It happened again. Another amazing coincidence. An official vehicle pulled up to where we had our camels tethered. The gentleman who stepped out asked about our camels. I explained what we were up to. He seemed particularly intrigued by our search for a non-electrified village where we could install our solar lighting system to promote education. It turned out that our visitor, Mr. Ashutosh Teli, is the subdivisional Magistrate of Alwar District. Not only did he know of a village appropriate for our project, he had promised on his last visit that when he returned he would bring electricity to the village. Arrangements were made to bring our solar lighting system for installation. We didn't know what a great experience we were about to have.

The village is Dwar Mala is located on a ridge looking out over the plains below. A jeep took us to the base of the mountain. Facing a steep escarpment with a switchback trail, we started the climb at night under a full moon. Still not quite recovered with my bout with tummy tigers, I wondered whether I'd be able to make it to the top. But there was no way I was going to miss this. Sucking it up, I struggled up the trail. When I thought I might have to curl up and sleep, we arrived.

Rock walls and mud-plastered houses with thatch roofs greeted us. The headman's house was surrounded by people alerted to our visit. The glow of a kerosene lamp lit up the faces of turbaned men. Some were smoking a hookah water pipe. An upraised platform the size of four picnic tables had two woven beds for guests where I collapsed and everyone else sat waiting for the proverbial offering of tea. The mud walled and thatched roof hut we would stay in was open on both sides with a wonderful breeze blowing through. Water buffalo lounged around the homes. The village relies on water buffalo for the milk they produce, which is used for food and sold to make money to purchase other items. This village is so isolated that once when some of the children came down for an educational assessment, they saw their first road, car, and shops. The whole ridge for mile after mile has villages like this. During the summer, water is carried the 3-4 kilometers up hill so there is drinking water.

Energized by our arrival, I pulled out our solar LED system and set it up so the villages could see how much illumination it would provide. There was much positive nodding of heads as Ashutosh explained the system in Hindi. I explained that the Light Up the World Foundation might follow up our visit and light up more than one home which we were set up to do. Then came another coincidence. There is a push to educate this area. The next day, in a village that has not seen foreigners, a delegation from the Aga Khan Foundation in Delhi and the Bodh Foundation from Rajasthan arrived to dedicate the installation of a new teacher and a program to encourage the education of girls. This program also includes a homework program which needs nighttime lighting. The very thing we were going to install.

As I dropped off to sleep, the village met to decide on the best location for our light installation. The next morning we were shown to a hut that members of the village could use for evening study. The angle of the roof would require a major engineering effort. We enlisted the help of ten villagers to make a framework to support the solar panel. The angle has to be just right to get the maximum amount of sun during the day. We started by making a model of the frame out of twigs. This was used to explain what we wanted. At first, there was some confusion when villagers thought our twig model was supposed to support the much larger solar panel. Eventually villagers assembled the tools we needed, an axe and a rope-driven drill. While Dan oversaw the building of the solar frame out of tree branches, I did the electrical wiring inside the hut. We mounted the structure later that day and then went down to the tail end of the ceremony welcoming the new teacher to the school where 81 students would now have a new educational opportunity. We hope that with our contacts the Light Up the World Foundation will now follow-up to help light up more homes in this village of 80 homes and 591 people.

Next, we visit an abandoned city where all the people left because of a curse.