Reflections on our experiences working
with AID,  1998-2004, including

Midnight neared as we were nearing Tolapi - unless we'd passed it.   Thick fog had all but zeroed our visibility and we were grateful when a vehicle overtook us so that its reflected light assured us that no oncoming vehicle was in the offing. The driver remained optimistic and we kept a light conversation going to maintain alertness and calm.  The baby, blissfully unaware of the tension, the cbms, and even the tire change, kept our minds focussed.

But from NH5, construction incomplete yet amply strewn with colour posters of our esteemed Prime Minister, the road to Tolapi is narrow and unlit.  It is, however, a "pakka road" and that is how we asked for it after crossing the same bridge several times and missing it.  In previous visits, the bus driver found the road and we had always arrived in broad daylight.  Now that we came by car, tempted to travel in the evening and halting en route, it was up to us to guide the driver in the dark and fog of night. 
Though we had to turn left, it was finally some streetlights in the distance on the right that tipped us off that the road must be (like a misplaced pen) "right here somewhere."  We turned and within moments our headlights shone on familiar tea stalls, panchayat office, etc.  Pleasantly surprised to find someone awake in the village, we asked him the way to the house where we would be staying.  To our dismay he seemed not to know the family.  We described the children, the farm, the toilet ... didn't ring a bell.  Were we really in the right place?  Finally, perhaps seeing the baby, he agreed to come with us and look for our host.  It hardly took a minute - we were just on a parallel lane. 
It was the driver who asked the next morning, why the man we met last night didn't know these people who were so active in the village.  Turns out he was holding onto his cards.  In his words, "we didn't know who you were, coming in a car so late at night.  So how can I lead you to their house?"