards, and in a reasonable timeframe. While the contractors are prepared to go to great lengths to get away with doing as little as possible and as cheaply as possible, Jimmy is constantly campaigning for higher quality and fewer imperfections. Herein lies the source of the various conflicts.
There was the battle with the Bengali plastering boys who realigned a window frame to match their crooked brick design on the external wall. There was the painter who spent several hours diligently applying expensive paint on top of a thick coating of rust. Long debates and elaborate deceptions over obtaining a good quality of electrical wire. The list goes on. Such constant problems require enormous patience and tenacity.
Amongst other challenges he has had to rise to in India, learning to communicate in Hindi was perhaps one of the most essential. Not one for structured formal education, Jimmy has simply picked up Hindi via the absorption method. He is modest about his language skills and jokes that he has been here for fifteen years and still can’t speak the language. The joke being that he makes this claim in Hindi.
What struck me most about Jimmy’s unconventional occupation was his dedication to the cause and firm belief in the philosophy of the institute. It was not something he generally spoke about, but I was reminded of it whenever he explained to interested parties the importance of what the institute was doing, and with a sincerity devoid of any obsequious vanity. With his outspoken manner I can easily imagine Jimmy explaining to Chauvin or Bin Laden how important it is for women to be educated and empowered in any society; about how women are the first educators of their children and why their status should never be seen as secondary to that of men.
My experience of working with and getting to know Jimmy has certainly been a memorable one. I hope after reading this you don’t think that he is crazy, for there are great things afoot at Barli and I would recommend any volunteer to get involved.
India. That notoriously penetrating cocktail of a nation, spiked with vibrant life and starkest death, infused with an ethereal spirituality; a tonic of insidious chaos to the Western consciousness. India, with a sort of organic vitality all of its own, needs just a short time to go to the head, to reshape the mind, distort perspectives and opinions previously hardwired as solid presumptions. Some say that arriving in India is like waking up from a dream; suddenly experiencing human reality, but a reality confused with imagination where time becomes fluid and insubstantial. An exaggeration? A fanciful description? It all depends on your perspective.
In any case the heady effects of coming to live and work in India for over 15 years should not be underestimated. A thick skin may be useful, but will never allow anyone to really live a fulfilled life in this wondrous land, as Jimmy has done. You need adaptability, understanding, a sense of humour and a strong character, as well as a sense of perspective and critique. Add belief in yourself and faith in your philosophy to your packing list and you might just survive. My point being that for any of his volunteers spending time in India, Jimmy is certainly someone to learn from.
If you ask him how he came to be here, he will tell you that that’s a good question but involves a long story. The reasons for the paths of all our lives are difficult to fathom at the best of times. In Jimmy’s case many would claim that destiny had a big part to play, although Jimmy himself tends to lean more towards the ‘well, it all just sort of happened like that’ attitude. In any case one senses that his new life has certainly brought him enviable happiness and fulfilment.
Brought up in a farming family in rural Northern Ireland, Jimmy started his own business after losing one of his toes in an agricultural accident at the age of 16. With typical enterprise and enthusiasm, he used the £500 compensation he received to buy his first digger, and built up his business from there, taking contracts in various areas of agriculture and industry.
Whilst running his own business more or less single-handed, he was an active member of the community in which he lived and he still tells remarkable stories from these days, from mountain climbing to rally car navigation. The business of land reclamation and agriculture provided a rewarding and stimulating occupation, as it would for any ambitious young man, and Jimmy enjoyed his work immensely.
One volunteer proposed that his friends and family at home must think Jimmy has a wonderfully exotic life having left this all behind for a new start in India of all places. ‘Actually they think I’m crazy’, was Jimmy’s response.
However, his experiences in his field of work, combined with a critical and conscientious mind, also gave him an appreciation of what was wrong with how things were done in the West. The countless gallons of milk poured into the sea and wildlife havens colonised by the creeping advance of intensive agriculture are just some of the examples he cites. The squandering of precious resources and the lack of ethical responsibility over which environmentalists lament, and which Jimmy witnessed first hand, became part of his reason to divert his skills to a better cause. It was not a sudden change of heart or a life-changing revelation. It was a rational formulation of opinion based on experience and conscience. Even at this time Jimmy never dreamed he would come to work in India, let alone marry and settle there.
