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Short Short Stories (English)
A hell of a Story
As the story goes, the United Nations decided to set up replicas
of villages from around the world at its headquarters in New York
to give visitors a first hand account of rural life in developing
countries. One of the countries chosen was Nepal.
The UN's planners drew up a blueprint of typical Nepali hill village,
simulating living conditions in the Himalayan foothills. Applicants
were invited from interested Americans to spend some months in the
proposed village doing everyday chores like farming and caring for
livestock.
Ten families applied for the job. They were asked to first study
the detailed plan and then come in to discuss salary and terms.
Since this was typical Nepali village, there was no electricity,
no tractors, no tap water, no roads, no television, no radio, and
no phones. A wooden dhiki would be used for pounding rice and a
stone grinder janto for grinding corn.
When they heard that life in a Nepali village was not as idyllic
as they had presumed, half the applicants lost interest. The remaining
half said they would consider said they would consider it only if
some facilities like tap water, electricity, cooking gas or television
were added. The UN planners told them no way, so they dropped out
as well.
In the end, there was only one person left, and he was willing
to go through all the hardships of a Himalayan village in exchange
for an attractive six-digit US dollar salary. Desperate to have
people living in their village exhibit, the UN agreed to everything
he demanded. But then the man had one extra demand, he wanted to
have a computer hooked up to the Internet which he said he'd use
secretly.
The planners said sorry, but the whole idea was to make the village
an exact replica of Nepali village in every way. Instead, they offered
to double the man's salary. But he still refused, saying: "forget
it, I won't live in that hell, even if you pay me a million dollars."
(Edited by Kunda Dixit and printed in FACE to FACE, magazine
for development, No. 14, January-March, 1998)
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