Connectivity

What is it like to live without telephones, doctors, TV? Says Pandit Ram, the village pradhan who trudged his way down with his sick daughter-in-law to Bir, the nearest roadhead, for an operation: "I have the means to bring her here because my son is in the army. Most villagers who fall sick just die or make do with herbal cures." For the record, there is a dispensary handled by a nursing assistant, a school till Class 8, a village patwari and a forest guard too—all permanently posted for fixed tenures. But few man their posts. The village was electrified only last year with the construction of a mini 1.5 MW hydel project, courtesy of the Shimla-based Sai Engineering Foundation.