Jimmy first came to India as a volunteer in 1986 to work on the reclamation of saline soil in Gwalior, to the north of Indore. He met his wife to be, Janak, who had founded a vocational education institute for rural and tribal women grounded in the principles of the Baha'i faith, of which Jimmy had been a follower for several years. They were married in 1988, an unorthodox match in this conservative quarter of central India, but an apt and happy one. The two complement one another marvellously, and perhaps this is part of the secret of how the institute has gone from strength to strength ever since.
Now renamed as the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, the large campus on the outskirts of Indore accommodates over 80 trainees (for six months at a time) and a dedicated staff of employees and volunteers. The trainees are taught vocational skills, health, literacy and personal development during their time here, and the curriculum is constantly monitored, updated and improved. There are countless success stories from the institute’s graduates, but this story is concerned with that of its manager.
Barli had not previously taken on male volunteers until two short-term DiA volunteers came over the summer, followed by myself for nearly six months. As the trainees generally come from remote rural tribal areas, from very traditional cultures and backgrounds, it is important that the institute can guarantee a safe environment within a large, rapidly modernising city like Indore. Therefore, it was felt that it would be inappropriate for male volunteers, especially foreigners, to be part of the girls’ training. However, Jimmy’s interest and subsequent work in solar energy has given the institute a whole new dimension, and an opportunity for volunteers of both sexes to get involved with the Barli success story.
In many rural areas across India, and indeed throughout much of the developing world, the use of wood as fuel is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Aside from the obvious environmental damage, firewood is ever more expensive and scarce, and wood smoke causes serious respiratory problems, particularly for young children. Collecting the wood is a major chore, often a task performed exclusively by women and children. This aspect links neatly with the main goal of the Barli Development Institute - the empowerment of young women through education and training. Jimmy’s work to promote solar cooking is another integral aspect of development in the areas the Barli trainees come from.
In recent years Jimmy has been working on the manufacture of huge community solar cookers. The technology involves a ten metre squared parabolic reflective dish that focuses the heat of the sun to a point where temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius can be generated. The institute now has three of these solar cookers and almost all of its food is cooked in this way.
Jimmy’s enthusiasm for solar cooking technology has led to many successful ventures elsewhere. Most recently he and his staff have installed the largest solar kitchen in Madhya Pradesh, at a school in the tribal area of Jhabua. The installation has to be seen to be believed. Five beautifully shining dishes lined up staring directly at the sun and towering over a low building housing five cooking places at five blistering focal points where five outsize pans of various descriptions are used to cook for the school’s 700 or so children.
More such ambitious projects will doubtless follow, but also there is always more work to be done within Barli itself. For example, building enterprise constantly generates a surplus of work for Jimmy and his employees. During my stay I witnessed and helped with the latest installation. Designed by Jimmy, it is a large multi-purpose hall to be used for various teaching purposes as well as providing an excellent venue for the many functions held at the institute. I have observed with interest the catalogue of battles that Jimmy has fought with contractors and labourers in order to get the hall built to his standards, and in a reasonable timeframe. While the contractors are prepared to go to great lengths to get away with doing as little as possible and as cheaply as possible, Jimmy is constantly campaigning for higher quality and fewer imperfections. Herein lies the source of the various conflicts.
There was the battle with the Bengali plastering boys who realigned a window frame to match their crooked brick design on the external wall. There was the painter who spent several hours diligently applying expensive paint on top of a thick coating of rust. Long debates and elaborate deceptions over obtaining a good quality of electrical wire. The list goes on. Such constant problems require enormous patience and tenacity.
Amongst other challenges he has had to rise to in India, learning to communicate in Hindi was perhaps one of the most essential. Not one for structured formal education, Jimmy has simply picked up Hindi via the absorption method. He is modest about his language skills and jokes that he has been here for fifteen years and still can’t speak the language. The joke being that he makes this claim in Hindi.
What struck me most about Jimmy’s unconventional occupation was his dedication to the cause and firm belief in the philosophy of the institute. It was not something he generally spoke about, but I was reminded of it whenever he explained to interested parties the importance of what the institute was doing, and with a sincerity devoid of any obsequious vanity. With his outspoken manner I can easily imagine Jimmy explaining to Chauvin or Bin Laden how important it is for women to be educated and empowered in any society; about how women are the first educators of their children and why their status should never be seen as secondary to that of men.
My experience of working with and getting to know Jimmy has certainly been a memorable one. I hope after reading this you don’t think that he is crazy, for there are great things afoot at Barli and I would recommend any volunteer to get involved.
posted by Development in Action at 20:26
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