There's nothing easy about life in the village of Garinda on the edge of the vast Thar desert. Summer temperatures regularly reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), there's running water for only three hours on a good day, electricity for about eight. And forget about the rain – so little falls that it's tough to earn a living by farming. So Garinda's men take the same step as some 5 million other Indians who are short on prospects and long on obligations – head to Gulf countries for jobs that pay between Rs6,500 to Rs13,000 ($150-$300) a month, a small fortune in this destitute corner of India. Their wages from building skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, driving taxis in Kuwait and sweeping streets in Saudi Arabia pump an estimated $20 billion into India's economy every year, helping bring a measure of prosperity to thousands of impoverished villages across the country. Garinda, a collection of mud brick houses battered almost daily by sand storms, is one such place. “We can't run a home on income from the village,” says Gyarsi Devi, a 55-year-old woman who has three sons working abroad. Two are carpenters in Dubai, another a truck driver in Oman. Of Garinda's 4,500 people, about 700 are employed in the Gulf, most in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Finding the work is relatively easy – Indian newspapers carry ads for Gulf jobs and brokers come searching for able-bodied men. The brokers usually arrange the travel to the Gulf, securing visas and tickets and shepherding villagers onto what for many is their first plane ride. But none of this is free – the agents charge from Rs80,000 to Rs150,000 ($2,000-$3,750), an unimaginably large sum in these parts. That means most would-be workers must take loans – often at hefty interest rates – but they still find the prospect of steady income too tempting. “We have to try our luck,” Devi says. “Some people have very good luck and can send back a lot of money. Some can't.” Last year, she borrowed Rs100,000 ($2,500) so her son, Satya Narayan, 33, could get a job in Dubai. The family expects it will take a few years to pay off the loan, with its monthly 4 percent interest. Devi's older son, 35-year-old Bhanwarlal, who uses one name, worked for five years in Oman before repaying his loan. But in the 10 years since, money he sent home helped transform the family's mud-brick compound – adding rooms, ceiling fans and a wrought-iron gate. He also bought a dozen goats for his father to tend and supplied a television for the dowry needed to get his younger sister married. Once in the Gulf, Indians can face awful working and living conditions and often are cheated by bosses. But even those who come home after being duped eventually go back. Mahendra, 35, who uses just one name, quit after working seven years as mason in Dubai when his employer swindled him out of overtime. Still out of work, he says he may have to return. “I can't even make Rs2,000 ($50) here. I was sending home Rs8,000-Rs10,000 ($200-250) a month from Dubai,” Mahendra says. – AP __
