Falling spring of Hundru seems to have joined hands with beaming sunrays, in unison providing joy to hundreds of visitors besides handful of locals, who otherwise had hardly any work but wood cutting, cattle rearing and doubling as occasional gun carrier for the outlawed.
Jai Ram Bedia of Gaitalsud, a small village near Ranchi and adjacent to the famous waterfall on the Suvarnrekha River spilling over now-a- days with tourists not only from Ranchi but also from West Bengal and Odisha, is one among about half a dozen others who has stationed himself at the place with tables filled with gadgets. Apart from some familiar equipments what catches everyone’s eyes the most is small solar plates.
“You can see the area is badly developed and the Hundru fall site at this level has no power connection. The only way I could have provided the tourists the instant photograph facility was the solar. This plate is capable enough to charge the battery and run the attached printers,” says Bedia, a tribal with joy of job satisfaction and dignity.
His PVC-made table placed right at the waterfall site on a rock has two small printers, few photo frames providing an idea to his customers about his photographic skills, multiple sets of sunglasses with varying shades and styles and an album.
“We have to convince the visitors and quality of photographs we provide here is no lesser than any other professional studio. Often they do not come with stylist and fancy items so we also make it available in the ‘package’. But what has really transformed this all is the solar plate. Without that we could not have printed and made available instant photographs to the tourists with their loved ones,” he goes on.
The printers attached are smaller in size and consume less power in comparison of usual professional printers installed at offices or homes. Since there is no dearth of direct and clear sunlight at the picturesque site that records the most number of footfalls during about a month long picnic season starting Christmas, the ‘jugad’ has really came as a boon for many local youths.
“We have no work in most part of the year but the picnic season provides us good opportunity to earn something decent. I have hired the printers for one month and used my own domestic solar plate to charge the battery. Since the place is abuzz with visitors it is not hard to find customers,” said Sanju of Hundru village.
He feels that the adaptation has provided the desired x-factor which was not before. “Now-a-days you have camera with everyone and also in mobile phones. But when you need perfect photographs with closest shots of the falling water of Hundru, a professional camera is needed. Earlier it was difficult to find a cameraman here since no one wants to collect photos later on and locate the particular studios in Ranchi. But the solar plate has presented a win-win situation both for the visitors and unemployed youths like us,” says 25-year-old Sanju who was, “once forced to work even for the Maoists” in the want of living.
Natural beauty of the place is such that the likes of Sanju and Jai Ram Bedia along with their solar-powered printers, sell-out not less than 80 to 100 copies each on daily basis. “I charge Rs30 for a print. These binoculars and hats come for free with the picture clicked,” says Manohar Tudu of Sikidri but with a pain. He shared, “Aisa hamesa nahi rahtahai sir. January ke baad sab khatam.”
They are waiting for a sunlight that never fades away!