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The simplicity of Michael Arthur, the United Kingdom's high commissioner-designate to India, has floored residents of a Karnataka village and his non-government organisation hosts who looked after him earlier this year.
He was the 53-year Englishman who arrived in Iradegera village near Deodurg taluk in Raichur district and stayed in the house of Balandandappa, Gundappa and their 14-year-old daughter Devamma.
But his identity remained a closely guarded secret and local families were not told until after he had left.
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Arthur, who will shortly present his credentials to President A P J Kalam, reportedly insisted on being treated the same as everyone else in the village.
"We were worried whether he could eat our food, or whether he would be comfortable staying with us," says Balandandappa.
"The first night we made a special bed for him on a charpoy, while we made our arrangements to sleep on the roof of our house. We were surprised when he joined us on the roof, and slept like all of us. When you wake up and see someone sleeping like you, you realise they are not different."
Arthur's willingness to share the day-to-day experiences of the family without any fuss or pomp has impressed members of the Samuha, a non-government organisation that specialises in village development, community-based rehabilitation of people with disabilities, HIV/AIDS interventions and watershed development.
"My colleagues were very impressed," says T Pradeep, director, Samuha, which hosted Arthur.
"They say he is quite a Gandhian type of person. They were not told who he was and they were quite surprised that he took all that trouble."
B Hampana, assistant director, disabilities, and head of Samarthya, the Samuha disability wing, was Arthur's translator during his visit.
He says he was "exhausted and renewed" by the experience, adding, "His interest in everything around him was so complete that it forced you out of yourself and made you look at things differently too.
"We were in Yermasal village where two of our self-help groups were meeting. It was an important day for the younger Adishakti SHG. They had just completed their foundational six months of savings, and were meeting to disburse their first loans. C K Mamatha, who heads the women's Munjawu Mahila Cooperative, had asked members of the older Maheswari SHG to facilitate this process.
"Two members had made applications for loans, one for Rs 500 to buy seeds and fertilisers, and the other for Rs 1,000 to buy a sheep. The group approved their applications, and then got stuck because one of the signatories to their bank account was on migration.
"The group discussed this, decided to retain the missing member, and appointed an alternative signatory in her absence. The two applicants were told to wait for a week for all the papers to be processed, and the meeting disbanded. The whole process took about two hours. We then stayed back for another 45 minutes while the group leaders and organisers updated their minutes and accounts.
"It was a very ordinary meeting, till Michael interpreted what he had seen: a group process that understood the importance of its decisions, that valued its members, even though their absence was an irritant, that completed its business with the least fuss, and who were not fussed about the presence of visitors in the midst of what was potentially an embarrassing moment. Suddenly, the ordinary had become special."
After spending four days in Raichur, Arthur left for Hyderabad.
A spokesperson for Samuha said, "He [Arthur] decided that he would understand this country and its people better if he was able to experience and share their lives without the intrusion of the pomp and the paraphernalia that would otherwise surround him in his new position."